Selecting a Headlamp Car

Your headlights are one of the most important car parts in terms of safety. Therefore, their design, light sources, colours and photometric values are strictly regulated.

Halogen bulbs contain a tungsten filament that, when energized, produces the visible light you see at night. However, halogen lights can take some time to reach full brightness and are not as energy efficient as other bulb types.

Halogen

Halogen headlights are still used on around 80% of the vehicles on the road and offer an affordable, reliable option. They’re easy to install, emit a bright yellow-white light, and generate their own heat, which helps prevent headlight icing in bad weather. They also don’t require a ballast like HID or LED lights and are fairly inexpensive to replace.

Unlike regular incandescent bulbs, which use a filament in a vacuum, halogen bulbs are filled with a small amount of a gas called a halogen (usually iodine or bromine) that helps the filament heat up and generate light. The halogen gases help the bulb produce more white headlamp car light, and they also react with the tungsten filament to make it glow. Halogen headlights are also more cost-effective than xenon or LED alternatives.

The problem with halogen headlights is that they tend to cast a wider pool of yellow-hued light across the roadway and can blind other motorists when you turn your high-beams on. Fortunately, there are a number of aftermarket headlight kits that can replace your old halogen bulbs with HID or LEDs to avoid this problem. These upgrade kits will give your car a more upscale appearance while meeting SAE, DOT and FMVSS108 safety regulations. The larger bulb size also means that aiming these new headlights will be easier than with halogens.

Xenon

Similar to halogen headlights but much more powerful, xenon headlamp cars use an electrical current that passes through a bulb filled with xenon gas. This creates an arc between two electrodes to generate a bright white or bluish light that can illuminate the road much further ahead than halogen bulbs. Xenon lights can also dazzle oncoming traffic so manufacturers tend to implement systems to prevent this by using self-levelling technology to keep the beam pointing downwards rather than at other drivers.

The xenon bulb looks quite similar to the filament in a standard car headlight, although this does not heat up to emit light when the headlights are activated. A specialized ballast is used to amplify the electric current from your vehicle’s engine and ignite the xenon gas inside the bulb. A Xenon bulb typically requires more power to ignite than LED headlights, though they are far more efficient once active.

The high intensity of a xenon headlight can sometimes blind other drivers and is why some drivers prefer bi-xenon headlamps as they allow the driver to switch between main and dipped beam with a simple mechanical system. Another drawback to xenon headlights is that they can take a few seconds to turn on as the arc between the electrodes is re-ignited by the ballast. This can be a problem when driving on a dark road where you need your headlights to be instantly available.

LED

LED headlights are becoming increasingly popular in cars, including some of our top-rated models. They offer brighter light, a wider beam pattern and more focused light than halogens. In addition, they consume less power and last longer than halogen bulbs.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety experts note that in the group’s tests of headlight performance, LEDs typically score very well. They illuminate the road better than halogens without creating distracting glare to oncoming drivers. Some of our most affordable car models come standard with LED headlights, such as the Mazda3 and Toyota Corolla, both starting at under $25,000.

For those that own cars with halogen headlights and want to upgrade them to LED, there are several options to consider. Depending on the type of car, it may be possible to simply open the hood and access the headlight assembly to remove the halogen bulb and replace it with an LED. For slightly more complex vehicles, a skilled mechanic or auto performance shop should be able to do the job in under an hour.

When considering new headlights for your vehicle, make sure you understand the differences between halogen, HID and LED lights. Also be aware of your state and local laws regarding brightness, color and power output. If you choose to install aftermarket headlights, be sure they meet federal guidelines and don’t exceed the legal limits in your area.

Other Options

The car lighting industry has been moving forward on a path of brighter and more efficient bulbs. LED headlights are becoming the norm while HID and xenon remain popular headlamp car choices for those looking to upgrade their cars with better illumination. The first step in selecting a headlight for your car is to consider your driving needs and preferences.

Halogen bulbs are affordable and provide adequate light for safe driving at night, but they do not last as long as other options and can produce glare that can blind other drivers. A good alternative is an LED bulb that uses a fanless design and can last up to three times longer than a standard halogen. They are also dust and water-proof, making them a good choice for inclement weather.

Xenon bulbs are more expensive than halogens but can offer superior illumination. A high voltage pulse is used to ignite the xenon gas inside the bulb, and a ballast in the bulb maintains it. These bulbs can last up to 3,000 hours and provide up to five times more light than a halogen bulb.

Adaptive Highbeam Assist is an optional feature available on many Mercedes-Benz models that automatically adjusts the high beam according to the speed of other vehicles ahead. This system can be particularly helpful when driving on winding roads.

How to Aim Your Car’s Headlights

Headlights must be aimed properly, so they illuminate the road ahead without blinding other drivers. This is especially important if your car has been equipped with LED or xenon headlights.

These technologies use current to create an arc between two electrodes, producing intense white or bluish light. Some cars also have curve-adaptive headlights, which can pivot as you turn to make it easier to see on curved roads.

High-beam

The headlights on your car are designed to illuminate the road, but they can also cause glare for other drivers. A properly aimed high-beam setting can help you see the road ahead without blinding other motorists. High-beam settings are especially useful for dark roads and highways, which have fewer streetlights and less ambient lighting. However, it is important to know the right time and place to use the high-beam setting.

The high-beam setting is much brighter than the low-beam setting, illuminating the road up to 350-400 feet. This can be the length of a football field, and it is great for driving on rural roads or stretches of highway with minimal streetlights. However, it is not ideal for urban driving because it can blind other vehicles.

It is recommended to only use the high-beam setting in a location where other drivers can see you. High-beams are not headlamp car suitable for suburban areas or when visibility is reduced due to rain, fog, smoke, or snow. They are not recommended for nighttime driving in metropolitan areas either, because they can cause glare and blind other drivers. In addition, high-beams are not good for pedestrians, because they can blind them and cause accidents. It is best to turn the high-beams off if you are within 500 feet of other vehicles, and keep them turned off until they pass you.

Low-beam

A low-beam headlamp is a setting on the car’s headlights that projects a lower intensity of light in a downward direction. This is a useful feature in bad weather conditions, as it allows you to see the road without blinding other drivers. Using this setting is also a good way to reduce the strain on your car’s headlights.

The low beam is often controlled by a lever located near the steering wheel or a floor button in the cabin. Its operation depends on the vehicle’s make and model. On some vehicles, the low-beam and high-beam settings can be activated with a single lever, while others require you to switch between the two by pressing the button on the steering wheel or foot pedal.

Unlike the high-beam setting, which illuminates both the straight distant space and the side of the road, the low beam only illuminates the road directly in front of you. This setting is a good choice for bad weather conditions, such as rain, fog, smoke, dust, or snow.

Some older vehicles were designed with separate low and high-beam headlamps. These designs, which were popular in the 1950s, required a large reflector that allowed both lamps to function. However, these designs were less efficient than their modern counterparts. In addition, the resulting glare from the low-beam lights could cause other drivers to swerve.

Daytime running lights

Daytime running lights, or DRLs, are a feature on the front of your vehicle that turn on automatically when you crank the engine. This safety feature can qualify you for car insurance discounts because it makes your vehicle more visible in daylight.

DRLs don’t emit as much light as headlights, but they can help other drivers spot your vehicle more easily. They can also be useful during bad weather, such as rain or fog.

Some people have argued that DRLs aren’t necessary in the US or UK, where there is more sunlight during the day. However, studies have shown that DRLs can improve visibility on the road and prevent accidents.

Aside from the sound of your engine and the lights on other vehicles, DRLs are one of the simplest ways to make yourself more visible on the road. They turn on when you start your engine and stay on until the ignition is turned off.

If you want to add DRLs to your vehicle, you can buy a kit from most automotive stores. However, you should be careful with the brightness level, as too bright DRLs can be distracting for other drivers. Look for a model with a brightness setting between parking lights and low-beam headlights. Bontrager’s front and rear Daytime Running Lights are easy to install and provide high visibility for other riders. They are USB-rechargeable and include features that let you be seen from up to 2km away.

Reverse lights

Reverse lights are used to warn other road users that you are moving backwards, allowing them to maneuver and avoid collisions. They also provide illumination when backing up. They are typically white in colour and can be mounted in a number of ways headlamp car including on the rear bumper, on the rear roof or underneath the vehicle.

Brighter backup lights are a great safety upgrade for your car, providing better visibility for other vehicles and pedestrians behind you when you’re driving in reverse. They help to prevent back-up accidents and can even assist you with hooking up a trailer. These lights are easy to install and come in a variety of styles. They can be purchased online or at most automotive stores.

One common reason for a reverse light to fail is a blown bulb. To test a bulb, disconnect it from its holder and connect it across the battery terminals. If it lights up, the problem is likely elsewhere in the circuit, such as a faulty switch or connector.

Another option is to replace the entire reverse light circuit. This is an easier project than replacing the bulbs, as it involves removing the cover from the switch and disconnecting the wiring. You can then unscrew the switch or, if it’s held in place by a locknut, remove this and replace it with a new one.

What Type of Headlight System is Factory-Installed on Your Car?

When shopping for a new car, look for the model’s window sticker to find out what type of headlight system is factory-installed. Whether it’s halogen or HID xenon, it’s important to understand what you’re getting into.

Ask someone to stand in front of the car and rotate the headlight control dials. Pause at each setting to see how the beams illuminate the ground.

Visibility

Headlamps are the main source of illumination on a vehicle, and their condition and potency can significantly affect how well a driver sees the road at night. One study found that the most common causes of car accidents at night are drunk driving, inadequate visibility, and driver fatigue.

Most cars have both high and low headlamp settings. The low setting (also known as dipped) allows drivers to see where they’re going without blinding oncoming traffic. This setting is especially important in adverse weather conditions like rain, snow, or fog, and just after sunrise or before sunset.

The high-beam setting provides a much brighter light for longer distances, but at the expense of short-range illumination. The brighter light can easily blind oncoming traffic or blind pedestrians, which is a safety risk for both them and the driver of the headlamp-equipped vehicle.

In some countries, it is illegal to drive with the headlamps on high-beam mode at speeds above 60 km/h (40 mph). Headlamps have headlamp car been found to be ineffective for illuminating an assured clear distance ahead when driven at this speed.

Some projector-type headlamps can be adjusted to produce a left or right-traffic low beam by shifting a lever or other movable element in or on the lamp assembly. Other technologies such as adaptive driving beam (ADB) can swivel headlamps between high and low beams automatically based on the steering angle and vehicle speed of the driver.

Safety

The condition and potency of a vehicle’s headlamps can have a direct influence on the safety of the driver and passengers. The primary factors that play a role in nighttime accidents and fatalities are alcohol, driver fatigue, and poor visibility.

In some cases, glare from other vehicles’ headlamps reduces visibility by creating a contrast-reducing “veil” over the visual scene. This is a particularly significant problem on two-lane highways where drivers often have little separation between their own car and the cars of other motorists.

Studies have shown that glare can also decrease visibility by impairing the ability to distinguish between different types of objects. This is known as visual confusion. In many instances, the only effective remedy is to dimmer the other vehicle’s headlamps to avoid glare.

Several manufacturers offer automatic headlamp dimmer systems that relieve the driver of the need to select a low or high beam as driving conditions change. General Motors first offered this feature in 1952 on its Cadillac, Buick, and Oldsmobile models. The system, whose phototube was housed in a gun-sight-like tube atop the dashboard, used a mechanical linkage to switch between a low and high beam.

Various experiments are under way to reduce the glare from vehicle headlamps. A Swedish project called ARENA, for example, has studied the effects of using near-ultraviolet (UVA) headlamps that emit light with wavelengths between 320 and 400 nm. UVA headlamps are able to show road markings and fluorescent clothing very well, but do not pose a health risk because the emission filters prevent the penetration of harmful ultraviolet rays.

Convenience

Some headlamps can switch between low and high beams. The headlamp may be switched by the driver with a manual operation of a switch, or it may be activated automatically based on a running state of the vehicle. In either case, the headlamps produce only the desired beam pattern for a specific driving situation. This eliminates the need to manually switch between headlamp settings and the risk of switching to a setting that will not illuminate the road adequately.

The ability to select between headlamp modes is especially useful on two-lane highways because the lower light levels of two-lane roads reduce a driver’s line of sight and create a much brighter “veil” over the visual scene inside the eye. This effect is exacerbated headlamp car in older drivers, who have more dead cells that increase the amount of scattered light that enters the eye.

To determine the best headlight setting for your car, have a friend stand in front of it while it is parked in a well-lit area. Roll down the window so you can communicate with your helper. Ask your helper to rotate the headlamp control dials through each of the available headlight settings, pausing to look at how the light reflects on the surface of the car. The headlamp dial indicator symbol typically looks like a sun or upside-down light bulb. There is also an enclosed circle next to this indicator that marks the side of the headlamp control dial actually controlling the headlight settings.

Energy Efficiency

A typical set of halogen headlamps uses a tungsten filament in a glass bulb to heat up and emit light, but they’re not very energy efficient. That’s because a lot of energy is wasted in creating unnecessary heat inside the bulb.

LED (light-emitting diode) headlights use semiconductors to transmit energy, emitting photons that create illumination. They require more power than halogen bulbs to start, but they have a longer life span and consume less energy. They’re also much more compact than halogen headlamps and can be mounted closer to the road for better visibility.

Another type of headlight is a HID Xenon system, which uses a special bulb that contains a xenon gas. They need a little more time to warm up before they reach full brightness, but they can produce a bright white or blue glow that’s more natural-looking than traditional headlamps and are up to three times as powerful. They also use less energy than halogen lights and last twice as long.

Some newer headlamp technology shows promise, such as high-beam assist, which automatically applies your car’s high beam when you’re driving alone on a dark stretch of road. But it switches back to low-beam mode when a vehicle comes up behind you, ensuring that other drivers don’t get blinded by the bright beam.

Safety Features of Your Headlamp Car

The headlights of your car are a vital safety feature. Their design, function and light sources are regulated by law, so it’s important not to tamper with them.

These halogen bulbs are fanless to improve longevity and have an aluminum heat sink for temperature management. They’re CAN bus compatible and work with most vehicles.

Halogen Bulbs

Halogen bulbs have been the standard headlights in most vehicles for decades, but they now face competition from LED and HID lights. These newer bulb types are more efficient, meaning they use less electricity to produce the same amount of light.

Unlike the incandescent filament that burned inside the old-fashioned headlight bulbs, halogen bulbs contain a little bit of inert gas inside. This makes headlamp car the filament a little cooler and extends the life of the bulb. But even with this added protection, there are a number of factors that can affect the lifespan of your headlight bulb. Things like road and engine vibration, electrical surges in your car’s charging system or even the touch of a hand to the glass surface can cause the headlight bulb to die sooner than you might expect.

Changing a halogen headlight bulb is a relatively simple process, but you have to be careful. The wattage of your headlight bulb determines how bright it is, but higher wattage bulbs can blind oncoming traffic. Also, higher wattage bulbs put more strain on your car’s electrical systems and could lead to dimming or overheating.

LED Bulbs

LED lights can be a good choice for your headlamp car because they use less energy and last longer than traditional bulbs. However, they do create a lot of glare that can blind other drivers on the road. Therefore, it’s important to get high-quality LED bulbs that are properly positioned and housed.

The best bulbs will have a reflector that helps them focus light in a narrower area while providing enough coverage for the road. This will help you see more of the road without creating a distracting glare in the process.

You can find LED headlights from a variety of companies. Some are bluechip name brands like Philips and Sylvania, while others are boutique high-end outfits that specialise exclusively in LEDs. It’s important to choose a reputable brand because there are a lot of poor-quality LEDs on the market that produce unintentional glare. These bulbs will also be a little more expensive than your standard halogen headlights, but they’ll save you money in the long run by using up less electricity. You’ll likely get back the cost of your upgrade in savings on electricity costs in no time.

Xenon Bulbs

As the name suggests, xenon bulbs contain a halogen gas which is heated by an electric current to emit light. The arc between the two electrodes produces an intense white or bluish light which is significantly brighter than standard bulbs. These are currently being offered as retrofit kits by a number of car manufacturers to improve night time visibility.

Unlike LEDs, xenon bulbs do not produce a lot of heat and are thus much more energy efficient. This makes them perfect for use as headlights. Xenons also have a longer lifespan and are less susceptible to vibration damage. Xenons can cause glare for other road users if the automatic levelling is not working correctly so they are usually fitted with a hood which covers the bulb to prevent this.

The bright white light produced by xenon bulbs also makes them popular for use as medical lights in hospitals and surgeries. They can be aimed very precisely to allow doctors to see fine details within tight spaces. Similarly, they are used in stage and studio lighting to create a crisper, more detailed image.

Indicators

Indicators are the blinking lights found on the front left and right and rear corners of your car, or also sometimes in the side mirrors. When activated by the driver, they show other road users your intent to turn. Common uses include turning at roundabouts, pulling away from traffic lights or changing lanes.

Your headlights are controlled by a switch on the dashboard or steering column that allows you to choose between high and low beam. The high setting produces a brighter, more headlamp car concentrated light that illuminates further into the darkness, but it is essential to dim them for oncoming vehicles as you may dazzle them.

Low-beam headlights are the best setting to use when visibility is reduced by fog, rain, smoke, dust or snow. High-beam headlights are not suitable for such conditions because the brighter light will illuminate the road surface and reflect off of traffic and pedestrians, making it less visible to you. Learning how to use the appropriate headlight settings for each condition is an important part of becoming a safe and considerate driver.

Sidelights

Sidelights, also known as parking lights, are situated on the nearside and offside of your car. They are switched on by using the indicator stalk and are used to show other road users where you intend to turn, such as at roundabouts, pulling away from traffic lights, overtaking or changing lanes.

It takes just 1.5 seconds for a driver to react to an unexpected event at 55mph (Green, 2000). That’s why headlight performance matters so much.

Many low beam headlamps are not bright enough to light the front of a vehicle going down a straight road, and are too weak on a curve. Additionally, many high-beam headlamps allow too much glare to other drivers – which is why they are only suitable when there are no other vehicles around.

HID headlamps use a spark plug to ignite a xenon gas arc that produces light. This technology does not produce glare and is safer for other road users than halogen headlights, which contain mercury. However, these lights are more expensive to manufacture, install and operate than halogen bulbs.

The Importance of a Headlamp Car

You might be able to imagine a car without headlights, but it was once commonplace to drive cars with lamps that didn’t meet modern standards. Luckily, these regulations help make it safer to operate vehicles at night by reducing visibility and glare.

There are many factors to consider when choosing the right headlights for your car. Here are some of them:

How They Work

Headlights are designed to show you the road ahead. They come in two different forms: low beams (dipped, passing, meeting) and high beams. Low-beam headlights are designed to distribute light in a way that shows you the road ahead while controlling glare for oncoming traffic. High-beam headlights are intended to provide a brighter center-weighted distribution of light but without any control over the amount of light directed towards other vehicles to prevent dazzling them. You can switch between the two using your headlight switch.

Older headlamps used a plain tungsten filament in a reflector to produce the required heat to illuminate the road. Newer headlamps use a high-intensity discharge (HID) bulb to produce the same heat, but with much greater power and brightness. The bulb is housed in a special reflector that contains one or more electrodes. A pulse of high voltage from a battery causes an electrical arc between the electrodes and emits a blue-white glow.

There have long been efforts to devise an effective automatic headlamp system that would choose the correct setting as driving conditions change. Early solutions included resistance-type dimming circuits and tilting of the reflector, which eventually led to dual-filament bulbs in a single reflector with separate low and high beams. More recent developments include sensor-based systems that monitor steering input and vehicle speed to swivel the headlamps in response. These are often called Adaptive Front-Lighting Systems, or AFS.

Light Sources

Many headlamp systems fail to illuminate the road adequately at night, headlamp car resulting in blinding glare for other drivers and pedestrians. Such systems also have a hard time providing sufficient light for drivers to react to unexpected events on the road. At speeds of 55 mph, it takes 1.5 seconds for the driver to react to an obstacle (Jernigan and Kodaman, 2000).

Modern headlamps use either reflection or projection technology concepts for light distribution. Reflection systems utilize large-surface reflectors behind a clear or patterned cover lens to distribute the luminous flux produced by the bulb over the optical axis. Projector-type systems have a small light exit with a characteristic lens that is designed to produce a particular beam shape.

Before the introduction of LEDs, most headlamp bulbs (tungsten, halogen, and HID) used mercury. This substance is toxic to touch and can cause eye irritation in contact with water or dust. The newer Xenon lamps that are now in production do not contain mercury.

Infrared energy emitted by all tungsten and halogen headlamps helps to thaw built-up snow or ice on the lens. This function is not available with LED headlamps. A recent development is adaptive headlamps that automatically select the proper light for driving conditions. They respond to vehicle speed, ambient weather and visibility conditions, road curvature and contour, and oncoming traffic.

Beam Patterns

When a headlamp is activated, it produces a distribution of luminous intensity called a beam pattern. Different patterns produce different illuminations of the road ahead of the vehicle, and their distributions must be consistent with the photometric requirements specified by state motor vehicle administrations. Generally, the higher the wattage of the headlamps, the brighter the light that they produce.

To make high-beam headlamps meet their required intensity, they must be positioned as close together as possible. To achieve this, the bulb in ECE-certified headlamps is rotated within the reflector to position a wedge of its lower half in the arc of the Graves shield. This produces the upsweep or upstep characteristic of the pattern.

Some older cars feature stacked headlamps. In this arrangement, the low-beam headlamp is swung out of the way when the headlamps are activated to prevent dazzle oncoming traffic. This is a popular design on a few Jaguar models, as well as on pre-1968 VW Beetles and 1965 Chrysler and Imperial models.

Some headlamps are covered when not in use by panels that blend into the car’s styling. When the lamps are activated, these panels swivel out of the way, either downward on many Jaguar models or upward on some Jaguar XJ220s and a headlamp car number of Chrysler products of the late 1960s through early 1980s. Other hidden headlamps use a door mechanism actuated by vacuum pots, as on some Ford vehicles of the late 1960s through 1970s such as the 1967 Mercury Cougar, or by an electric motor, as on various Chrysler models of the middle 1960s through the late 1960s.

Glare

A big truck’s headlights can create glare that blinds other drivers. This can cause stress and distraction at best and blindness at worst. It’s estimated that hundreds of fatal night crashes every year can be attributed to glare from oncoming vehicles [NHTSA].

The NHTSA conducted a survey in 2001 where over 4,000 participants were asked to rate headlight glare as their top concern while driving at night. About 30 percent of those who responded said they experienced glare from other cars that was disturbing.

Several factors affect the perceived intensity of a glare source. The ambient illumination level along the roadway can affect whether a given level of glare is considered intolerable (Schreuder, 1969). Headlamp design also influences the degree to which headlamps can cause visual discomfort or disability glare. For example, studies have shown that the glare thresholds for HID, halogen, and blue-filtered halogen headlamps providing different illuminances at the eye are correlated with relative short-wavelength cone stimulation.

Other factors that can impact headlamp glare include the presence of dirt on the cover lenses. A dirty headlamp will decrease one’s own forward illumination while causing the glare from oncoming headlights to increase (Alferdinck and Padmos, 1988). Dirty headlamps also reduce their effectiveness by dispersing the luminous flux of the lamp across a larger area. This can result in a lower level of beam coverage for the low and high beams.

How to Use Your Car’s Headlamps Safely

Headlamps have separate lights for low (dipped) and high beams. If you want to use the high-beam setting, make sure your headlamps are switched to that position.

High-beam headlights are angled higher than dipped headlights. They are only suitable for driving on unlit stretches of road at night and must be switched off when meeting other vehicles.

Indicators

A car’s various lights serve a variety of purposes from helping you see the road ahead to signaling to other drivers what you are doing. Some of these lights are common to most cars and others are more specific to certain models. Understanding what they do and when to use them can help you be safer on the road.

The headlights are one of the most important safety features on a car. A well performing set of headlights can be the difference between a car that can stop in time to avoid an accident and a vehicle that crashes because the driver was not able to react in enough time.

From the light switch (terminals 56a and 56b on the light diagram) a wire goes to the headlight dimming control, or beam selector (“dimmer”). Then two more wires run from the dimmer to the bulbs. Depending on the age of the car these wires may be too small a gauge, which causes voltage drop in the circuit. It is important that all circuits are fused to ensure they receive the proper amount of current.

Modern cars often use HID headlights, which do not have a filament but rather an arc of electricity within a xenon tube. This type of headlight requires a ballast to boost the voltage from hundreds of volts to thousands in order to make the arc. Some older vehicles still use traditional filament bulbs in their headlights.

Sidelights

The blinking amber lights that are turned on and off using your indicator stalk. When you indicate to turn left or right they illuminate your car’s sides, helping other road users and pedestrians see what you are doing. They are also useful for signalling to other drivers that you intend to change lane, overtake or pull away from the curb.

The switch or control for your headlights will usually be on a long arm mounted to the base of your steering wheel. Look for a headlight control dial toward the end of the arm, and note where the “off” position lies so you can easily shut off your lights when you are finished driving.

In the early 1900s, engineers began experimenting with electric headlight systems that allowed the driver to operate them risk-free. headlamp car They soon became commonplace among U.S. manufacturers, and by the mid-1910s they were also being offered in Europe.

Many different types of headlights are now available. In fact, some of the most popular are LEDs (light-emitting diodes) which can be switched on and off instantly and last much longer than traditional halogen bulbs.

Xenon headlights became very popular in the early 2000s, but they are very expensive and still only found on some premium cars. These lamps use a high voltage pulse to ionize xenon gas and create an electrical arc between two tungsten electrodes in the bulb. The resulting beam has a very wide range and is extremely bright. Those in the know are beginning to call these new headlights Adaptive Front-Lighting Systems, or AFS.

High Beams

A car’s high beam setting allows drivers to see farther into the dark, providing a clear view of the road ahead and any dangers that might lie there. It is often controlled by a switch on the steering column, similar to the headlights’ on/off switch. headlamp car Ideally, the driver should use this setting with discretion as a courtesy to other drivers who are sharing the road.

Using high beams in conditions that don’t require them can blind the drivers of oncoming vehicles, and this can reduce their visibility for a brief period of time. Using high beams in fog or precipitation is dangerous because the dazzling bright light will reflect off of water droplets and snowflakes, reducing the effectiveness of your car’s headlamps.

There have long been efforts to develop a headlamp system that automatically selects the appropriate headlight setting as traffic and weather conditions change. This type of system is referred to as an adaptive driving beam and was first used on the Cadillac De Ville in 1952.

Certain halogen headlamps that use replaceable bulbs have been designed to produce both left and right-traffic low and high beams. The low-beam pattern is positioned slightly downward and the high-beam pattern is positioned slightly upward in this type of system, with a separate lens arrangement for each beam. This design was popular on British and Australian cars from the 1960s through early 1970s, as well as some American cars such as the 1964 Nash Ambassador and the 1967-1970 Plymouth Valiant.

Low Beams

A low beam is a dipped headlight setting. It is important to understand when to use this setting for both your own safety and the safety of other road users. Low beam rays illuminate the road for a shorter distance and are less focused. They also light up more of the side of the road than the straight distance ahead of you.

When driving at dusk and dawn, it is best to use your car’s low beam setting. This allows other road users to see you better. Using the high beam setting at these times can dazzle other drivers and may cause them to crash into you.

Many tungsten (pre-halogen) European-code headlamps could be adjusted to produce either a left or right-traffic low beam with the help of a special insert inserted between the reflector and the bulb. This allowed the driver to switch between the two by moving the insert.

More recently, projector main headlamps have been used on some cars. Developed in Germany by Hella and Bosch and in France by Cibie, these permitted the precise control of downward light needed for both low and high beams without dazzle or excessive glare toward oncoming traffic. The first volume-production car to use this technology was the 1996 Lincoln Mark VIII. In the US, a similar system was introduced as the ‘Autronic Eye’ on Cadillac and Oldsmobile models starting in 1952.