Do you think new vehicles should come with self dimming headlights?

You wouldn’t believe on how the amount of people that don’t dim their headlights to on coming traffic, I am talking about roughly 7 out of 10 cars that don’t dim to on coming traffic, and 4 out of that 7 will only dim after you have flashed them at least half a dozen times, and 3 that just don’t and leave their lights on high beam regardless.

Yes. And I thought Cadillacs used to have them long ago. A friend’s dad had a ‘70 Coup de Ville and in my hazy memory I remember it had auto dimmers.

No. There are times when you want the bright to work:

- certain weather conditions
– driving on curvy roads trying to see where the next bend is
– signaling to some oncoming traffic that their lights aren’t on
– signaling to oncoming traffic that there is a policeman or radar trap ahead
etc…

I don’t want my car to take those options away from me.

@elbanditoroso ah but at least you won’t be blinding on coming traffic. and that is a plus,right?

Due to the difference in the physical distance of headlights from the ground, some of those vehicles you believe are failing to dim actually are on dim, @SQUEEKY2. Some vehicles just have brighter lights – I’ve noticed that both meeting and driving large pick-ups.

And yes, I think auto-dim would be a nice fit in the auto-headlight feature.
98% of the time I have my headlights set to ‘auto’, meaning they turn themselves off and on according to the external brightness. I’d love if that also included auto-dimming for oncoming cars, and I would use my brights a lot more if I knew I wasn’t forgetting and blinding an on-coming driver.
It’s not like ‘auto’ is an either-or option. I can set my headlights to auto and have the confidence I won’t be caught driving without lights after dark, but that doesn’t prohibit me from using them during the day if I wish.

Speaking of which, can you set the lights to come on when the windshield wipers are engaged for over one minute? It’s the law in my state that use of windshield wipers requires use of headlights, and I can’t seem to remember to put the lights on for a light rain.

Yes, I’ve thought of this too at times when I’m blinded by someone’s headlights. The Iines on the road are covered with snow and I can’t do anything but hold the wheel straight and hope for the best. I would wonder if the other car who cares so much about their own safety as to keep their brights on until the very last second realizes how close they were to killing us both? I would welcome auto-dimming lights.

Yes

Coming from the UK but visiting mainland Europe a lot, I would like headlights that switch for driving on the left to driving on the right so that I don’t dazzle my French neighbours

@elbanditoroso: The brights would still work, but would dim automatically for the 30 seconds or so while you pass an oncoming car.

That’s a pretty good idea, @SQUEEKY2 . I think it would be more helpful more of the time if a cattle prod was implanted in the driver’s seat for folks who won’t use their turn signals.

Here’s an observation about dims being overly bright: Headlamps can be aimed, and should be checked/adjusted periodically. There is absolutely no reason to not dim your headlamps!!!

@kritiper I totally agree but I feel a great part of the driving public does not.
I always think just how stupid are these idiots to blind the transport driver that is coming at them?

I think there should be a third light, in the dash, as bright as the headlights, and when the driver is in city limits, if they use their high beams, it should turn on blinding them until they turn their high beams off.

@elbanditoroso Speeding is one of the top causes of accidents. Thanks for contributing to the cause.~

As long as the self-dimming can be overridden by manual control, sure.

I’d trust them to get that right more that I trust self-parking or self-driving, but all automatic features need to be overridable, or else it’s an uncontrollable thing that can mess up, which can be a problem.

Example: I had a car with headlights managed by a computer. Something went wrong. It flashed highbeams randomly. I had to disconnect the highbeams, or pay hundreds of dollars for another overblown computer. It it was just a simple old wired switch, this would not happen, and any problem could be fixed with simple (and massively less expensive) parts.

Example: I had a car with a (*%$#@&!) rear-view mirror which had a light sensor and an electric mirrored surface that would try to adjust its reflectivity automatically so bright lights from behind would not be too bright. Because it had this, they did not include the tried and true ability to manually shift the mirror down to do the same thing. “Improves safety by not—-allowing—- requiring the driver to adjust it themselves”. Well, guess what didn’t actually work very well?

Lesson: Manual control should always be an option.

@dammitjanetfromvegas – you’re driving without a license and you’re getting on me for warning speeders?

Pot. Kettle. Black.

No. I don’t want the car to help me drive. I just want the car to do what I tell it to do.

@elbanditoroso That’s false. You need to reread what I wrote on my question. ass

My husband’s Ford Fusion has automatically dimming headlights. Thus far, they have worked appropriately. He can manually override this feature.

Like @MollyMcGuire, I want the car to do what I tell it to do. Yeah, it’s a control issue.

I want the car to do it all for me, unless I tell it differently.
(As long as it doesn’t bitch when I drive too fast.)

@ibstubro Right now like the self driving semi still requires you to be ready to take over in a second if the conditions calls for it.
I can see that being really neat here you are playing with your tablet, or reading a book and the truck sounds off that you must take over manually right now, you have to grasp what is happening and take over pretty cool if you haven’t been paying attention,I can’t get a good picture of what happens next,can you?

Having zilch experience with a semi, @SQUEEKY2 I can’t imagine allowing one to drive itself.
Although, it would have to be safer than me driving it.

I don’t personally think auto-driving should be deployed until the unmanned vehicle has a safety record better than one with people in it.

People are stupid. Panicked people are scary. Technology should not depend on stupid panicked people saving their own asses.
Manual override should depend on starting from a safe, non-moving position – after the car has idled itself curbside, for example.

@tedibear I’m like this about most things. I wish I could back to Windows 2000 where the user controlled so so so much more. Address bars and search engines that guess what I’m going to type drive up another wall. :)