Xenon Headlights dazzling everyone

[REDGOLFER]

When driving my new Golf at night I am constantly getting flashed by people who think my headlights are on full beam. They do seem very bright but unlike my old Golf there is no way to manually adjust them from inside the car. Any suggestions or is this normal with these Xenon headlights, its the first car I've had with them on. Is it easy to adjust them or does it need the VW dealer to sort it.

Cheers.

[ianiention]

I had, until a few weeks ago, an Espace with Xenon lights. They are very good, but they are too bright. The Espace automatically reset the levels, but they still seemed to dazzle everyone. I've just got a gti and have gone back to normal lights.
Main beam on Xenon and amazing though.

[REDGOLFER]

Took it to VW to check but they said the lights are set up ok. The lights seem very bright to me though, so will just have to get used to it. Don't think I'll bother with Xenons next time - they are brilliant for lighting up the road but seem to p*** other drivers off.

[mluton]

I know how you feel i get flashed all the time.

I just flash back and wave.:biglaugh:

[REDGOLFER]

Now I know there set up right think I'll probably do the same.

[macc70]

I have just changed cars and I am constantly being dazzled. Previously I had put the dazzling down to an old windscreen covered in tiny scratches distorting the light from oncoming cars.
Too many drivers are using these bulbs and causing serious visibility problems to others
The blue tint on some of the newer cars headlight beams seem to help the dazzling problem for me at least
Do we really need to replace the original bulbs?
Do these bulbs comply with MOT regulations?

[ini]

I think that as the human eye has a slight problem focusing strong blue light, the bluer the light the more 'dazzling' it appears.

The solution would seem to be a warmer 'yellower' HID colour.

Maybe something closer to the 4000k mark.

[adstalker]

I used to have a Ford Focus ST2 with Xenon headlights and used to get flashed all the time. I had them checked out by Ford, who said that they were ok.
The service manager said that if I was driving on very uneven/bumpy roads, the auto leveling may be trying to re-level the lights. He said that if that was happening it would look loke I am flashing my lights to other motorists. He also said that it was one of the quirks with xenons. I don't know of the VW Xenons works the same as the ones on Fords. I hope this helps.

[Wazza_G]

There's nothing wrong with having Xenon headlights, they're brilliant if and when I change my car (approx 3 years) I'll specify them again, in fact I'm even thinking about putting in an upgraded set of bulbs for high beam (Philips), just to cheese off anyone who wants a headlight fight! :mad: :aargh4:

[Eshrules]

There's nothing wrong with having Xenon headlights, they're brilliant if and when I change my car (approx 3 years) I'll specify them again, in fact I'm even thinking about putting in an upgraded set of bulbs for high beam (Philips), just to cheese off anyone who wants a headlight fight! :mad: :aargh4:

perhaps we should sit certain people, such as yourself, in a car faced with an oncoming car, fitted with HID's. i'm assuming you've not had to put up with the dazzle issue they present, especially at night, when your night vision becomes unsettled as a result.

this is being discussed in another thread and i don't think im alone when i say HID's ought not to be fitted to cars. good quality Halogen lights function properly, safely and light up the road. HID's are little more than a pain in the rear end IMHO. :Blush:

[REDGOLFER]

When I had my oil check I asked the VW dealer to check them again. I used a different dealership than who had checked them before. This one said they were set too straight and moved them left slightly. I haven't been flashed since.

So just goes to prove some VW dealerships seem to know what their on about more than others.

[Wazza_G]

perhaps we should sit certain people, such as yourself, in a car faced with an oncoming car, fitted with HID's. i'm assuming you've not had to put up with the dazzle issue they present, especially at night, when your night vision becomes unsettled as a result.

this is being discussed in another thread and i don't think im alone when i say HID's ought not to be fitted to cars. good quality Halogen lights function properly, safely and light up the road. HID's are little more than a pain in the rear end IMHO. :Blush:

It doesn't bother me in the slightest actually, I work in an industry where HID's look like candles, the headlight's I use can be seen for nearly 0.5 mile and light up the way for a good .25 mile!

I also can legally drive at up to 100mph too.. :D

[Col]

Utter tosh !

Bright eyes,
Burning like fire.
Bright eyes,
How can you close and fail?
How can the light that burned so brightly
Suddenly burn so pale?
Bright eyes.

There seems to be a bit of "Rabbit in the headlights" syndrome going on here !

What are you looking at other cars headlights for anyway? You should be text messaging or fiddling about with your I-pods instead.

And I wear my sunglasses at night
So I can, so I can
Forget my name while you collect your claim
And I wear my sunglasses at night
So I can, so I can
See the light that's right before my eyes


10 points for answering the the Artist and Track for the lyrics in the blue highlighted text above !

[MalcQV]

Re the above post from Col.

First one is Simon and Garfunkel but I guess you meant the second of which I do not have a clue :p

I also wonder about you guys who complain about them dazzling. Firstly I do not have Xenons and am not intending to get them, though my Passat headlights are crap :D

Secondly read this quote....

"Low light levels cause an eye’s pupil to dilate, which can accentuate any existing focusing problems and result in blurred vision," explains Dr. Elise Brisco, a Los Angeles based optometrist. "This is particularly common among people with astigmatism because the shape of the cornea prevents light from focusing properly on the retina, often leading to blurred vision, which can impair a driver's speed of visual reaction time and affect the ability to quickly identify and localize possible hazards on the road."

About two-fifths (39 percent) of respondents said they have been diagnosed or treated for astigmatism, a common vision condition in which surfaces of the eye, including the cornea, have an oval shape. Compared to the overall vision-correction population, people with astigmatism were significantly more likely than other vision-corrected respondents to report being disturbed by glare or light sensitivity (55 percent vs. 48 percent of others) and halos or starburst patterns around lights (39 percent vs. 28 percent) when driving in the dark.

Alarmingly, while 73 percent of respondents believe that correcting their vision problems could improve their night time driving, only 27 percent have ever consulted an eye care professional about treatments or products that could improve their vision while driving in the dark.

I have an eye condition so am regularly checked. Not wanting to alarm but maybe some of you should see an optician who may be able to help improve your night driving vision. Astigmatism is really, really common and is easily corrected!

[alanstead]

Why do people such as your self insist on complaining about hid lights? I have hid lights fitted to my car, have never been flashed and when you are looking at my car from the front the lights are less dazzling than most of the bog standard yellow poorly adjusted headlights I put up with on a daily basis. Stop being so hid racist!

[MalcQV]

Why do people such as your self insist on complaining about hid lights? I have hid lights fitted to my car, have never been flashed and when you are looking at my car from the front the lights are less dazzling than most of the bog standard yellow poorly adjusted headlights I put up with on a daily basis. Stop being so hid racist!

I have just replaced my headlight bulbs with Philip + 50% brighter and they are better but this morning I saw a 52 Fiesta with what looked like Xenon but I think it was just a very much white light Halogen. They looked pretty good and I wondered if anyone has any idea what they might be if not Xenon?

[ini]

They probably were HID which come in all colours, yellow white like halogen or even green or red or purple. (or maybe new Philips or offroad),

Apart from very bright 'point sorce' contrast issues, and whether you have halogen or xenon, the dazzling issue is mainly down to beam alignment, and i have noticed that many cars with OEM xenon do seem to have the level set quite high.

As the snails-pace VAG 'autoleveling' is only really meant for adjusting the level for heavy loads in the boot etc, it can not adjust fast enough to compensate for bumps or the front of the car rising under acceleration and dazzling everyone else on the road.

In my opinion the 'manual leveling' is superior to the 'autoleveling' system, especially if you are installing an aftermarket kit.

My only other problem with xenon's is in tall 4x4 vehicles, which seem to be designed to dazzle all other traffic.

Seating height above road level is obviously a factor (you will be dazzled more in a sports car than an offroad vehicle).

[gabba]

is there a legal limit in Lumen level for lights? :D

[martinboz]

Dear all,
I have new A4 S-Line (Jan09).
My Xenon lights used to dazzle everyone too until I looked under the bonnet. On top of each unit is an allen kay socket where you can adjust the height settings very easily. I just parked in front of my garage with the lights on so I could see the current level and turned the allen key until they were lower. No loss in performance but I have not been flashed since.
Hope this works for you!

[RickT]

perhaps we should sit certain people, such as yourself, in a car faced with an oncoming car, fitted with HID's. i'm assuming you've not had to put up with the dazzle issue they present, especially at night, when your night vision becomes unsettled as a result.

this is being discussed in another thread and i don't think im alone when i say HID's ought not to be fitted to cars. good quality Halogen lights function properly, safely and light up the road. HID's are little more than a pain in the rear end IMHO. :Blush:

I tend to do around 20k miles per year and have never really had this issue with getting dazzled, the trick is not to look into the lights i find :confused:

A lot of my milage is on the unlit sections on the M1 and over the Yorkshire moors / Penn's which most is unlit and never have an issue.

Could it be a case of drivers who do less milage at night are affected more by not been used to it???

Rick

[MadMacStew]

perhaps we should sit certain people, such as yourself, in a car faced with an oncoming car, fitted with HID's. i'm assuming you've not had to put up with the dazzle issue they present, especially at night, when your night vision becomes unsettled as a result.

this is being discussed in another thread and i don't think im alone when i say HID's ought not to be fitted to cars. good quality Halogen lights function properly, safely and light up the road. HID's are little more than a pain in the rear end IMHO. :Blush:
Properly aligned Xenons do not cause dazzle. I had them on an Audi A3 3.2 and the beam pattern was very crisp with negligible spill above the dip line. I was never flashed except on bumpy roads where halogens would have had the same problem. I have them on my current Phaeton and again, they cause no problem because they are properly aligned.