Chrome’s century-long reign as that added bit of flash and glamour on new cars may be coming to an end. At least at one major auto maker, environmental and serious health concerns are outweighing its aesthetic appeal.
As much as I appreciate that added bit of flash and glamour of chrome, the health problems from dealing with that shit are nassssssty. I also feel like the younger generations of purchasers are looking less for chrome than my generation.
The US feds recently approved automatically adjusting headlamps that point down at the road, so hopefully the current nonsense will get better. Europe has had these for a while.
I’m in Europe and I still get blinded by modern SUVs with LED headlights constantly, having auto levelling headlights is nice and all but when the headlights themselves are at eye level for drivers in anything lower than a landrover it doesn’t change much
That’s usually from misaligned headlights. Most often people swapping their headlight bulb and not adjusting them. You can’t simply pop an HID bulb into the existing reflector housing without adjusting the headlight to compensate.
To quibble, you can’t pop a HID into a reflector housing at all, usually. Halogen and drop in replacement LED have a different focal point than HID bulbs do.
This means if switching to HIDs you also need to replace the entire housing so it will focus the light correctly. No amount of adjustment will be correct if the beam isn’t focused properly.
Also last time I checked most drop in LED bulbs aren’t really intended for on-road use.
The headlights in my wife’s old car were a real pain in the ass to replace, you either had to take practically the whole front bumper apart or grope around blind from the wheel well. I debated on getting her LED bulbs to hopefully never have to do that again, but I noticed that they were marked as something like “for off-road or motor sports use only”
And is it a problem? How many accidents are caused by glares? And maybe wear sunglasses if it’s sunny out…… take a little personal accountability when driving something dangerous if a fraction of a second glare might affect your ability to control a vehicle. Or move your head? Is it immobile? I usually shift my whole body if I’m parked and it’s consistent for a few seconds.
As much as I appreciate that added bit of flash and glamour of chrome, the health problems from dealing with that shit are nassssssty. I also feel like the younger generations of purchasers are looking less for chrome than my generation.
It has another danger too, when it glints in the sunlight and blinds other drivers.
Chrome was always a bad idea.
Now we’ve got those stupidly bright headlights instead.
The US feds recently approved automatically adjusting headlamps that point down at the road, so hopefully the current nonsense will get better. Europe has had these for a while.
I’m in Europe and I still get blinded by modern SUVs with LED headlights constantly, having auto levelling headlights is nice and all but when the headlights themselves are at eye level for drivers in anything lower than a landrover it doesn’t change much
Do they work worth a damn? Auto-highbeams suck ass (one of the first things I disable) and turn high beams on in inappropriate conditions
Watch at 2:00
https://youtu.be/7i3pjLqUQ1c?si=XMqDRI38qJOzQIpP
They’ve been here for a long time, the issue is is when someone replaces their old bulbs with those bulbs that require those special housings.
My head bulbs aren’t bright, HID/LED sound awesome
Which will make cars even more expensive… unlike making them smaller, lower and more fuel efficient… But who cares about all that right?
You know we can make cars smaller and more fuel efficient and give them safer headlights, right? It’s not an either/or situation.
Bolts light bar to the top of a Smart Fortwo
Like this?
There might possibly be smarter ways of going about it, but it’s worth a try.
Yes
Hell yeah!
That’s usually from misaligned headlights. Most often people swapping their headlight bulb and not adjusting them. You can’t simply pop an HID bulb into the existing reflector housing without adjusting the headlight to compensate.
To quibble, you can’t pop a HID into a reflector housing at all, usually. Halogen and drop in replacement LED have a different focal point than HID bulbs do.
This means if switching to HIDs you also need to replace the entire housing so it will focus the light correctly. No amount of adjustment will be correct if the beam isn’t focused properly.
Also last time I checked most drop in LED bulbs aren’t really intended for on-road use.
The headlights in my wife’s old car were a real pain in the ass to replace, you either had to take practically the whole front bumper apart or grope around blind from the wheel well. I debated on getting her LED bulbs to hopefully never have to do that again, but I noticed that they were marked as something like “for off-road or motor sports use only”
It turns out, automakers were actually using headlights that were dimmer than legally required and getting away with it for decades.
I’m intrigued, do you have a source?
That aren’t
dealtdeadly to make… Yay, progress!. .?That has never really been a problem for me.
A waxed car does the same… a window does the same… that’s literally not a reason.
…for what?
Waxed paint and window glass cause the same problem. So, it’s not a problem then?
They didn’t remove chrome because it glares.
And is it a problem? How many accidents are caused by glares? And maybe wear sunglasses if it’s sunny out…… take a little personal accountability when driving something dangerous if a fraction of a second glare might affect your ability to control a vehicle. Or move your head? Is it immobile? I usually shift my whole body if I’m parked and it’s consistent for a few seconds.
I’m 30, it’s not that I don’t want chrome, it’s more like I don’t care either way and I’m not paying more for it because I just don’t care about it
Lol that is probably the real answer. The Young’s don’t like the look of it so they are not using it