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* Regulatory loopholes allow manufacturers to increase brightness because of outdated federal standards.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.
Agree. Needs change.
” . .I just got yellow lenses, in effect goggles, that fit over my glasses.”
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Yes. Yellow glasses help.
“LEDs can be made to focus light using lasers”
Are you expecting an urinalist to know anything?
I suppose they could AIM a movable light or drop a shade over part of the lens using a laser. But a light sensor would do the same for much less.
My car is 30 years old so none of this stuff to bother me.
” . .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.”
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Sometimes aftermarket shops or 3d printing shops can do or make items such as this. Might be worth checking on.
” . . .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.. .” ..
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Have found on roads and weather such as this, especially on country roads or freeways that curve a bit, that it helps to flip (old) vehicle lights up and down, so that oncoming can be reminded to lower hi beams if they are using them.
Trying to do it coming around a corner or not in their direct line of sight will generally keep oncoming traffic from taking it personally, while reminding those who are traveling with hi-beams to lower them.
Found this helps. YMMV.
>> . There’s a real, widespread anger out there; there’s even a subreddit with over 44,000 members
OH NO! Not a subreddit!!! Heads are gonna ROLL! Look out below!
Actually, the biggest problem is not having a point, or actually, a short horizontal “line” source of bright light in a headlight housing designed with the assumption that such a point or line is the source. If the emitting source, a filament in incandescent (often halogen) bulbs, is over approx. 1 mm “tall” and maybe 8 mm wide as oriented in the housing, the reflective surfaces spread the light around too much.
If you look at an aftermarket bulb, most have several LEDs spread over a much larger “footprint”, and now you have a lot of light bouncing off the “old design” reflective surface in unintended directions.
Of course, adjustable beam headlights are often simply out of alignment. That can obviously happen even with a standard incandescent / halogen beam headlight.
Multiple LEDs or “COB” LEDs (for good output) can be made to have a reasonably well defined pattern — for example, think of several focusable LED flashlights positioned in physical “parallel”. However, the reflective surfaces have to be designed for that purpose. Many new cars have such “new design” LED lights, often in very creative shapes - and then if one fails out of warranty you pay a small fortune for the replacement.
The other issue is color quality, as high color temperature light helps the driver behind the headlights “see better”, but it is highly irritating to most oncoming drivers.
When I replaced the entire headlight fixtures in our 2009 Outback, the replacements have an improved low beam pattern that cuts off more sharply the top of the low beam, with slightly more light “low”. This comes at the cost of a high beam pattern that is pretty wanky well off to the sides, say @ 80 degrees, but that’s not really much of a problem.
*Depends somewhat on the housing / reflective surfaces’ design.
I’m not sure if headlights really are brighter, or there are just a lot more morons on the road who can’t be troubled to dim their high beam headlights when another vehicle approaches. It’s rude at best, dangerous at worst.
LEDs throttle nicely when driven with a PWM source. (Pulse width modulation)
The average energy delivered is less; and, you eyes respond to average energy. If PWM modulation of LEDs did not work that way, OLED TVs wouldn't work.
Are you asking for an explanation?
Talked with others several times about this & almost everybody agrees they are a real menace. What happens if these overly bright lights cause an accident? I have seen it come close to that more than once. Now these lights may be fine out in open country with no other traffic around. How about something that will EFFECTIVELY dim them on low beam in city traffic to where they are no brighter than normal old tech headlights? Yes, trucks with these are the worst offenders.
” . .I just got yellow lenses, in effect goggles, that fit over my glasses.”
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Yes. Yellow glasses help
.
When I last drove through France, ALL French cars had yellow headlights. The relaxing effect on my eyes was palpable; moreover, I have excellent night vision, which suffers with oncoming over-bright headlights.
They’ve brought another concept that works well, besides high-performance multi-hull boats.
I LOVE NEW BRIGHTER HEADLIGHTS! When they are used in rural settings with no oncoming cars..
I HATE NEW BRIGHTER HEADLIGHTS! When someone in the oncoming lane has their BRIGHTS BLINDING ME and doesn’t dim his lights when I flash mine at him!
I’m ready to pull out a grenade launcher at that point.
In the old sealed beam days, I had aircraft landing lights on an auxiliary switch on my car for rural roads but I never used them around cars. Unless an oncoming car refused to dim his bright lights. One blip would cure them instantly.
Heard some cops had them. Once blipped a cop with my ACLL’s when he refused to dim his brights. Did he stop me? No. I saw he had the same ACLL’s and was as illegal as I was......many years ago.....
I know a guy who supplies Emergency lighting to police and fire departments. He told me that there’s some research showing a direct correlation between multiple bright flashers and collisions of stopped emergency vehicles.
Cop cars used to have one or two flashers, now they have over 20.
The eye is drawn to light and the steering wheel follows.
That said I’m thinking of switching to brighter LED’s. What I’d really like is for regular headlights to be dimmer and brights to light up a stadium.
I almost hit someone walking towards their car because I was blinded by a pickup truck’s lights
30 years ago headlights / brights were 1,000 / 1,500 lumens.
20 or so years ago 4,000 / 4,500 lumens.
Currently 6,000 / 6,500 lumens.
Imo need to keep the low beams low, all the way back to 1k.
Also need technology that aids the driver by automatically
going to low beams.
It's the cheap, crappy, lenses from China that promise "higher illumination!" that people are buying and installing.
Those lenses are SO BAD they literally flood the roads scattering light everywhere, actually reducing visibility for the drivers who install them AND for the rest of us!
If anything, those lenses should be BANNED and anyone with them on their vehicles should get a big fat TICKET.
I have legit, US Made factory installed LED lenses on my truck that focus the light DOWN onto the road and NEVER have anyone flash their brights at me because they're blinded by the light (cue Manfred Mann Earth Band.)
ROFL! 44,000 idiots on Reddit that complain about everything and want government to regulate EVERY ASPECT of our lives.
That's your average Reddit user: Big Government Communists.
Don't believe me, go check Reddit out for yourself.
Already exists in many modern vehicles 2015 and later. My pickup truck has it.
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