Asleep at the Wheel in the Headlight Brightness Wars
theringer.com
The crusade against bright headlights has picked up speed in recent years, in large part due to a couple of Reddit nerds. Could they know what’s best for the auto industry better than the auto industry itself?
  • stoy@lemmy.zipEnglish
    282·
    1 day ago

    95% of the time I get blinded by an oncomming car’s headlights, it is either a Tesla or a Mercedes.

    The vast majority, it is a Tesla.

    I read somewhere that a Tesla resets their headlight possitioning to the default value after every software update.

    If that is true, I have two responses:

    1. That is fucking dumb.
    2. I wouldn’t be surprised if it would actually be determined to be illegal, though they would probably argue that it is the driver’s responsibility to check their vehicle before driving, which would be a fair argument unless if the car didn’t change the settings on it’s own.
    • skulblakaEnglish
      8·
      1 day ago

      In any state that requires safety inspections that is 100% definitely illegal, proper headlight alignment is one of the things required to be checked to pass an inspection.

      • stoy@lemmy.zipEnglish
        3·
        1 day ago

        The question I had was if the responsibillity would be on the driver or on Tesla.

        • Eheran@lemmy.worldEnglish
          6·
          1 day ago

          Let’s assume the manufacturer actually disabled your brakes with an update or someone cut you break lines clean through and you then still drive around… The driver is at fault. You can not drive around with an unsafe vehicle just because someone else made it so, instead of actively doing it yourself. This goes as far as not noticing that your breaks are simply worn out (loud noise or light on the dash): You are absolutely liable if you fail to notice this.

          With the manipulation it would be different if that would happen while driving, for obvious reasons.

          Generally if you are putting others at risk because you do something: You are liable.

          • stoy@lemmy.zipEnglish
            2·
            18 hours ago

            Exactly, however I would be willing to entertain the posibillity that Tesla would be found guilty of tampering in s separate case.

    • AA5B@lemmy.worldEnglish
      31·
      1 day ago

      Interesting. I always wonder about that for my Tesla. The lights are insanely bright, but there’s also a clear sharp cutoff. I can see my headlights not shining above bumper height on the car in front of me. It seems like it is working as claimed and should not cause glare

      Sure enough, other Tesla’s are the same. There might be a brief flash at certain angles but in general Tesla headlights are easy on the eyes.

      Same with Audi …… except some seem stuck on high beam

      It’s other cars. I don’t know if people just drive with high beams on, or trucks have headlights too far off the ground, or people replace their old style bulbs with LED, without replacing the projectors