Re: Blue-Tinted Headlamps

I believe you are describing the new LED headlights approved by DOT. They are more efficient and brighter. Right now they are an option on cars except they are standard on some high cars. However, I believe that they will be standard equipment on all cars in the future.

Re: Blue-Tinted Headlamps

For whatever reasons, there is no regulations of headlamp brightness in Hawaii. I grew up in Cali with this being strictly enforced, often by roadside police inspections for public safety due to the 'blinding' effect on other drivers, as well as correcting the beam angle. Now, it's open season for any lighting dangers one wishes to impose on everyone else. These newer lamps are way too bright, and that's when used legally and not in combination or on high beam. The lame official reaction to my questions about this was to simply state the old remedy of not looking directly into the light, which no longer works. How many accidents/deaths have been caused by our State's official's neglecting these important measures, is it about $, or just stupidity? You're on your own out there, good luck!

Re: Blue-Tinted Headlamps

Actually, I'm 99.9% sure Scriv is describing HID (high-intensity discharge) Xenon lights, rather than LED (light emitting diode) headlights. LED headlights only started coming out last year,.... and even then, on luxury brands like Audi, Lexus, and Cadillac. There are many, MANY more cars on the road now equipped with HID lights. All of those riced-out Hondas & Nissans you now see with the super bright lights? They have all had their halogen lights replaced with HID conversion kits.

Re: Blue-Tinted Headlamps

Frankie, I think you are more likely correct than matapule.

Re: Blue-Tinted Headlamps

I find the brighter, blue-tinted lights distracting, but not dangerously so. About the same as someone driving with high-beams. I don't know if blue-blocker sunglasses help or if there's a clear lens option for blue-blockers. If they are behind me I just adjust my mirror to dim them.

I don't like them coming at me; I'd probably appreciate the better visibility if they were on my car.

Re: Blue-Tinted Headlamps

I have a feeling when they upgrade their lights, they don't aim them correctly. Same thing for people who lift their trucks and forget to adjust their lights.

Re: Blue-Tinted Headlamps

Well, you can probably dismiss that last one, but I think your other theories are at least partially accurate.

As it's been stated above, many new cars come with HID headlights. You can read this Wikipedia article for the details, but all you really need to know is that, compared to "old-fashioned" conventional headlights, HIDs are better and more expensive. Like any new technology that's better and more expensive, HIDs were introduced on high-end luxury cars first.

HID headlights are so much brighter and illuminate so much more completely than conventional headlights, that it's a problem for other drivers. Cars that come factory-equipped with HIDs have bulbs that sit in special computer-designed reflector/projector assemblies. They are designed to very carefully control how and where the light is projected to prevent blinding other drivers. Many (all?) are also self-leveling to compensate for a change in angle (when the back seat is heavily loaded, for example). If you ever had a problem being blinded by HID lights, chances are it was not from a car that came factory-equipped with those HIDs.

Although they are more frequently becoming available in more mainstream models, there is probably still an air of exclusivity attached to HID headlights. (After all, only expensive high-end luxury cars have them. </snob>) More and more, people are retrofitting their older cars with HIDs, and this is probably where most of your grief comes from. Because the older headlights aren't designed for HIDs, they throw the new brighter and whiter light carelessly into the faces of other drivers, even on the low-beam setting.

HIDs are whiter, so compared to conventional headlights, they appear blue. It seems some people go for an even cheaper option and get replacement conventional bulbs that are tinted blue and are somehow brighter.

Either way, if you're saying it's a nuisance, I agree.

Re: Blue-Tinted Headlamps

I think that's the real problem. The blue-tinted HIDs create envy. So it's fixed the cheap way. But it's a brighter bulb in the same crummy factory optics.

Re: Blue-Tinted Headlamps

It's possible to install blue-tinted headlights. But those are *illegal*, as would be the case for any non-white headlamp. And if they are plugged in during a safety check, they will not pass.

Rather than a blue-tinted bulb, it is more likely that a motorist is using a special colored filtered halogen bulb, where yellow is being filtered out, producing a whiter/bluish light. These bulbs are legal. But in my experience, these filtered halogens are, in fact, not appreciably brighter than the non-filtered, yellowish light that is common on the road. They're bluer, but not really brighter.

Assuming a car's headlights are not grossly misaligned, a bluish headlight that is so bright that it blinds other drivers is likely using an HID bulb, rather than either a blue-tint or yellow-filtered halogen.

Re: Blue-Tinted Headlamps

Multiple answers to this issue.

Yes, HID lights are bluer and brighter. When OEM manufacturers first came out with them, some were insanely bright and blinding. I think over the years, they have toned down quite a bit. Porsche had/has crazy blinding HIDs, haven't noticed them lately. But I do notice the HIDs on Acuras are now less intense.

But more than likely, what you see on the road these days fall under these two categories, especially when it's a car that doesn't offer HID as an option from the manufacturer.

1) People trying to convert their headlights to HIDs by buying Ebay conversion kits which are cheapie knockoffs because the bulb and ballast is cheap, but the actual lenses that contains the light and focuses the light at a level that does not blind are not. So these guys convert without the lenses, blinding everything in sight. Or they procure old units from cars that are totaled and headed to the scrapyard without the lenses since different make of car would prevent right fit. There are rare instances it's the same make and model so those conversions are merely transplants.

2) Blue tinted, higher wattage conventional light bulbs. These are actually not only blinding to others but it actually produces less "usable" light to the driver. The light is in the least optimal spectrum to the human eye and it tends to scatter, diminishing what can actually be seen at night.

Why is it done? The cool factor and the upscale image as HIDs still belong mostly to the realm of luxury brands.