HID too bright?

[Ry]

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2001-06-07-xenon.htm

[Nizzan]

What the heck? I heard this same story on the local news this evening. The only time that they are too bright is when they (with HID's) are on top of a hill and your down bottom so your getting the full beam in your eye. If they are too bright, look at the road not straight into the lights ya big dummies.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I can hear the law suits being filed as we speak...

[ChuckH]

Don't bother me at all. Like someone in the article said, people will always find something to complain about. Considering how crappy US spec headlights normally are, HID's are the best thing to come along in quite some time. I think it would be really unfortunate if we end up going backwards in lighting technology because of a few whiners. If that happens, cars will once again have lights like my Xterra has with lousy beam patterns and weak output. Yikes! http://66.96.198.147/forum/images/icons/frown.gif

[**DONOTDELETE**]

The reason why people think HID's are "too bright" is because they are awed when they see one and start stairing into them, and thus their eyes hurt afterwords when they stop looking at them...try looking directly into regular headlights your eyes will hurt just as much as they hurt when looking into HID's...
...and plus HID's may have a larger beam of emittence, but that's why the headlights on HID equipped cars are aimed several cm's lower than cars with regular halogen bulb headlights...

[ChuckH]

I think you're right. Once people are adjusted they won't even notice them anymore. I'm actually to that point where they are just another set of headlights. If anything, I find that they are less offensive to look at because of the generally much better pattern they emit which is more on the road and less into oncoming cars. Tell you one thing, if the whiners were to drive a car with HID's, they would never, ever want to go back. I think there is much more risk of an accident from not having good lighting than there is from oncoming lights. Oncoming lights are avoidable by not looking into them...pedestrians and such are not when your lights don't work worth crap!

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I was reading that article you posted and the most amusing part was the lady in the suv complaining. "She's afraid that the glare's bad enough, and the vehicles close enough to each other on winding two-lane roads, that a collision is likely." give me a break, she probably didn't even know that xenons were on the road before someone interviewed her. i guess she doesn't realize that suvs have some of the most powerful halogen lights on the road and with the added height of the suv they are aimed right in the face of a car driver, the added height probably makes her one of the least affected by hid lights. the only glare that has affected me on the road was from the sun. i've seen acura, bmw, and mercedes cars with the hids, actually looked at the headlights cause they were blue and thought how dim they seemed, they looked good though. on the other hand i had an audi tt pull up on side of me and the xenons it had were extremely bright, i think thats because that car had the fog lights and headlights goin. the brightest lights i've seen on the road so far were still the plain halogens, people putting in piaa's or suv lights are more blinding that hids. stop cryin.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

People need something to complain about. This is just like second hand smoke and air pollution, no one has died from it or suffered serious injury but yet it is still a serious problem that the legislature must be tied up with. I noticed with some amusement that most of the complaints came from a female who drove an SUV; I bet it was an Expedition. Not to make any stereotypes but usually the whiniest people are always women who drive Expeditions. It will be unfortunate if automakers and enthusiasts will have to take a step backward because of paranoid, American SUV motorists.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

You know when i fist saw these a few years ago I thought that they were annoying....ya know why, just like someone that stated it before said that they are new and you tend to look at it!
I drive A LOT like over 100,000 miles a year (no lie, job) anyway they aren't bad if you don't stare into them. They are just like any other headlight. Just like somebody posted, your eyes will hurt no matter what headlamp you stare into.
I hate it when people cry and complain about stupid things. Furthermore I can't stand it when people think there should be a law for everything that they don't like. Deal with it and quit starring at it, just like you were told back in Driver's ED.