It’s not just you: Why headlights seem way brighter than they used to
When driving at night or in the rain have you ever asked yourself, “Are some vehicles’ headlights getting brighter?”
We’ve spoken to some experts that admit you’re not crazy for thinking that, but the issue might not be what we think it is.
Mark Rea is a light scientist based in the US who assures us that the LED headlights we are seeing on the roads more often “definitely appear brighter.”
“There’s no question about that,” the professor and former director of the Lighting Research Centre said.
LED lights typically seen on newer cars tend to have a blueish hue over the yellowish halogen lamps that many older vehicles are sporting and even though there’s a difference between them, he says these lights are being measured exactly the same.
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“So, first of all, the measurement technique is wrong,” he explained.
“The difference between LED and halogen, which is the traditional [light source for headlights] is that… the relative energy at each wavelength band is different,” he said. “Now the problem is — and it’s what’s been ignored — is that when we measure it… we’re using a sensor that is biased, to be more sensitive to halogen than it is to the LEDs.”
“So, the measurement procedure simply throws away that energy in short wavelengths that the eye is sensitive to,” he said.
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We asked Canada’s federal automotive industry regulator, Transport Canada, to weigh in.
Transport Canada confirmed that there are regulations in place that specify “the brightness in candelas for all devices emitting a light source.” But, it added that “the type of light source has no impact on the requirements.”
Simply put, Transport Canada measures old and newer headlights in the same way. The measurement does not change for LEDs.
Why is that a problem? Well, according to Rea, if we were to equate the difference in terms of the measured light, LEDs would look about 60% brighter.
Size also matters
Not only do they appear brighter, but if a vehicle doesn’t have its headlights aligned correctly (meaning it’s pointing up more than it should), Rea explained that it would cause more glare for other road users. If the headlights of pickup trucks and SUVs are misaligned, the impact can be even greater. These vehicles are taller and can cause their headlights to shine onto cars that are lower than them.
“The primary culprit is that the headlights are misaligned. And they would cause glare whether you had halogen or you had LEDs,” Rea said.
“If you raise it one degree, you literally have 13 or 15 times more light coming in your eye and that’s going to be glaring.”
To prevent the glare issue, Transport Canada says there are “limitations on headlamp mounting height in the standards.”
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Tim Schewe is a retired RCMP officer who spent about two decades on the traffic beat. He now runs DriveSmartBC, a community website about traffic law and road safety.
To Schewe, many of the issues with bright lights are the vehicle owner’s responsibility.
Schewe admitted it’s difficult for the average driver to notice if their headlights are aimed correctly, but people can still take steps to help others on the road. For example, maintenance, cleaning your headlights, using your beams correctly, and not replacing the lights that can make the roads safer for other drivers.
And it only takes a few minutes with the right equipment to align them correctly, Rea added.
However, while the province has a set of rules to avoid vehicles driving with misaligned lights, Schewe said the challenge is enforcing them.
“Unless something happens to make it wildly noticeably out of line, chances are nobody pays attention at all,” he said.
Challenges of enforcement
In Canada, there are a set of safety requirements manufacturers like Ford, General Motors, and more need to adhere to when they sell their products in the country.
That said, it’s still up to drivers to ensure that a vehicle they are purchasing is equipped with lights provided by the original manufacturer.
“Motor vehicles in Canada must meet a stringent set of requirements set out in the Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations, including those related to lighting devices that are designed to provide vehicle drivers with the roadway illumination necessary for safe night driving, while minimizing the glare to other road users,” an email statement to Daily Hive reads.
“Included in these regulations are standards regarding the brightness of headlights, their location on the vehicle, and the vehicle-related conditions for their activation.”
The technical standards of Canadian automotive headlights (also known as lower beam headlamps) break down the requirements — but don’t have specific rules for LED or halogen lights. (Transport Canada)
However, if people replace their headlights with lamps that do not comply with the regulations set in place in Canada, enforcement is on provincial governments, as they handle fines and tickets for those caught violating rules on the operation of motor vehicle lighting equipment and installation of aftermarket equipment.
The Canadian Vehicle Lighting Regulation was updated in 2021 and launched a new campaign for drivers – but did not dive deeper into headlight alignments or brightness. (Transport Canada)
So, no custom rainbow lights.
The BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure confirmed, “If a vehicle’s headlights do not comply with the regulations, they are illegal, and the vehicle operator could receive a violation ticket or be ordered to have their vehicle inspected.”
A way that some drivers do not comply with the regulations is when they install “aftermarket” replacement lamps.
Technology exists to mitigate the problem: Rea
Rea suggests there is a solution — and it’s called advanced forward lighting.
“It changes the output of each of those little discreet LEDs [in a headlight] so that as a car’s coming towards you, you’re driving by, the camera tracks where the headlights the windshield is and then puts that in shadow so you’re never gonna get glare so it turns out alignment doesn’t matter, how you measure light doesn’t matter.”
Rea says this technology creates safer road conditions and will even benefit the driver in the vehicle as the headlights will then increase the visibility of objects coming onto the road without unnecessarily lighting up areas that don’t need light.
In Canada, manufacturers are able to install Adaptive Driving Beam (ADB) however, it’s just a matter of waiting for more vehicles to have these new technology lighting systems in place.
So, the good news is solutions are on the way. The bad news is we might be blinded by countless vehicles while waiting for them.