Rudy

I agree with you about 95% caf. There are times when the drastic cutoff of light can hinder visibility but I think the answer is to improve the adaptive and self-levelling systems so that they do point where they need to be pointing. Of all the HID cars I've driven, I think BMW's execution works quite well. Sure, it could and should be better but I've already seen improvements in the E60 over the E39. The E39 only self-leveled and it was quite slow (and noticeable). Now, the E60 leveling is much faster and is hardly noticeable. The adaptive, left/right swivelling is usually right on the money right now and can only improve over time.

Your suggested approach that would create a "soft, gradual reduction of lighting intensity outside the cone" seems like it's taking a step backward in time and "giving up" on the newer technology. Any time you diffuse the light outside the "cone," you risk blinding other drivers. With HID lighting technology, a small amount of light "spilling over" can cause much more glare than the older halogen types.

I'm all for solving the same problems as you -- I'm just hoping that the technology will keep evolving and improving so that everyone is safer out there!

paradocs545

I actually find it much more annoying to see people driving around at night with only their parking lights on, or worse, no lights at all. Unbelievable the amount of people on Long Island NY who do this--you have to be pretty oblivious to not know you're running totally dark, because your instrument cluster would be dark too...

Madwax

Even more annoying are people who drive around with their parking lights on and their front foglights on at the same time. As if to say "Hey look at me, I've got Foglights!"

We get frequent fog and mist near where I live, epecially on cold mornings and you would be amazed how many people you see driving around, even on a 60mph road, with no lights on at all. You can't even see them!

Rudy

I agree but some cars have an illuminated instrument cluster day or night. Honda, Lexus, and others, have it so even though these people are oblivious, they may not be as oblivious as you think...

EBMCS03

And obviously those are bad designed cars...

Knobjockey

We get flashed all the time in the UK in my wife's car. Almost every trip out in the dark has numerous flashes. Why look at the lights? I drive 40k miles a year and avoid looking at the lights but it is always obvious when people have their high beam on. The problem is most drivers are too busy not watching where their going and looking around never using their mirrors and gauuping at xeon lights!

CENTRAL CALI

Rudy,

Speaking of Iceman, I haven't seen much posting by him. I wonder if he got alohalc fever

Ricracing

This is not a problem in Scandinavia. We have to have to low beams on at all the time.
And as I see it - it gives more safty. This might sound stupid but it works.
Even in daytime and under sunny conditions a car is much more visible with the lights on.

The problem overhere is not the Xenons but the young dudes that "tune" their cars with 100 W
"blue" lamps and directs their lamps way too high.

I have not seen one single car flashing at me yet!

rodybmw

I live in the Los Angeles area and if people were going around flashing every car with Xenons they would be doing it every few seconds as roads are full of cars with Xenons. In a group of 10 cars approaching you at least 3 to 5 would have Xenons.

I bet some of the people flashing at you "think" that you just flashed at them because you either just hit a bump in the road or just came out of a dip area. In a situation like that the changing angle of the car makes the light cutoff line go up and down which makes the light appear much brighter and then dimmer again, just as if you were flashing at them. That may make many people think that you flashed at them and therefore they may flash back at you.

As far as the newer headlights seeming to illuminate less of the road than the older ones.....I bet almost all the people who feel this way live here in the US. The "wide V" light pattern that we see on our Xenons is nothing new for cars outside the US. This has been the light pattern used on cars outside the US for decades with halogen and even regular non-halogen lights. I remember this light pattern on early 70's model cars, but it probably went back to much earlier times. I have always put European Halogen lights on my pre-Xenon cars for more than 20 years because I love the "wide V" pattern. If you drive in the lane closest to the center of the street you can see how the light cuts off to a low flat line to the left of the centerline of the street while illuminating gradually higher and higher as it approaches the right side of the street. This makes it illuminate your side of the street while not blinding the opposing traffic. We only started seeing this light pattern on cars here in the US in the last decade or so. To most people coming from the previous US headlights which illuminated evenly on both side of the street it started looking like the "new car headlights" did not illuminate the road well and were a step backwards.

BMW's new Xenons just took the same "V" pattern used for decades and made it better by actually making it project further on the road on your side of the street while still having a sharp low cutoff on the opposite side.

I love the Xenons on my E60, it's definately the best lighting I have had on any car so far.

Rudy

I agree with rody...

About 25 years ago I started changing the US-spec sealed beams with the Euro-spec housings and bulbs on all our cars. It was back then that I started getting used to the "V" pattern you describe and back then there was no self-leveling, etc. so you were always "flashing" people if you hit bumps or drove over hills. I even remember an '85 S-Class we owned (grey market -- we had to import it with the sealed beams installed then change them back once it passed any inspections) had a little vacuum powered adjustment on the dash that allowed you to raise or lower the beams a small amount. Pretty cool for 1985, I must say...