[naveen.raju]

Here's my list of vehicles that blind other users:

1) Activa
2) Hero impulse or Xpulse?
3) Baleno/Swift LED brake lights
4) Jazz brake lights
5) Honda City headlights
6) Honda WRV LED park lights
and few more.

What I feel is - Manufacturers just add LEDs on to reflector headlights just for that "Hey, we have added more features" drama to excite the common man and do not do any scientific research on how to properly design these to work with LED's. Of course, high beams on all cars will be blinding but low beams of some entry level cars are equally bad.

Had seen an interesting video on YouTube - This car automatically dips the beam when oncoming car is detected (something that we see on high end cars). Something like this should be implemented on all cars else ban improper use of LEDs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwi7fSzhQPM

Courtesy - YouTube

[click]

One of the major reasons I avoid driving once the sun sets. If I have to, I usually wear yellow driving sunglasses to reduce the blinding effect.

Most new cars in Europe have mechanism to dim the light if they detect oncoming traffic. We need similar standards.

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by agbenny

Factory-fitted LED headlamps in Activa 5G/6G are certainly more and unnecessarily brighter, looks after-market and an annoyance. Anybody got the same feel?

Absolutely. These are the worst and due to their popularity, everywhere! Truly a pain. Also, a lot of bikers have fit custom, cheap LED off of Amazon as aux lights which are pointed straight. Those are horrible too. Nothing but a menace on the streets.

[nakul0888]

As somebody who owns cars, all of them with halogen headlights, I cant help myself but want my next car to be one with an LED/HID Projector setup. Regular halogen bulb cars are woefully inadequate in our poorly lit roads in Kerala. Anyone who owns a Polo can attest to that. Here there are sometimes kilometers and kilometers of highway roads totally unlit by anything and I am left with no other choice to put on both high beams and foglamps for good measure, for seeing people, unlit bycycles, potholes, speed breakers...etc.

Oh lord wont you please buy me a car with LED headlamps!!!

[Carpainter]

Originally Posted by nakul0888

As somebody who owns cars, all of them with halogen headlights, I cant help myself but want my next car to be one with an LED/HID Projector setup. Regular halogen bulb cars are woefully inadequate in our poorly lit roads in Kerala. Anyone who owns a Polo can attest to that. Here there are sometimes kilometers and kilometers of highway roads totally unlit by anything and I am left with no other choice to put on both high beams and foglamps for good measure, for seeing people, unlit bycycles, potholes, speed breakers...etc.

Oh lord wont you please buy me a car with LED headlamps!!!

I faced this problem too when I had the Polo. It's not a fault of the technology but a fault of the set up of that particular car. Halogen setups can be useful if the reflector setup is right. If you drive a City or Xuv in low beams you won't be having any such problem I'm sure. This is from my personal experience.

Regarding the topic, I think the problem is not with the OEM LED setups but with our bad driving habits. Any headlamp on high beam can be problematic to oncoming traffic. LEDs probably make it worse because they travel further. I think LED/HID in low beam is not a problem in any car unless it's an aftermarket setup with unscientific throw of light. I think bright tail lamps and brake lights are more irritating in city traffic because they can't be lowered. So it's driving habits and not the technology to blame here.

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by Carpainter

So it's driving habits and not the technology to blame here.

Come on man, I get why people write this, but there are no reasons, emotional or otherwise, to not blame technology, it is after all, a lifeless thing. Besides which one of us doesn't know that its ALWAYS the human being's fault? Specially in a country like India.

Computers are subject to misuse, thats why there is IP tracing and anti-virus, guns are subject to misuse, that's why there is training and licensing, alcohol is being misused that's why the stomach throws it out, but its still ok to blame computers, guns and liquor, they have no feelings.

My thing is this, when I see a glorified truck like the Innova barelling down the road, flashing furiously at me to give way, why didn't Toyota spare a thought to the motorists who have to bear its painful, white light with unnaturally fast flashing that WILL cause fits to people who've a history of seizures? Audi lights are so beautiful and attention grabbing, yet they dont need to announce from 2 miles away by showing a white supernova exploding like Mercedes headlights do. When will the people realize that blaming the product is perhaps, the ONLY way to create change in this day and age?

Have we become so blind (due to opposing LED/HID) that we jump into the pits, sleeves rolled up ready to bash any car brand due to lack of safety but we keep hush on this equally dangerous safety/health issue while on the road?

[ibisbrew]

It would all still be so much more bearable if most people had the sense of using low-beams on well lit highways, or even major city roads.

The worst experience, that makes me absolutely hate my life is a facelifted Fortuner, on * high - beams * and tailing me. Even a dimmed IRVM is rendered useless, not to mention the glare from both ORVM's pouring into the car. Add to that another high-beam user coming from ahead and it's a recipe for disaster.

It is true, that it's a bad positive feedback loop that makes high-beams necessary. But I still try to switch to low beams as much as I can to help oncoming traffic.

In an ideal world, all vehicles would have adaptive LED's, perhaps they should be a mandated feature, in the interest of road safety.

[IP_Man]

LED tech, practically replaced filament and florescent lamps in our modern homes but IMHO LED headlamps are not very successful in cars esp. white LED headlamps. They don't have sufficient road illumination and their glare is very annoying for the oncoming traffic.

Projector headlamps have very sharp light cutoff for the low beam that may not show people crossing the road or vehicles that don't have tale lamp and reflector. Also, for the undivided road, if oncoming vehicle is on high beam, it will be suicide to switch your car to low beam. Having said this, always take first initiative to switch to low beam and always switch to low beam for the oncoming motorcycles.

[MinivanDriver]

I have a different take on this than most posters in this thread. I drive an old model car with halogen headlamps. I am short sighted and have astigmatism as well. So I drive with glasses. It is extremely blinding for me when faced with oncoming high beam headlights. However what I have noticed is that I am much less troubled by OEM led headlights like Honda city than by halogen high beams. I don't know the scientific reason behind it. But I find it much easier to spot dividers in the road and other dark details when faced with oncoming led headlamps when compared to halogen. I am guessing this is due to the lower diffusion(I am not sure this is the correct term) from proper OEM led headlights.

[ZenMaster]

While we blame LEDs and bad driving habits In states like Kerala, people are forced to drive with their high beams on because of the amazing non-existant street lighting on our Two-lane "Highways" (one lane for each direction) beautifully garnished with potholes based on totally unscientific road design, that suddenly keeps broadening and narrowing within a few 100 metres, gutters on either side (some are closed, but some are open on the same strech of road), no reflector markings, Unmarked dividers that suddenly pop up for no reason (that are invisible at night) and trucks and buses whose low beams also project straight into our eyes because they are so high.

[DicKy]

Four-five years ago during my MBA days, coming home for the weekend, if there was a flash of lightening I would pray it wasn't some sneakily placed speed cam going off.
Big relief replaced by anger, it would be a German Big3 trying to kiss my rear bumper.

But then, they would be flashing to overtake. Not glaring incoming traffic.

Then came the Toyota wave. But again, flash to overtake and they are off.

Then the real pain started with the Nexa wave democratising it.

But it was nothing compared to the well intended but pain in the eye AHO DRLs implemented for all 2 wheelers.
Overnight all Raj, Hari and Manoj started to ride with their headlights ON, even if theirs was pre- BS4.
Add to that, most mass market 2 wheelers straight from the showrooms come with misaligned, wrongly focussed headlights aimed at the head of coconut tress than the road.

Even during bright daylight, these LED lights of Activas and gang get annoying even on the RVMs.

But the last straw was Dzire getting LED projectors.
No offence to owners, but the Dzire uncles are notorious to drive with high-beam ON all the time. Low beam doesn't exist for these guys. And now Maruti gave LED projectors for them to play with.

Agree with other members, there should be some sort of regulation before things get out of hand and the Milords start their overreach and ban stuff.

[sunsetorange]

LED lights are quite useful for the intended purpose, which is to give a more focussed beam at a lower power consumption.

They are abused by 2 main types of people-

Show offs- who want to show off that they have bought a new car with bright white lights and drive around town with only their DRLs on. They are more of irritants.

Bullies - You are going down a highway, keeping to your lane , when all of a sudden someone creeps up on you and tries to pulverise your central and peripheral vision by flashing their LED headlights into your IRVM and ORVMs at a manic frequency! Some people might throw seizures with such lights or just crash into the median. You are left with no option but to either speed up and put some distance between the two of you or to let the bully get past you and be done with them. These are mostly the Toyotas ( Innova/ Fortuner) or the newer Mercs.

I just make way for them.

[Hemi6.2]

LED/HID headlights are those features which I am thankful haven't made into mainstream like the western part of the world.
On our roads, the more problematic are the new gen Activas with their LED headlights, once one of them is behind your vehicle, it makes frustrating to drive when their lights constantly shine in the rear view mirrors of my car.

[Yash98]

As several members have said, OEM LED/HID Headlights were primarily introduced to aid visibility and they do a pretty good job of that. However, the problem is not so much their "misuse" but rather they cause issues to other motorists by their very design. The problem is not restricted to India because even in the US, I have faced similar issues with HID/LED headlights and it is fairly rare to have someone driving with their high beams ON while passing you.

It seems that the way these lights are designed they do blind the oncoming drivers to some extent, as I have experienced several times where I mistakenly assumed that the vehicle was on its high beams and flashed my highs to notify them. This was greeted by a violent flash of the high beams by some motorists.

Hence, maybe the angle/design of the LED's and HID's on some vehicles need modification so they focus more on the road and less at oncoming vehicles to solve this problem

[Sen]

A good read I remember going through a few years ago:

https://thelogicalindian.com/story-f...gh-beam-light/

It's all down to how society thinks. Doing the right thing, not always easy.

Frankly, I dip my high beam at all times when visibility is needed on the road for oncoming traffic, until that one bumbling idiot comes in, high beams burning a hole into my eyes and having no option but to slow down, turn my head away and use the corner of my eyes to stay on the road with little of it visible.