The Importance of Daylight Running Lamps and Headlights

Many insurance companies offer discounts on vehicles that are equipped with daylight running lamps, which can provide an added layer of safety while driving at night. Most Americans know that the average car has two headlight modes: low beam and high beams. Low beam is a less intense light that helps you see anywhere from two to three hundred feet in front of you, while driving at night. When we realize that's the length of a football field, it might seem like a powerful light source for low beams. However, there's something to consider: when traveling at 60 miles an hour, it takes 3.4 seconds to completely cover that distance, making those low Reams not as impressive as they may seem.

The High Beam Debate

On the other hand, high beam headlights project lighting anywhere between 350 to 500 feet, depending on the lighting system's specification. If you think brighter light makes driving safe, that's both true and false, depending on the situation. In general, high beams are the safe way to go when driving on highways or rural roads with no oncoming traffic within 500 feet. However, they can be less safe in certain situations, such as foggy or rainy weather conditions. The brighter light from high beams can bounce off fog, snowflakes, or raindrops in the air, turning them into millions of tiny mirrors that direct the light directly into our eyes - not a pleasant experience and certainly not safe.

The Dangers of High Beams on Oncoming Traffic

When we see oncoming traffic within 500 feet, it's actually less safe to use high beams because they're so bright. Shining those blinding lights onto oncoming traffic as they drive past us is not only poor driving etiquette but also plain dangerous. It's not unlike how you feel when someone flashes a super bright flashlight in your face - uncomfortable and potentially hazardous.

Restoring Your Car's Headlights

Did you know that restoring your car's headlights can help increase its resale value? Yes, it can! Most states have motor vehicle laws that require switching off high beams within 500 feet of oncoming traffic. Restoring your headlights yourself at home can be done for about ten dollars a headlight. To start with 400 grit sandpaper or 600 if your headlights aren't too bad, tape around the whole edge of the headlight to prevent scratches. Spray the headlight and sandpaper with water, which serves as a lubricant to prevent deep scratches. Use a swirling motion and sand horizontally, lightly using the Sandpaper. Make sure to always keep the surface of the headlight wet.

Using Alcohol in Headlight Restoration

Another crucial step in restoring your headlights is drying it with alcohol. The reason why you want to use alcohol is because it will remove any oils from your hands that may have gotten under the lens, as well as make the lens dry quickly since it evaporates rapidly. Cut up a garbage bag to cover the entire front of your car and tape it down so it stays nice and tight. Then cut out a hole for the headlight, and repeat the process with 600 grit sandpaper, followed by an alcohol wipe. After that, follow the instructions on your clear coat spray, which may require three coats, waiting five minutes after each coat.

The Future of Headlights: Matrix LED Technology

Headlights are also evolving to become more advanced. Some car makers are developing Matrix LED headlights that can adapt themselves to oncoming traffic. These headlights use a digital micro mirror device or DMD to redirect the LED light to screen out oncoming cars, thereby avoiding driver blindness. Audi's Matrix lights, for example, utilize this technology, featuring a digital micro mirror device (DMD) with up to a million micro mirrors that can direct the LED light to the road or an absorber. This system can even adjust the light according to steering input data during cornering.

The Rise of Smaller and Narrower Headlights

Experts also expect headlights to become smaller and narrower in the future. Toyota's adaptive AHS system, for instance, controls a series of LEDs individually based on the driving environment. The LED array detects vehicles ahead via an onboard camera and adjusts the beams according to the car's location. It can even optimize headlight coverage depending on the car's speed and driving environment at low speeds.

Conclusion

Headlights are not just about brightness; they're also about safety, visibility, and functionality. By understanding how headlights work and maintaining them properly, we can ensure our vehicles remain safe and efficient on the road. Whether it's using daylight running lamps, restoring our headlights ourselves, or embracing innovative technologies like Matrix LED, there's always room for improvement in the world of headlights.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: entoday we're looking at why car headlights are getting even brighter but why that's actually a very dangerous thing I'll explain the difference between lumens Watson Kelvin and I'll also talk about different types of headlight bulbs I'll also show you how to easily adjust your headlights yourself lastly if you want to increase your car's resale value I'll show you how to permanently restore your headlights for just 10 bucks each here's the problem last year GM issued recall that impacted over 740 000 crossovers in the U.S and 85 000 of them in Canada apparently the headlight beams on the impact of cars are too bright and caused glare for oncoming drivers in addition in some cases daylight running lights weren't deactivating when headlights were on which could cause extra glare also headlights on GMC Terrain models from 2010 to 2017 had a glitch that caused them to shine brightly on the side of the card at an angle that was up to 45 degrees that resulted in the terrain's headlights being three times too bright GM defended Itself by stating at a dead angle the Stray bright reflection couldn't really blind anyone now let me shed some more light on headlight problems like these many different factors can contribute to headlights being too bright from a mechanical standpoint it's possible that headlights could be too bright for themselves for example some sellers have cheap aftermarket LED bulbs Market them as being 999 lumens or some other unrealistic number just debate consumers the problem is some consumers think that the more lumens the better but they don't realize that those lights are way too bright and unnecessary in fact oftentimes super bright ones quickly overheat and can damage your headlight housing and cost you hundreds of dollars what you should do instead is look for LED bulbs that have cooling systems to prevent overheating another contributing factor to the blinding headlights epidemic is that SUVs and Pickups have taller bodies this means their headlights are higher oftentimes more at the eye level of a driver in a standard passenger car like a sedan add to the fact that some state vehicle inspections don't adjust the position of headlights the thing is after a couple of years on the road headlights can easily be bumped and changed the direction of the light they shine out one study found that around 10 percent of the car is an incorrectly positioned headlights now 10 might not sound like a big deal but believe it or not that 10 percent has been responsible for causing between three to thirty percent more glare than nhg CSA allows so let's say you realize your headlights are out of whack did you know you can properly adjust them yourself it'll just take 30 minutes or up to an hour if you slow first find a place with a level ground and a clean wall like a garage for example then pull your car up against the wall and turn on your low beams take some tape and mark the center of the car on the wall next try to find the horizontal middle of each headlight and Mark that on the wall using the tape then Mark the vertical Center Line of each headlight with the tape get back in your car and then back it up 25 feet now look at the lights on the wall you should see your lights around two inches lower than a tape Mark and slightly to the right a side note if you live in a country where drivers driving the left well in that case your headlights would need to be slightly to the left anyway if your headlights do not line up accordingly then pop open your hood and look at the top of the headlight typically you should see two screws one is for vertical adjustment the others for horizontal adjustments with your car still pointing at the wall adjust your headlights accordingly we can't talk about Headlights without talking about lumens headlights are measured in lumens basically it's a unit of measurement that tells you how light impacts the central part of the eye that's more sensitive to higher wavelength the red or light compared to lower wavelengths Bluer light since lumens don't count blue light Bluer lights tend to feel a lot brighter before they register is equal in lumens that's why if you were to put a halogen an LED light side by side the Lumen light meter will tell you that they're the same but your eyes will tell you the LED light looks about 40 percent brighter lumens is different from watts and Kelvin which are two other measurements you'll see associated with lights put simply lumens measures brightness Watts measures energy use not light output so what's Kelvin well let's say you wanted to buy a security light for your home in that case Kelvin would be important Kelvin is a measurement that's used to describe the color temperature of a light source the higher the temperature in Kelvin the cooler color will be the lower temperature and Calvin the warmer a color will be so why is color temperature important basically light operates on a color spectrum the spectrum is determined by the temperature of the light so cut torch in a welding shop for example can reach up to 5000 degree Fahrenheit or 3033.15 degrees Kelvin if you took that same temperature and projected that light onto a wall the collar comes out would be the same color as the flame on a welding torch with car headlights the maximum walks rating or number of lumens per square meter is how we determine brightness the best and most visible light is right in the center of the spectrum that's why good LED bulbs are typically offered in a cool white color then their HID headlights this stands for high intensity discharge these are brighter than standard headlights HID bulbs contain a gas called Xenon and they don't have a filament like typical halogen bulbs xenon gas lights up when an electric current is passed through it and that's how it creates a much brighter glow problem is these bulbs don't last that long ideal HID bulb has a temperature between 4 300 and 6000 degree Kelvin otherwise known as pure white light anything higher than 6000 Kelvin will produce a more blue tone light and if you go all the way up to 10 000 Kelvin you're looking at a deep dark and dangerous blue light halogen lights are kind of an incandescent light we're talking Old School Technology here with halogen headlight there's a filament that sits in Halogen gas and when the current passes through it it causes light to emit it then pushes it through a projector lens and onto the road if you see a car that emits a yellowish color like that isn't very bright most likely it's halogen on the positive side halogen headlights are rather cheap and easy to find they're a lot more inefficient compared to LED headlights and don't last very long in fact LED headlights are about 10 times more efficient than halogen ones there are also laser headlights yeah you heard me right laser headlights basically you have three blue lasers that go with your side of mirrors then they get fired through a lens that is yellow phosphorus which reacts and emits a white light that's 10 times brighter than the LEDs since that's too bright to shine directly on the roads it's put through a diffuser which you end up with a car at like they're still so powerful you can see close to 2 000 feet in front of your car did you know that your headlight can impact your insurance rates take daytime running lights for example trls never turn off basically they're less powerful lights that are always on whenever a vehicle is running the purpose of drls is to make a vehicle more visible during daylight hours when you're not using the main headlights or tail lights these lights have been available here in the States since 1995. GM is an example of a car maker that implements drls in all its Vehicles other car makers have optional drls and others don't offer them at all the thing is domestically here in the U.S drls aren't legally required that said most new vehicles on the market today do contain drls if you're looking for a discount on your next car you should know that many insurance companies offer discounts on vehicles that are equipped with daylight running lamps most Americans know that the average car has two headlight modes low beam and high beams low beam is a less intense light that helps you see anywhere from two to three hundred feet in front of you while driving at night when you realize that's the length of a football field you might be inclined to think yeah it's pretty powerful for low beams but here's the thing when you're traveling at 60 miles an hour it takes 3.4 seconds to completely cover that distance so now those low Reams don't seem so impressive anymore do they then there's the high beam which projects lighting anywhere between 350 to 500 feet it depends on your lighting system's specification if you think brighter light makes your driving safe well that's both true and false depending on the situation if you're on the highway or Rural Road with no oncoming traffic within 500 feet then yes high beams are the safe way to go since you have more visibility but high beams can be less safe in fact dangerous in certain situations for example high beams are actually less effective in certain weather conditions the brighter light from high beams bounces off fog snowflakes or raindrops in the air turns them into millions of tiny mirrors all that light is them directly reflected into your eyes not fun and also not safe also when you see oncoming traffic within 500 feet it's actually less safe to use your high beams because they're so bright shining those blinding lights on to oncoming traffic as they drive past you is not only poor driving etiquette it's plain dangerous just recall how you feel when someone flashes a super bright flashlight in your face in fact for these reasons Most states of Motor Vehicle Laws are require you to switch off your high beams within 500 feet of oncoming traffic not many people know this but if you want to increase your car's resale value restoring your car's headlights can help believe it or not you can restore your headlights yourself at home for about ten dollars a headlight start with 400 grit sandpaper or 600 if your headlights aren't too bad tape around the whole edge of the headlight leave a good barrier so you don't scratch your paint spray the headlight and sandpaper with water the water is a lubricant to prevent deep scratches starting a swirling motion and sand horizontally as you lightly use the Sandpaper make sure to always keep the surface of the headlight wet don't forget to get into the edge then repeat the process with 600 grit sandpaper next wipe down the headlight with a paper towel repeat the wet sanding process with the 2000 grit sandpaper then dry it with a paper towel then put some alcohol in a paper towel and wipe off the headlight the reason why you want to use alcohol is because it will remove any oils from your hands that may have gotten under the lens plus alcohol will also make the lens dry well since it evaporates quickly then cut up a garbage bag to cover the entire front of your car and tape it down so it stays nice and tight then cut out a hole for the headlight tape around the headlight wiper alcohol one more time and let it dry after it dries follow the instructions on your clear coat spray and spray the headlight three coats waiting five minutes after he's cooked then wait 24 hours for the paint to dry you could also wet sand the headlight with wax well there you are good as new well the future headlights is looking pretty bright more car makers these days are developing Matrix LED headlights these headlights adapt themselves to oncoming traffic since the 1950s cars have been able to use a light receptor that automatically dips their lights when other cars approach but Matrix headlights are able to redirect light to screen out oncoming cars that helps to avoid the driver from being blinded take a look at Audi's Matrix lights for example these headlights use a digital micro mirror device or DMD for sure this DMD is up to a million micro mirrors that can direct the LED light to the road or to an absorber its system can use steering input data to direct light to the left or right during cornering and it can even display patterns on the ground when the vehicle is stationary history experts also expect to see headlights continue to get smaller and narrower take Toyota's adaptive AHS system for example the system controls a series of LEDs individually according to the driving environment the LED array detects Vehicles ahead via the onboard camera and adjust the beams according to the car's location it can also optimize headlight coverage depending on the car's speed and driving environment at low speeds the beams can cover a wider area with lower light but now you tell me you think headlights are getting too bright please share by commenting below if you like this video please like share and subscribe thanks for your support foreigntoday we're looking at why car headlights are getting even brighter but why that's actually a very dangerous thing I'll explain the difference between lumens Watson Kelvin and I'll also talk about different types of headlight bulbs I'll also show you how to easily adjust your headlights yourself lastly if you want to increase your car's resale value I'll show you how to permanently restore your headlights for just 10 bucks each here's the problem last year GM issued recall that impacted over 740 000 crossovers in the U.S and 85 000 of them in Canada apparently the headlight beams on the impact of cars are too bright and caused glare for oncoming drivers in addition in some cases daylight running lights weren't deactivating when headlights were on which could cause extra glare also headlights on GMC Terrain models from 2010 to 2017 had a glitch that caused them to shine brightly on the side of the card at an angle that was up to 45 degrees that resulted in the terrain's headlights being three times too bright GM defended Itself by stating at a dead angle the Stray bright reflection couldn't really blind anyone now let me shed some more light on headlight problems like these many different factors can contribute to headlights being too bright from a mechanical standpoint it's possible that headlights could be too bright for themselves for example some sellers have cheap aftermarket LED bulbs Market them as being 999 lumens or some other unrealistic number just debate consumers the problem is some consumers think that the more lumens the better but they don't realize that those lights are way too bright and unnecessary in fact oftentimes super bright ones quickly overheat and can damage your headlight housing and cost you hundreds of dollars what you should do instead is look for LED bulbs that have cooling systems to prevent overheating another contributing factor to the blinding headlights epidemic is that SUVs and Pickups have taller bodies this means their headlights are higher oftentimes more at the eye level of a driver in a standard passenger car like a sedan add to the fact that some state vehicle inspections don't adjust the position of headlights the thing is after a couple of years on the road headlights can easily be bumped and changed the direction of the light they shine out one study found that around 10 percent of the car is an incorrectly positioned headlights now 10 might not sound like a big deal but believe it or not that 10 percent has been responsible for causing between three to thirty percent more glare than nhg CSA allows so let's say you realize your headlights are out of whack did you know you can properly adjust them yourself it'll just take 30 minutes or up to an hour if you slow first find a place with a level ground and a clean wall like a garage for example then pull your car up against the wall and turn on your low beams take some tape and mark the center of the car on the wall next try to find the horizontal middle of each headlight and Mark that on the wall using the tape then Mark the vertical Center Line of each headlight with the tape get back in your car and then back it up 25 feet now look at the lights on the wall you should see your lights around two inches lower than a tape Mark and slightly to the right a side note if you live in a country where drivers driving the left well in that case your headlights would need to be slightly to the left anyway if your headlights do not line up accordingly then pop open your hood and look at the top of the headlight typically you should see two screws one is for vertical adjustment the others for horizontal adjustments with your car still pointing at the wall adjust your headlights accordingly we can't talk about Headlights without talking about lumens headlights are measured in lumens basically it's a unit of measurement that tells you how light impacts the central part of the eye that's more sensitive to higher wavelength the red or light compared to lower wavelengths Bluer light since lumens don't count blue light Bluer lights tend to feel a lot brighter before they register is equal in lumens that's why if you were to put a halogen an LED light side by side the Lumen light meter will tell you that they're the same but your eyes will tell you the LED light looks about 40 percent brighter lumens is different from watts and Kelvin which are two other measurements you'll see associated with lights put simply lumens measures brightness Watts measures energy use not light output so what's Kelvin well let's say you wanted to buy a security light for your home in that case Kelvin would be important Kelvin is a measurement that's used to describe the color temperature of a light source the higher the temperature in Kelvin the cooler color will be the lower temperature and Calvin the warmer a color will be so why is color temperature important basically light operates on a color spectrum the spectrum is determined by the temperature of the light so cut torch in a welding shop for example can reach up to 5000 degree Fahrenheit or 3033.15 degrees Kelvin if you took that same temperature and projected that light onto a wall the collar comes out would be the same color as the flame on a welding torch with car headlights the maximum walks rating or number of lumens per square meter is how we determine brightness the best and most visible light is right in the center of the spectrum that's why good LED bulbs are typically offered in a cool white color then their HID headlights this stands for high intensity discharge these are brighter than standard headlights HID bulbs contain a gas called Xenon and they don't have a filament like typical halogen bulbs xenon gas lights up when an electric current is passed through it and that's how it creates a much brighter glow problem is these bulbs don't last that long ideal HID bulb has a temperature between 4 300 and 6000 degree Kelvin otherwise known as pure white light anything higher than 6000 Kelvin will produce a more blue tone light and if you go all the way up to 10 000 Kelvin you're looking at a deep dark and dangerous blue light halogen lights are kind of an incandescent light we're talking Old School Technology here with halogen headlight there's a filament that sits in Halogen gas and when the current passes through it it causes light to emit it then pushes it through a projector lens and onto the road if you see a car that emits a yellowish color like that isn't very bright most likely it's halogen on the positive side halogen headlights are rather cheap and easy to find they're a lot more inefficient compared to LED headlights and don't last very long in fact LED headlights are about 10 times more efficient than halogen ones there are also laser headlights yeah you heard me right laser headlights basically you have three blue lasers that go with your side of mirrors then they get fired through a lens that is yellow phosphorus which reacts and emits a white light that's 10 times brighter than the LEDs since that's too bright to shine directly on the roads it's put through a diffuser which you end up with a car at like they're still so powerful you can see close to 2 000 feet in front of your car did you know that your headlight can impact your insurance rates take daytime running lights for example trls never turn off basically they're less powerful lights that are always on whenever a vehicle is running the purpose of drls is to make a vehicle more visible during daylight hours when you're not using the main headlights or tail lights these lights have been available here in the States since 1995. GM is an example of a car maker that implements drls in all its Vehicles other car makers have optional drls and others don't offer them at all the thing is domestically here in the U.S drls aren't legally required that said most new vehicles on the market today do contain drls if you're looking for a discount on your next car you should know that many insurance companies offer discounts on vehicles that are equipped with daylight running lamps most Americans know that the average car has two headlight modes low beam and high beams low beam is a less intense light that helps you see anywhere from two to three hundred feet in front of you while driving at night when you realize that's the length of a football field you might be inclined to think yeah it's pretty powerful for low beams but here's the thing when you're traveling at 60 miles an hour it takes 3.4 seconds to completely cover that distance so now those low Reams don't seem so impressive anymore do they then there's the high beam which projects lighting anywhere between 350 to 500 feet it depends on your lighting system's specification if you think brighter light makes your driving safe well that's both true and false depending on the situation if you're on the highway or Rural Road with no oncoming traffic within 500 feet then yes high beams are the safe way to go since you have more visibility but high beams can be less safe in fact dangerous in certain situations for example high beams are actually less effective in certain weather conditions the brighter light from high beams bounces off fog snowflakes or raindrops in the air turns them into millions of tiny mirrors all that light is them directly reflected into your eyes not fun and also not safe also when you see oncoming traffic within 500 feet it's actually less safe to use your high beams because they're so bright shining those blinding lights on to oncoming traffic as they drive past you is not only poor driving etiquette it's plain dangerous just recall how you feel when someone flashes a super bright flashlight in your face in fact for these reasons Most states of Motor Vehicle Laws are require you to switch off your high beams within 500 feet of oncoming traffic not many people know this but if you want to increase your car's resale value restoring your car's headlights can help believe it or not you can restore your headlights yourself at home for about ten dollars a headlight start with 400 grit sandpaper or 600 if your headlights aren't too bad tape around the whole edge of the headlight leave a good barrier so you don't scratch your paint spray the headlight and sandpaper with water the water is a lubricant to prevent deep scratches starting a swirling motion and sand horizontally as you lightly use the Sandpaper make sure to always keep the surface of the headlight wet don't forget to get into the edge then repeat the process with 600 grit sandpaper next wipe down the headlight with a paper towel repeat the wet sanding process with the 2000 grit sandpaper then dry it with a paper towel then put some alcohol in a paper towel and wipe off the headlight the reason why you want to use alcohol is because it will remove any oils from your hands that may have gotten under the lens plus alcohol will also make the lens dry well since it evaporates quickly then cut up a garbage bag to cover the entire front of your car and tape it down so it stays nice and tight then cut out a hole for the headlight tape around the headlight wiper alcohol one more time and let it dry after it dries follow the instructions on your clear coat spray and spray the headlight three coats waiting five minutes after he's cooked then wait 24 hours for the paint to dry you could also wet sand the headlight with wax well there you are good as new well the future headlights is looking pretty bright more car makers these days are developing Matrix LED headlights these headlights adapt themselves to oncoming traffic since the 1950s cars have been able to use a light receptor that automatically dips their lights when other cars approach but Matrix headlights are able to redirect light to screen out oncoming cars that helps to avoid the driver from being blinded take a look at Audi's Matrix lights for example these headlights use a digital micro mirror device or DMD for sure this DMD is up to a million micro mirrors that can direct the LED light to the road or to an absorber its system can use steering input data to direct light to the left or right during cornering and it can even display patterns on the ground when the vehicle is stationary history experts also expect to see headlights continue to get smaller and narrower take Toyota's adaptive AHS system for example the system controls a series of LEDs individually according to the driving environment the LED array detects Vehicles ahead via the onboard camera and adjust the beams according to the car's location it can also optimize headlight coverage depending on the car's speed and driving environment at low speeds the beams can cover a wider area with lower light but now you tell me you think headlights are getting too bright please share by commenting below if you like this video please like share and subscribe thanks for your support foreign\n"