F56 Mini headlights brighter than the sun?

[VonSenger]

Steamer said:

By coincidence I was following a mini Thursday night and whilst being very bright, I also thought they were a terrible design (not the Union Jack flag design) But the round indicator light in the middle of the cluster.. might have been this model:



The rear brake light is so bright that the indicator flashing light illumination is lost in the middle of all the brightness.

I noticed that the other day. Poor design.

[budgie smuggler]

I'm not one for introducing necessary regulations, but I think the time has come for these to be clamped down on. I think it's not just the brightness but the colour, the cold white light looks good compared to halogens, but seems to really fk up my night vision.

I assume for the same reason, my phone has a 'blue light filter' which automatically comes on at sundown and makes the screen a lot more comfortable to look at.

[Davie]

VonSenger said:

Steamer said:

By coincidence I was following a mini Thursday night and whilst being very bright, I also thought they were a terrible design (not the Union Jack flag design) But the round indicator light in the middle of the cluster.. might have been this model:



The rear brake light is so bright that the indicator flashing light illumination is lost in the middle of all the brightness.

I noticed that the other day. Poor design.

So, how does a poor design that could be argued is a safety concern get type approval? Obviously all such cars have passed whatever legislation to be sold, but if they are that bad... surely there's a bigger problem out there.

[anonymous-user]

I was blinded by an oncoming Mini yesterday, narrow lane only wide enough for one car, had to look away as they drove towards me, brighter than the sun.

No need.

[Steamer]

Davie said:

VonSenger said:

Steamer said:

By coincidence I was following a mini Thursday night and whilst being very bright, I also thought they were a terrible design (not the Union Jack flag design) But the round indicator light in the middle of the cluster.. might have been this model:



The rear brake light is so bright that the indicator flashing light illumination is lost in the middle of all the brightness.

I noticed that the other day. Poor design.

So, how does a poor design that could be argued is a safety concern get type approval? Obviously all such cars have passed whatever legislation to be sold, but if they are that bad... surely there's a bigger problem out there.

Exactly what I was thinking. In some situations where the driver has their foot on the brake and the indicator cannot be seen clearly that could be lethal.

[Jasey_]

Zetec-S said:

Yes, the wife has a new Clubman with the LED headlights, and sometimes when we're juggling the cars around on the drive my retina's take a pounding, especially as the drive is on a slope so if she's facing "uphill" the effect is worse.

Sound like we have the same situation - I have to wait at the bottom until she's turned off the thermo nuclear reaction as I basically can't see anything !

[Earthdweller]

We have a 17 plate Countryman with the retina burning LED lights

Inside it, looking out they turn night into day .. but we are constantly getting flashed by oncoming cars which isn’t pleasant

We have actually had them checked for alignment and they are spot on

But, fk me they are bright .. far far brighter than the zenons on the X3

Just don’t mention the 2w candles on the Z4 which specialises turning night into erm night

[Rich Boy Spanner]

I drive about in a 2018 Octavia, it has halogens, they are absolutely fine and do a good job. I don't see why we need such absurdly bright lights, and they stop you seeing cyclists, pedestrians, and are just nasty to anyone in a car too.

I also have a 2007 Toyota with halogens and they are not so good (though to be fair, are still the original bulbs), and the difference in the 2007 Toyota and 2018 Skoda shows halogens have come a long way, and I don't see much point in LED, HID's that blind people and are expensive to replace.

Edited by Rich Boy Spanner on Tuesday 19th November 10:32

[Evercross]

Court_S said:

The E90 halogens were the equivalent of a pair of candles strapped to the front of the car. Bloody useless.

I did a full HID conversion on on the one I had for this very reason.

Just to add - the HIDs on my XF are bloody impressive - like stadium floodlights.

Edited by Evercross on Tuesday 19th November 10:26

[Dont like rolls]

Alex Z said:

Now and again I get people flashing lights at me, assuming I’m on high beam.
Flash back and they realise I’m not.

Ohhhh FFS !

Get them levelled correctly then !

[Limpet]

Has to be an alignment issue. We have an F54 Clubman with LEDs and have never been flashed by an oncoming car in 30,000 miles.

Fantastic headlamps. Probably the best of any car I've driven.

[nickfrog]

Rich Boy Spanner said:

I drive about in a 2018 Octavia, it has halogens, they are absolutely fine and do a good job. I don't see why we need such absurdly bright lights, and they stop you seeing cyclists, pedestrians, and are just nasty to anyone in a car too.

(...) and I don't see much point in LED

I have driven a recent Octavia on halogens and by contrast I can totally see the point of LEDs. I wouldn't buy a car without them, the difference is brightness and therefore safety is immense.

I can't remember ever being blinded by them either so I don't really see what the problem is.

[Jasey_]

The flashing may be people mistaking the running lights with fog lights.

They're pretty bright too !

[RSTurboPaul]

Try driving a low car on a motorway as these come past in L2 in the dark (or anything with LED headlights TBH) - your mirrors are basically just for decoration at that point, as you are blinded if you use them to actually try to see behind you.

[hondafanatic]

Torquey said:

Sat behind a new Mini clubman recently and I did wonder if they have the brightest brake lights I've seen on any car.

Painfully bright and nothing I could do but put my hand over my eyes!

I spotted this one the way to work this morning. Can't remember what year it was but looked new. I thought they had their fog lights on but as the traffic lights went green the brake lights went off. They are not integrated into the main cluster but on the rear bumper...on a shiny wet road they were eye wateringly bright when pulled up behind. Not so bad when a safe distance behind.

Got me thinking about other cars where the brake lights are away from the main cluster...I'm sure there's load but I couldn't think of any. I don't mean something like a GTRs curricular design, but a car where the brake lights are a good distance from the rest of the lights.

[DJT]

Noticed just this morning that the front indicators on the new Mini are near invisible when the headlight is on. That was in the daylight. At night you might as well close your eyes when one is coming towards you.

[DJT]

Anybody else noticed matrix style lights on the car behind. The other night had a SUV, Audi I think, behind and the fence and trees at the side and in front of me kept lighting up and then going back to darkness. ie like main beam lighting up parts outside of my own beam pattern. Not a safety issue really, just annoying and a little distracting.

[hondafanatic]

DJT said:

Anybody else noticed matrix style lights on the car behind. The other night had a SUV, Audi I think, behind and the fence and trees at the side and in front of me kept lighting up and then going back to darkness. ie like main beam lighting up parts outside of my own beam pattern. Not a safety issue really, just annoying and a little distracting.

I'm guilty of that...or at least my car is. Merc E with matrix/LED type lights. From the driving seat you can see the pattern work around cars etc. I'm always paranoid that'll be doing someone's head in...so much so that I got the missus to follow me while I drove her car. Didn't dazzle me when she was behind me, but never got a chance to try head on. I've not had anyone flash me...or maybe they're too bright and I don't see anyone flash me

[Rich Boy Spanner]

nickfrog said:

Rich Boy Spanner said:

I drive about in a 2018 Octavia, it has halogens, they are absolutely fine and do a good job. I don't see why we need such absurdly bright lights, and they stop you seeing cyclists, pedestrians, and are just nasty to anyone in a car too.

(...) and I don't see much point in LED

I have driven a recent Octavia on halogens and by contrast I can totally see the point of LEDs. I wouldn't buy a car without them, the difference is brightness and therefore safety is immense.

I can't remember ever being blinded by them either so I don't really see what the problem is.

If you don't find modern halogen lights fine for driving at night, and are never blinded by LED (or HID/Xenon) you must be blind as a bat.

[Zetec-S]

hondafanatic said:

DJT said:

Anybody else noticed matrix style lights on the car behind. The other night had a SUV, Audi I think, behind and the fence and trees at the side and in front of me kept lighting up and then going back to darkness. ie like main beam lighting up parts outside of my own beam pattern. Not a safety issue really, just annoying and a little distracting.

I'm guilty of that...or at least my car is. Merc E with matrix/LED type lights. From the driving seat you can see the pattern work around cars etc. I'm always paranoid that'll be doing someone's head in...so much so that I got the missus to follow me while I drove her car. Didn't dazzle me when she was behind me, but never got a chance to try head on. I've not had anyone flash me...or maybe they're too bright and I don't see anyone flash me

Have to say from what I can gather these systems look pretty clever. My only concern is that in 10-15 years time all these cars will be in shed territory and depending on the build quality/life of the system and how bothered the 10th owner is, there could be a lot of ropey cars with headlights pointing all over the place