Team-BHP - Dangerous trend due to bright DRLs = Drivers forgetting to switch their headlamps on!

Copying two relevant posts from the XUV300 thread here:

Quote:

Originally Posted by VVN (Post 4607898)

I have noticed a lot of XUV300 owners not switching on the headlights and instead using the DRLs at night.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 4609767)

I have to confess that I have been guilty of this too :Frustrati. Don't remember if it was in the XUV300, but definitely some test-drive car. Reasons:

1. When I started the car at night, the DRLs lit up my compound sufficiently well. So I thought the headlights were on!

2. Today's cars have an illuminated instrument cluster, even when the headlights are off. While that's a welcome move, it's taken one of the "no headlamp" signs away.

3. The car had "auto" headlamps, so I wasn't habituated to put the headlamps on manually.

It was only after driving for a couple of km that I realised the illumination is poor / not as good as the headlights, and I have to turn them on :Shockked:.

These smarter cars are making drivers dumber!

This is really a dangerous trend, guys. Am spotting way too many cars with their DRLs on + headlamps off :Frustrati

Endeavour driving with the lights off:

Dangerous trend due to bright DRLs = Drivers forgetting to switch their headlamps on!-1-3.jpg

But the DRLs on. Completely oblivious to the fact that his headlamps are off (I told him so at the traffic light):

Dangerous trend due to bright DRLs = Drivers forgetting to switch their headlamps on!-1-4.jpg

Ditto with this BMW:

Dangerous trend due to bright DRLs = Drivers forgetting to switch their headlamps on!-1-1.jpg

Dangerous trend due to bright DRLs = Drivers forgetting to switch their headlamps on!-1-2.jpg

I have spotted several Balenos being driven like this. The DRLs are really bright, and drivers tend to think that they have their headlamps on. However, this is still safer than some people driving their cars with no lighting at all. They pose a greater risk because oncoming vehicles may not even notice them at night.

Last day when I was driving back home at night, I saw a car being driven with no lights on. I made an effort to slow down and signal him that he doesn't have his headlamps on. He gave me a confused look and kept driving on. :deadhorse

Bright DRLs and the speedo consoles, which are always illuminated, are to be blamed. When the car is dark inside and one can't see the console, user is reminded/forced to switch on the lights. Not anymore in the new gen cars!

OT: I overheard in the parking, a person boasting to his friend that the DRLs in his new car are so bright that he doesn't need to turn on the headlights!

Very true, I have personally forgot to switch on Headlamps in my wife's Ignis because of the bright DRLs. I keep the instrument cluster brightness to maximum to ensure I don't forget the switch on the headlamps.
Partly I am spoilt by the Auto Headlamps on my EcoSport in which I never touch the light switch.

There's another angle to this.

I'm sure some of these guys driving with only the DRLs do so because they look "cool" as having the headlight ON subdues the DRL to a large extent.

Just their way to add some bling to the car while being oblivious to the fact that they are putting themselves and others at risk.

I think having 'always on' instrument cluster backlighting is a bad idea. The old way of linking it to the headlight switch was the best way to get people to switch on their headlamps. Guess it is not fancy or cool enough these days to have it the old way.

VAG has thought through this problem and designed it beautifully in my Polo GTI. The instrument cluster uses a built in light sensor and adjusts the brightness of the cluster accordingly. So it is at its brightest during bright sunlight and starts dimming as the light goes down. In low light conditions it goes completely off and the cluster has zero backlighting unless you switch on the headlamps.

Many cars have drls which are not programmed to dim while the turn indicator is on.
Eg: Honda WrV. I had a hard time noticing that it's turn indicators were on, on a bright sunny day when bright drls were on when this car came from opposite direction.
Also these drls causes irritation to my eyes when I see them at night without headlamps on because they are too bright and cause a blinding effect(because turning headlamps on dims or switches off drls).

Possible solutions for this -

Automatic headlights - provided that the car has them and that the sensors are sensitive enough. Loud warning beepers could help.
Regulating the intensity of brightness of OEM DRLs - to lower than that of the regular low beam intensity, so that drivers can easily distinguish between them. I believe these were first implemented for use in low daylight Scandinavian countries? In most Indian driving conditions, they do not have any other practical purpose other than to make the car look cool. Maybe, we could just tone it down a notch.
Simpler, additional brake rear lights that work only when the DRLs are on.
The best solution - is to simply be aware of what time of the day it is, day or night, and take caution.

Ah, I see this daily. My wife did this once and I corrected her. Simply told her that your car doesn't have DRL's at the rear and for some bad luck if an idiot coming behind your car drives like you (no headlights, only DRLs), then don't call me saying there's been an accident. She's all good now :D.

I make it a point to switch on the headlights when it starts to get dark (even in basements during the day).

Yes, I hate the ones on WRV. I think in most cars, when the headlamps are on the DRLs either dim or will be switched off.

Twenty years ago I had a Chevy Malibu with DRLs. It was not a different light, the headlights was used as DRL at a lesser brightness. However, as the darkless fell, the DRL would brighten to full brightness, and become regular headlights.

So, I didn't turn on the headlights of that car for the entire 30 months of ownership. :D

Why can't the modern cars have this technology from the 90s?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat (Post 4668734)

VAG has thought through this problem and designed it beautifully in my Polo GTI.

Agree, same in my Octavia TSI. Unless the headlights are on Auto mode or they are manually switched on, the instrument cluster backlight does not come on.

While I find it irritating, I can finally understand the rationale behind this logic :)

An even better idea is the 'Scandinavian DRL' concept where the rear lights stay on along with the front DRLs.

On all our modern cars, the instrument cluster is lit up, irrespective of what lights are switched on.

I must admit it caught me out more than once, that I forgot to switch on the light properly.

On our Focus I always leave the light setting to auto. The other day, after a service, I noticed that the technician must have set the switch to just off. Never, noticed it till I actually drove the car into a dark tunnel!

So, yes this needs some more consideration from a user interface point of view.

Jeroen