The Problem With These Headlights

Different Types of Headlights Explained

Headlights play a significant role in shaping a car's overall appearance and personality. Their design can contribute to the vehicle's aesthetic appeal and help define its unique character, making them a crucial aspect of automotive design and styling.

Headlights today are undergoing some of the biggest technological changes seen in the history of the automobile, from Carbide Lamps used in the early days of cars to laser lights of the modern era.

The earliest headlights were found in the late 1880s, fuelled by Acetylene Gas or Oil. Back when cars were in their infancy, headlights were flames, burning behind glass lenses and fed with acetylene gas. they were quite similar to the gas lamps used in homes during that time.

The first electric headlight was introduced in the year 1898 by the Electric Vehicle Company and in 1904 American automaker Peerless was the first manufacturer to introduce electric headlights across its range. Four years later, British-based supplier Pockley Automobile Electric Lighting offered a complete set of electric lights including headlights, tail lights, and sidelights, which were powered by an eight-volt electric battery.

When you picture old, classic cars, you probably imagine cars with sealed beam headlights. By 1939, sealed beam lights had been introduced, and became compulsory on all vehicles in the US between 1940 and 1983. They used a parabolic reflector, as well as a lens and a filament sealed together, to offer a brighter, more focused light.

In the earlier 60s halogen headlights instantly became the standard tech in Europe. In 1962, a French, German, and Italian consortium of bulb- and headlamp-makers produced the first vehicle-mounted halogen lamps.
These provided brighter, more durable headlights due to the way the halogen gas reacted with the tungsten. This process gave drivers much higher road visibility, particularly on high beam settings.

---- Time Stamp ---
00:00 - Introduction
00:46 - Evolution of Headlights
01:26 - Carbide Lamps
03:22 - Electric Headlights
05:24 - Sealed Beam Headlights
06:23 - Halogen
08:41 - Xenon / HID
11:17 - LED
13:31 - Adaptive Headlights
15:02 - Matrix
16:08 - Laser

#headlight #carheadlight

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Disclaimer: This video is for educational purposes only. We are not in the auto repair business nor publish automotive service manuals. This video is not reviewed or authorized by any vehicle manufacturer. This video is intended only as general guidance. Every system is slightly different, so refer to the owner’s manual of your vehicle for any specific information about your model. Remember that only proper service and repair procedures will ensure your car's safe and reliable operation.

Copyright Disclaimer: Copyright Disclaimer Under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational, or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

[wanderingbufoon]

"remember, the best time to use very bright lights is when you're in a lifted truck in the city/suburbs where there are a ton of incoming traffic. This way, the light can hit multiple cars and blind people causing them to lose their sight and/or crash." - car manufacturers.

[dr.burtgummerfan]

Remember when you could walk into the parts store and say "I need a headlight" and the only question was "Round or rectangle?"😂

[crabjoe]

You know what I miss about headlights? It's the glass lens! Never had to worry about yellowing, when they were glass!

[aeroelectro]

I can't wait to go from metaphorically being blinded by LEDs to physically being blinded by laser beams

[bolesawmayzel]

It's sad that it all has been written and read by AI.

[danhardhat]

The real problem with LED is the high blue light content. This blue light is not much of a problem in normal conditions...It's a huge problem in wet conditions. The blue light scatters easily off water particles or even dirt/salt on the windshield. This creates a glare. GLARE IS REAL but very difficult to measure. There are highway driving videos that show LED streetlighting and HPS side by side done in the rain. You'll see under HPS, the orange light cuts right thru the rain and wet surface to provide decent visibility...The Blue LED light scatters, and everything appears very dark because too much stray light is entering the eye. The LED lighting gives a false confidence of visibility when glare produces significant gaps in visibility.

Additionally, old people are far more affected by blue light glare than young people. The cornea yellows with age and blue light scatters passing thru the yellow lens, making everything in the field of view appear darker as a result. That's why old people HATE cars that use white headlights and young people don't really understand why. The young people generally think those old people just don't like the new white color or are exaggerating the glare. I'm a lighting engineer...I could go into the details of Rayleigh scattering, veiling luminance, and disability glare from cold white light - the effects on visibility especially for the elderly, and especially during inclement conditions (rain, fog or snow)...But the bottom line is that all street lighting and headlights should be warm white 3000K CCT max, though I'd push for warmer 2700K.

[The_R-n-I_Guy]

I would rather change a $20 bulb than a $1500 headlight housing. I work at a collision repair/ body shop and I deal with it every day

[Runco]

I prefer the type of headlight that DOESN'T cost $1000 and up to replace!

[jamesdrives]

I really hate LED/Xenon headlights because when I drive at night, I'm blinded by those modern cars coming the other way.

[Henchman_Holding_Wrench]

While the tech is impressive, what I miss about 90s headlights is that I never had white and blue spots seared into my eyeballs by oncoming traffic because we were stationary at a red light. Bonus round, my neighbor across the street likes to leave his car on in his declined driveway for up to an hour. Just completely oblivious to his white LED headlights beaming into 3 houses.

[bofty]

13:10 tell that to all the idiots that put LEDs in their old car lights thinking it’s better, blinding everyone while having a worse light.

[zsu--shilka]

Headlights back in the olden days: “Good evening, friends; please allow us to comfortably brighten your late-night adventures!”

Headlights these days: *_”I HAVE QUADRUPLE THE POWER OF THE FUCKEN SUN.”_*

[nroose]

Recently headlights have gotten much brighter. That's great out in the wilderness. And pretty bad in the city. People drive around my city without their lights on and don't notice. That's unsafe too. But very bright headlights make it hard for everyone to see. We need a city lights setting that is more for the purpose of helping people see the cars with the headlights on, but don't have to illuminate everything in front of them.

[undefinedxx]

Gonna be honest this video watches like a highschool presentation done at last minute

[navbtactual]

0:02 The muddy water going up the wheel well and through the head and fog lights is something I've never though of as a thing that could happen, but it makes sense I guess. The body of the car is mostly there to look pretty and direct airflow... maybe structural in some areas, but there's no reason to have that part water tight now that I think of it.

[jimbroen]

Another advantage of sealed beam was that they were standardized. You could go into a Walmart and buy an inexpensive standard size seam beam light which would fit in any car.

[robbiewu]

The problem isn't the headlights per se, it is how good quality hid and led are only available on expensive cars. There is also this misconception that 6500k being the "daylight" color ia the best option for visibility. Based on trial and error I find the 4000k range to offer the best balance between visibility and comfort to the eyes, the 6500k scatters too much in rain and wet surfaces simply absorb it.

[drewwyatt]

Headlights that follow the turning of the steering wheel were available on 1967 onwards Citroen DS models, with up to 80 degrees of arc. I believe they were cable operated.

[HunterShows]

Seems like the real problem with These Headlights wasn't covered.

[igorzgardan]

Conversion kits exist for both Halogen and Xenon lights. I've hada car with both halogen and xenon light bulbs which i upgraded both to LED and here's what ive noticed. The number one thing that people complain about is how LED blind other drivers. I found that to be the case when installing them on my halogen lights as the mirrors do scatter the light more than lenses in xenon lights. My lights were a bit dirty, and not just dirt but the plastic being faded and scattering the light even more. After cleaning the headlights, ive noticed another thing on the halogen mirror lights: the direction they were facing. Most people don't even bother to do this, but alignment of headlights is crucial for both you having good visibility and not blinding others. Mine were extremely high up, basically hitting most people's windshields + i didn't have the best visibility either. After fixing the two major factors. My halogen mirror lights had not only a distinct cut off line, but were also not blinding others. In xenons lens lights it's pretty much the same thing especially with headlight alignment except the cut off line is way more distinct as lens lights don't scatter light as much