this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2026
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Funny: Home of the Haha

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[–] Routhinator@startrek.website 62 points 2 days ago (8 children)

Yeah, as an owner of a vehicle with these fucking things. I hate them but there's literally nothing we can do. All vehicles sold have them now, and the manufacturers have no options for softer lights. I've tried for months.

Do what I did and write your MP. This needs to be legislated.

[–] Funkt4st1c@lemmy.world 20 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Yes you can! You can get them adjusted at a mechanic, or get the internal reflector swapped out

[–] thallamabond@lemmy.world 40 points 2 days ago (3 children)

One problem is the manufacturers have made headlights into assemblies that cannot be repaired or really disassembled, forcing you to replace the entire thing if anything goes wrong. Also they can be expensive.

https://daxstreet.com/cars/419253/10-cars-where-a-headlight-assembly-costs-2000-dollars/

Also sometimes the new headlight needs to be programmed by the dealership to work correctly

[–] Gonzako@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Wtf, on my 2005 car changing the lights costs 30 bucks. They are purposefully low price because you don't want people around going without lights

[–] thallamabond@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago

Yep, driving around without lights is dangerous, it could get you pulled over. The people designing these setups know this and want to force you back to the dealership.

[–] halcyoncmdr@piefed.social 3 points 1 day ago

That 2005 model headlight also has a much shorter lifespan than most LEDs (assuming proper cooling in their enclosure). Up to 1,000 hours for a traditional headlight, and up to 50,000 hours for an LED headlight.

[–] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 day ago

this is one of many reasons I won't buy a newer car.

[–] Psythik@lemmy.world -1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Then get aftermarket headlights! Why are you guys acting like OEM housing is the only way?

[–] thallamabond@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You do realize their goal is less bright lights, with these LED assemblies there is often little to no aftermarket, and when there is it is brighter. Example: 2023-2026 Acura integra

[–] Psythik@lemmy.world 0 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Well you gotta give it a few years for an aftermarket to develop. I'm happy that there are people on Lemmy privileged enough to afford a brand new car, but most of us are driving 12-14 year old vehicles, in which there's almost always an aftermarket available in that age range unless you're driving something obscure (in which case you'd have a difficult time finding even OEM parts for!).

[–] Routhinator@startrek.website 1 points 2 days ago

I've checked with different spots for 3 years. Maybe for some makes and models, but not for dodge.

[–] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

pay to get them replaced with something that's not dangerous

it's your vehicle. you are responsible for it too.

[–] noxypaws@pawb.social 1 points 23 hours ago

what you are asking for is practically impossible, and actually literally impossible without spending multiple tens of thousands of dollars finding and paying someone to reverse engineer a car's lighting system, including the car's whole computerized network that likely controls the lights and their electrical environment, then find and pay someone to manufacture a custom, one-off modification, and finally find and pay someone to actually install it.

the result may not be legal, may void a car's warranty, may cause a car to fail a mandatory state inspection, may be unreliable and cost insane amounts of money to fix if/when needed

this is a wildly unreasonable request and expectation that you're making.

[–] Routhinator@startrek.website 5 points 1 day ago (3 children)

There are no replacement options, see other threads.

Just build your own sodium bulb how hard could it be

[–] kestrel7_7@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Transparent yellow filter tape time

[–] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago

bare minimum, yeah

[–] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca -1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

go custom or eat the loss. at least tint the housings and lenses.

this is your problem because it's your vehicle, don't make it everybody else's

[–] Routhinator@startrek.website -2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If I illegally modified my vehicle in a way that made it worse, it would be.

This is a factory vehicle from the dealership with no alternative light options. I'm not responsible for anything with regard to the lights on it unless I'm running around with my brights on, which I don't use.

Not sure how you think the law works, but that's not it.

[–] SeductiveTortoise@piefed.social 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I have them as well and a lot of others around me and they're awesome!

As long as they're regulated properly. I'm in Germany and we love regulating stuff!

[–] Routhinator@startrek.website 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Canada used to have regulations about the maximum lumens that could be output by headlights, but corporate lobbyists undermined this with a rule that exempted cars that rolled off the dealership lot with brighter lights in the late 90's when the manufacturers started using the bright blue halogens. Then LEDs came out and they got the same bypass automatically.

I voted against the political leaders that supported moves like this for years, but most of the population doesn't.

So, here we are.

Yeah, we are very strict regarding max light output, but depending on what we measure, it's Candela or Lumen. And bright beams (> 2000 Lumen) need to automatically limit how far they reach to not blind people when driving over a hill for example, etc. Without all of that, it would be carnage.

[–] Hubi@feddit.org 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is unfortunately just not true. I'm also from Germany and I drive a lot at night, where I get absolutely blinded by random headlights every couple of minutes. My car sits very close to the ground and the average SUV headlights are way above my trunk and hood, shining directly into my cabin. It's gotten so bad in recent years. One day I'll probably crash into a tree or something because yet another idiot trusts their Matrix LED high beams to recognize my car in time.

[–] SeductiveTortoise@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Never had that issue with my normal cars (like Golf class). What kind of Tarnmobil are you driving?

[–] Hubi@feddit.org 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's a lowered 1989 Mercedes E-Class. Sitting in the car my level of sight is at about 110 cm.

[–] SeductiveTortoise@piefed.social 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yeah well. That might be the price of lowering. Cool ride though.

Oh and fuck SUVs 😑

[–] Hubi@feddit.org 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

True, I don't even want to know how bad it would be in a MX-5, SLK or even a Smart Roadster.

I still like that MX-5 though.

[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If it's from the factory, it's likely not as bad as the aftermarket ones. The problem with aftermarket is the light housing is designed for a bulb in a particular location. The aftermarket ones will often be in the wrong location, so even the low beams will shine higher than they should be. (Low/high beams have to do with height, not brightness.) Your lights might be bright, but I suspect that your low beams still don't shine upward very far. If they do, name and shame the manufacturer of your car please.

[–] Routhinator@startrek.website 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Its bad enough that people constantly flash their lights at me because they think I have my brights on. At stop signs I literally need to flash my brights back to prove they aren't. (It would be impossible, the brights will not stay on when there are any red or white lights in front of the vehicle unless you manually pullback and hold the control stick.)

I never use the brights on this thing. The headlights are already too bright

Mentioned in another thread, this is a Dodge. And Mopar makes sure no aftermarket parts exist. Dodge doesn't provide any alternative light brightnesses.

[–] NonconfrontationaI@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] Routhinator@startrek.website 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Needed a vehicle and I won't buy older than 10 years. Every vehicle in the last 10 years has led lights. That's it.

I held off with the 2014 as long as possible, but when its maintenance costs got to be unreasonable, it was time to replace it.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

My car has them too, from the factory. Maybe there are tints that can be applied to the light thing. Maybe that's illegal tho 🤷

[–] hardcoreufo@lemmy.world 0 points 1 day ago (2 children)

The factory ones are bright but not blinding. Its always the aftermarket's that aren't set up properly or regulated that are blinding.

[–] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 day ago

nope, the factory ones are blinding too

[–] Routhinator@startrek.website 4 points 1 day ago

For reference where are you located?

The factory LEDs from any north american car manufacturer are absolutely blinding.

[–] pHr34kY@lemmy.world 0 points 2 days ago

Spray-on tint lol.