Posted on 01/07/2026 11:48:50 AM PST by Red Badger
Key Points
* Headlight brightness has doubled in a decade, with widespread driver complaints and frustration.
* Regulatory loopholes allow manufacturers to increase brightness because of outdated federal standards.
* Regulations capping maximum brightness for LED headlights have still not been formulated.
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Illuminated headlights on an urban street at night
The Bright Headlights Crisis Is Far From Over
If you find yourself squinting while driving at night, you’re not alone. The IIHS reports that average headlight brightness has roughly doubled in the last decade. The NHTSA receives growing consumer complaints regarding headlight brightness. There’s a real, widespread anger out there; there’s even a subreddit with over 44,000 members complaining about this growing and very real crisis.
The numbers support the public’s frustration. Older halogen bulbs produced approximately 1,000 lumens. Newer factory-fitted LEDs produce up to 4,000 lumens or more. Some aftermarket LEDs have been found to produce 10,000 lumens or more. But the problem is that the federal brightness standards for automotive headlights have not changed for decades.
Regulatory Loopholes Made The Issue Worse
The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108 hasn’t had significant updates since 1986, with an addition allowing Adaptive Driving Beam (ADB) headlights coming only in 2022. The NHTSA last investigated the issue of headlamp glare in 2003. The current standards include huge loopholes for auto manufacturers to emit as much light as desired, as long as the manufacturer meets the requirements of the other parts of the regulation.
LEDs can be made to focus light using lasers, and auto manufacturers use this ability to their advantage. The regulatory standard prohibits excessive light in certain areas by referencing old technologies, but manufacturers design the areas in question to be shaded so that the total light output can still be increased greatly overall. Manufacturers want as much light as possible in order to get a high score for the IIHS headlight safety ratings.
Blinding Headlights Are a Global Problem
Blinding headlights are something that people from all over the world are complaining about, but very few countries have taken proactive measures. The UK has decided to require all new vehicles sold after December 2025 to have adaptive headlights. Since 2010, European countries have utilized ADB technology, which automatically dims the light in areas that are directly ahead of oncoming vehicles. Although the U.S. finally approved the ADB technology in 2022, manufacturers are wary of implementing it because of conflicting regulations, with a few exceptions, such as Rivian.
Less Brightness, More Logic
To fix this problem, the first step is to update Standard 108 with a cap on the maximum allowable brightness for LED technology. Next, states should begin requiring headlight alignment inspection during vehicle inspections. Finally, NHTSA should enforce a ban against the sale of aftermarket LEDs that exceed the allowed brightness, at least for on-road use.
The Soft Lights Foundation has collected over 77,000 signatures calling for federal action to limit headlight brightness. People are frustrated with being temporarily blinded while driving, and it’s high time some regulation was put into place. Vehicles have become cleaner and safer through smart regulation; the same just needs to be done with headlights.
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About the author
Simran Rastogi News Editor, Autoblog
Simran Rastogi is an automotive journalist with over a decade of experience writing and road testing for leading Indian and international outlets, including OVERDRIVE, India Today, and HotCars. Passionate about both modern and classic cars, he combines deep research with engaging storytelling to make automotive content accessible to all audiences.
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Some of the big pickup trucks are the worst.
There is a guy that lives near me that has SIX headlights on the front. Plus two on the back at the top of the cab. Most likely for plowing.
I think it is an F250.
Even with low beams it is blinding.
And here I thought it was just part of my eyes’ aging process!
Rearview mirror used to have a lever at the bottom to dim bright lights behind you. They have disappeared...............
Emergency vehicles are the absolute worst; not the headlights, but the emergency lights. They need a dim setting that allows drivers approaching an emergency scene to see and avoid it.
Buy an old car with the separate round high and low beams.
Aircraft landing lights will fit the sockets.
BTDT.
Agree, I can tell when a big pickup is behind me or coming towards me with their search light like brightness. How many accidents have happened due to blindness from those lights?
That is why I drive using sunglasses during dark hours. Polarized lenses do a good job of subduing the blinding bright head lights.
Many of them are in dim mode, to which they which they will show you if you signal them, that’s the problem.
One thing that would help is if they laid down highly reflective pavement markings that don’t so easily where away through environmental or physical wear.
I was also thinking that on the very left and right of your windshield, if a heat signature could be shown when wildlife appears on the side of the road would be helpful.
I have replaced every bulb in our house with LEDs, but last time I replaced headlamps in my Corolla I didn’t even consider LEDs.
F regulations. These people cannot think beyond mandates and government … or don’t wish to because they’re happy to see the US crumble under untenable controls.
To avoid this designers and companies could work together on shaping light output so it illuminates the road people want to see and less of the sky and other drivers’ eyeballs.
Personal anecdote: My car has LEDs and although they’re not set high I get flashed by irritated drivers sometimes ‘cause too much light bleeds upward. If I could put a hood on the housing I would.
On a cloudy night and relatively dark road with rain on one’s windshield - ALL one can see are the blinding LED lights coming at you.
It removes from one’s sight the ability to see other shades of grey or color, the ability to notice shadow or movement from other directions, and any other lights or markings near the road one can use for reference
These LED headlights are a menace.
Alas thermals are still pricy (search up same for scopes and other optics). You have the right idea though!
After they solve this problem do something about window tints
I just got yellow lenses, in effect goggles, that fit over my glasses.
I was really unsafe at night, and they helped a lot. If this is a problem for you, check it out.
Like a lot of things that change perception, it’s weird. The glare is still there, but the yellow covers seem to kill the blue-est part of the spectrum and I’m no longer blinded.
I hit a deer last April. I might have saved my car, if I had a thermal to at least warn me there was one on the road. I had visual warning, because it jumped out of the ditch and a farmer’s field access road prevented me from seeing it.
Yeah it’s crazy... I used some off road headlights on a Baja bug I built 40 years ago and got ticketed for them being too bright, the modern headlights on factory cars are much brighter than mine were.
Same here.
I’d heard in Europe, they have headlights that are much safer, but we can’t have them here. Not too sure about this, though. Just hearsay.
I have particularly noticed this when driving through the Lincoln Tunnel in and out of Manhattan. I myself turn the headlights off, leaving the parking lights and tail lights on, when I use the tunnel, but most people don’t. And only in recent years have the headlights of the oncoming cars started to bother me. The affect does not seem too bad to me outside the tunnel, out in the open.
I’ve started wearing the yellow night driving glasses. Those LEDs can be brighter than HIDs, which are prohibited.
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