Automotive Lighting Improvement, or not ??

[ri702bill 9,022]

Back in the 1980's & 90's all the luxury "Land Yachts" had functional cornering lights. At night, with you directional on, the proper side lamp came on, the headlights stayed on during the turn.

Fast forward to the 2020's - cars have factory LED or HID headlights. The cornering lights are long gone. The issue is that with the headlights on, you activate the directional and the headlight on that side goes DARK !! A WTF senario to me. The only forward illumination you have is the headlight on the farside & the intermittent flashing of the amber directional.... Once the directional is cancelled, the dark headlight comes back on - after taking its sweet time.

I guess you have to look for a vehicle with huge directional lights.... of be like a BMW driver and never use it....  Progress ???

[Achto 28,829]

52 minutes ago, ri702bill said:

The issue is that with the headlights on, you activate the directional and the headlight on that side goes DARK !! A WTF senario to me.

 

I have only seen this with the day time head lights, but never at night. Our Cherokee and Ram both have daytime head lights. The head lamp on the side with the directional on will shut off during the day. At night both headlights stay on even with a directional on. I think the headlight going out during the day is meant to bring other drivers attention to your directional.

 

I think both our vehicle's have a light switch & a dimmer switch.  Not really sure, set them in "Auto" when we bought them and let the vehicles do that part of the thinkin' for me. 

Edited Thursday at 02:14 PM by Achto

[Handy Don 13,373]

17 minutes ago, Achto said:

 

I have only seen this with the day time head lights, but never at night. Our Cherokee and Ram both have daytime head lights. The head lamp on the side with the directional on will shut off during the day. At night both headlights stay on even with a directional on.

 

I think both vehicle's have a light switch & a dimmer switch.  Not really sure, set them in "Auto" when we bought them and let the vehicles do that part of the thinkin' for me. 

Same for me on the ’22 Volvo with one addition--when I turn the steering wheel at night, a portion of the headlight beam moves toward the turn in proportion to the amount of steering input and the inside fog light illuminates. There are even a couple of “cutouts” in the headlight beam that indicate the track the car will follow. Pretty slick.

In a similar vein, I remember the “auto dimming” sensors on my (wealthy) uncle’s Caddies and Lincolns. The Volvo has something similar but it also dims the highs when reaching an area with overhead streetlights or when getting in radar range of a car ahead!

I might add here that there isn’t a single incandescent lamp in the entire vehicle--LEDs throughout. 

Edited Thursday at 02:19 PM by Handy Don

[Achto 28,829]

4 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

The Volvo has something similar but it also dims the highs when reaching an area with overhead streetlights or when getting in radar range of a car ahead!

 

The auto dimming feature is a love hate thing with me. Sometimes they will dim and I'm wondering why, there's nothing around except maybe a bright yard light or maybe a white street sign. If the car in front of me has dim tail lights then they seem to wait longer to dim than I would expect. I've learned just to let them do what they want to do. 

[Handy Don 13,373]

7 hours ago, Achto said:

a bright yard light or maybe a white street sign.

Being a bit geeky, as some members may have noticed, I researched this a while back. The software in the Volvo reacts to a large difference in brightness somewhere within the video image from the front camera. A highly reflective street sign or a yard post light can create that.

Integrating the radar (normally part of the adaptive cruise control) was a very clever addition, IMHO. 

I highly suspect that as these features have become somewhat commoditized, that many vehicle makers are buying the software/sensor stuff from only a few sources so behaviors across brands becomes pretty similar. 

Edited Thursday at 10:22 PM by Handy Don

[8ntruck 7,416]

We've got a Ram, a Cherokee, and a Pacifica.  I've noticed that the fog/driving light on the side where the turn signal is flashing comes on, acting as a cornering light.

 

I know for sure this happens on the Pacifica and Cherokee.  The Ram being a 2015 model and a lower trim option may not have this feature.

[ri702bill 9,022]

2 hours ago, Handy Don said:

there isn’t a single incandescent lamp in the entire vehicle--LEDs throughout. 

Yup, the inky-dinkys are going the way of the Buggy Whip and cars with hand crank starters....

[Wayne0 956]

8 hours ago, ri702bill said:

Back in the 1980's & 90's all the luxury "Land Yachts" had functional cornering lights. At night, with you directional on, the proper side lamp came on, the headlights stayed on during the turn.

Fast forward to the 2020's - cars have factory LED or HID headlights. The cornering lights are long gone. The issue is that with the headlights on, you activate the directional and the headlight on that side goes DARK !! A WTF senario to me. The only forward illumination you have is the headlight on the farside & the intermittent flashing of the amber directional.... Once the directional is cancelled, the dark headlight comes back on - after taking its sweet time.

I guess you have to look for a vehicle with huge directional lights.... of be like a BMW driver and never use it....  Progress ???

Actually, it's the DRL (Daytime running light) that shuts off. If the actual head lights are on, they stay on.

[953 nut 58,123]

Everything old is new again.    Right after World War Two Tucker automobiles had a center headlight that turned on and followed the steering gear as a turn was made.

 

[Handy Don 13,373]

4 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

Everything old is new again.    Right after World War Two Tucker automobiles had a center headlight that turned on and followed the steering gear as a turn was made.

Others did follow, but until recently, all were operated by a mechanical linkage. The newest (in Europe these are already allowed) use LED arrays with segmented beam  areas that can even leave high beam on but NOT blinding an oncoming driver.

Sigh, these are still banned in the US (only Rivian has so far managed to get such a system that complies with US regulations). 

[adsm08 2,737]

10 hours ago, ri702bill said:

The issue is that with the headlights on, you activate the directional and the headlight on that side goes DARK !! A WTF senario to me.

 

The issue is that the headlights have gotten so bright that if you don't kill if while the turn signal is on oncoming traffic can't see the turn signal.

 

 

[nylyon-(Admin) 7,528]

1 hour ago, Handy Don said:

Others did follow, but until recently, all were operated by a mechanical linkage. The newest (in Europe these are already allowed) use LED arrays with segmented beam  areas that can even leave high beam on but NOT blinding an oncoming driver.

Sigh, these are still banned in the US (only Rivian has so far managed to get such a system that complies with US regulations). 

 

My wife’s Audi has LED Matrix lights but they are disabled for US market.  Hopefully they allow them, then a simple software upgrade and they’re enabled.

[8ntruck 7,416]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that some of the Cords had headlights tracked with steering.

[HyperPete 583]

My Yamaha FJR1300ES (motorcycle) has cornering lights that are activated by lean angle.

They are extremely helpful!

 

 

[SylvanLakeWH 27,634]

Both our 2023 Subaru's have headlights that track with steering... very helpful at night.

[midpack 975]

1 hour ago, SylvanLakeWH said:

Both our 2023 Subaru's have headlights that track with steering... very helpful at night.

Our Mazda has that too

[rmaynard 15,937]

1 hour ago, SylvanLakeWH said:

Both our 2023 Subaru's have headlights that track with steering... very helpful at night.

Our 2024 Subaru has steering responsive headlights. My wife doesn't drive at night, so she doesn't notice any difference. I have found that after driving for 60 years without SRH, I don't see any advantage. Luckily Subaru has provided an option for disabling them. Subaru so far is smart enough to keep turn signals a reasonable distance from other lights. Auto dimming is sketchy though. Sometimes I feel like they wait too long to dim, other times the stay dimmed even when there is no oncoming vehicles. Again, Subaru gives you choices. A lot of people have said that the new LED lights are too bright, but they don't bother me. 

[Beap52 1,207]

You all are talking light years ahead of me.  

 

My wife's 2016 Dodge Durango has a head light out.  The selection at Orielly's is almost overwhelming with all of the replacement options. I think I upgraded from the factory originals and will replace both to be sure they are the same hue and brightness.  

[ML3 1,469]

My Ford Focus, Chevrolet Colorado, & Cadillac CT4 all have auto dim hi beams. It's a nice feature cause I drive every morning on dark country roads to work. For only having standard bulbs & factory fog lights the illumination of the Focus headlamps is really good. Colorado has led headlamps & fogs, they work good as well. Cadillac is all led & it still has  cornering lamps. They are discreetly hidden in the lower part of the daytime running lamp. They are a nice feature 

[rmaynard 15,937]

16 hours ago, Beap52 said:

You all are talking light years ahead of me.  

 

My wife's 2016 Dodge Durango has a head light out.  The selection at Orielly's is almost overwhelming with all of the replacement options. I think I upgraded from the factory originals and will replace both to be sure they are the same hue and brightness.  

My 2014 Subaru had low beams that always burned out. You had to take the front tire off to replace the bulb. I got tire of that so I replaced them with 20,000 hour LED bulbs.