German mfgrs. lobbying for headlamp law changes

Not exactly the one you think...

http://autos.yahoo.com/news/audi-wan...221547172.html

And I twitched at the Claybrook mention at the end. If she were still running NHTSA this would be going nowhere...

On 2013-04-17, N8N > wrote:
> Not exactly the one you think...
>
> http://autos.yahoo.com/news/audi-wan...221547172.html
>
> And I twitched at the Claybrook mention at the end. If she were still running NHTSA this would be going nowhere...

Government freezes things it takes over and creates often at the time
they did so. Then when it is hopelessly out of date government makes
some politically driven leap.

But to the topic at hand I look forward to being blinded by this new
system.

On 04/17/2013 10:53 AM, Brent wrote:
> On 2013-04-17, N8N > wrote:
>> Not exactly the one you think...
>>
>> http://autos.yahoo.com/news/audi-wan...221547172.html
>>
>> And I twitched at the Claybrook mention at the end. If she were still running NHTSA this would be going nowhere...
>
> Government freezes things it takes over and creates often at the time
> they did so. Then when it is hopelessly out of date government makes
> some politically driven leap.
>
> But to the topic at hand I look forward to being blinded by this new
> system.
>
>

Eh, if they conform to ECE standards I imagine/assume that cresting a
hill is about the only time that that would happen. Most ECE compliant
headlights are pretty damn good.

I don't know how much I trust the electronics though - I know BMW has
had a "high beam assistant" for some years now that automatically dims
your brights, but my car doesn't have that option and I haven't driven a
car with one (or if I have, I didn't know it at the time and didn't test
it out.) I don't really miss it as I know how to dim my lights, but I
would be interested to see how well the tech works.

I also wish that since these companies are lobbying for changes to the
headlamp regs that they would also ask that ECE approved headlamps be
approved for use in the US - let's say for the next 10 years both ECE
and the old regs would be acceptable to minimize the burden on mfgrs.
who have just finished designing FMVSS 108 compliant lights for their
new vehicles - then after that period the ECE beam pattern would become
the new standard.

However, I'm thinking aerobatic swine are more likely, as sensible as
such a proposal would be...

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

On 2013-04-18, Nate Nagel > wrote:
> On 04/17/2013 10:53 AM, Brent wrote:
>> On 2013-04-17, N8N > wrote:
>>> Not exactly the one you think...
>>>
>>> http://autos.yahoo.com/news/audi-wan...221547172.html
>>>
>>> And I twitched at the Claybrook mention at the end. If she were still running NHTSA this would be going nowhere...
>>
>> Government freezes things it takes over and creates often at the time
>> they did so. Then when it is hopelessly out of date government makes
>> some politically driven leap.
>>
>> But to the topic at hand I look forward to being blinded by this new
>> system.
>>
>>
>
> Eh, if they conform to ECE standards I imagine/assume that cresting a
> hill is about the only time that that would happen. Most ECE compliant
> headlights are pretty damn good.

Many a German car has offensively glaring headlamps for their US models.
Since I don't plan on moving to europe, the quality of the ECE
implementation is irrevelant to my comment.

> I don't know how much I trust the electronics though - I know BMW has
> had a "high beam assistant" for some years now that automatically dims
> your brights, but my car doesn't have that option and I haven't driven a
> car with one (or if I have, I didn't know it at the time and didn't test
> it out.) I don't really miss it as I know how to dim my lights, but I
> would be interested to see how well the tech works.

This may in part explain why I am being blinded by high beams more
often.

> I also wish that since these companies are lobbying for changes to the
> headlamp regs that they would also ask that ECE approved headlamps be
> approved for use in the US - let's say for the next 10 years both ECE
> and the old regs would be acceptable to minimize the burden on mfgrs.
> who have just finished designing FMVSS 108 compliant lights for their
> new vehicles - then after that period the ECE beam pattern would become
> the new standard.

> However, I'm thinking aerobatic swine are more likely, as sensible as
> such a proposal would be...

The thinking is that the difference protects US makes and that the
characters in charge of such things in the USA are always right, always
the best, by default and thus it's the europeans who are wrong. Expect
no changes any time soon.

Brent > wrote in
:

>
> Many a German car has offensively glaring headlamps for their US
> models.




That's because ECE headlamps don't make it over here. ECE beam patterns are
illegal in the US, so we get NHTSA-mandated beam patterns instead. It's
those NHTSA-mandated patterns that cause the glare that we all hate.




--
Tegger

On Thu, 18 Apr 2013 13:42:49 +0000 (UTC), Brent
> wrote:

>On 2013-04-18, Nate Nagel > wrote:
>> On 04/17/2013 10:53 AM, Brent wrote:
>>> On 2013-04-17, N8N > wrote:
>>>> Not exactly the one you think...
>>>>
>>>> http://autos.yahoo.com/news/audi-wan...221547172.html
>>>>
>>>> And I twitched at the Claybrook mention at the end. If she were still running NHTSA this would be going nowhere...
>>>
>>> Government freezes things it takes over and creates often at the time
>>> they did so. Then when it is hopelessly out of date government makes
>>> some politically driven leap.
>>>
>>> But to the topic at hand I look forward to being blinded by this new
>>> system.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> Eh, if they conform to ECE standards I imagine/assume that cresting a
>> hill is about the only time that that would happen. Most ECE compliant
>> headlights are pretty damn good.
>
>Many a German car has offensively glaring headlamps for their US models.
>Since I don't plan on moving to europe, the quality of the ECE
>implementation is irrevelant to my comment.
>
>> I don't know how much I trust the electronics though - I know BMW has
>> had a "high beam assistant" for some years now that automatically dims
>> your brights, but my car doesn't have that option and I haven't driven a
>> car with one (or if I have, I didn't know it at the time and didn't test
>> it out.) I don't really miss it as I know how to dim my lights, but I
>> would be interested to see how well the tech works.
>
>This may in part explain why I am being blinded by high beams more
>often.
>
>> I also wish that since these companies are lobbying for changes to the
>> headlamp regs that they would also ask that ECE approved headlamps be
>> approved for use in the US - let's say for the next 10 years both ECE
>> and the old regs would be acceptable to minimize the burden on mfgrs.
>> who have just finished designing FMVSS 108 compliant lights for their
>> new vehicles - then after that period the ECE beam pattern would become
>> the new standard.
>
>> However, I'm thinking aerobatic swine are more likely, as sensible as
>> such a proposal would be...
>
>The thinking is that the difference protects US makes and that the
>characters in charge of such things in the USA are always right, always
>the best, by default and thus it's the europeans who are wrong. Expect
>no changes any time soon.


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