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Joined 7 months ago
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Cake day: March 3rd, 2024

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  • That definitely plays a part, but there are other bits, too.

    Old sealed beam lamps simply weren’t as bright as halogens or LEDs (or Xenons, for that brief moment in automotive lighting history). Sealed beams didn’t throw out as pure a white light, either, and they were more likely to become badly aimed. Sealed beam reflectors were all the same, no matter what car you put them on; automakers could adjust composite headlights to have whatever beam shape they wanted. All together, you could not see as far when using sealed beams in comparison to newer bulb technologies.

    Back in the mid-1980s, when composite headlights were becoming more common on new cars, highway speeds were simply not as fast. Anecdotally, going 75MPH on the highways in and around Chicago was screaming fast in the 80s. Today, 75MPH on those same highways is slow. Modern cars are simply more capable of safely driving at high speeds, and part of that is because modern headlights are designed to throw whiter light farther. Headlights are brighter.

    Throw some supermassive trucks and SUVs into the mix, where their OEM positioned headlights are higher off the ground, and many of them have big tires or lift kits making that even worse (and where exactly zero people who lift their vehicles also reaim the headlights) - if you’re in a compact or midsize sedan, well, fuck you.