HID lights

Ti Kan ti at amb.org
Wed Aug 14 15:16:21 EDT 2002


Tom Nas writes:
> "Michael Riebs / Audi V8" <AudiV8 at 1stchoicegranite.com> wrote:
> >Yes! Finally! They're going to decide that we MUST drive with our light
> >COMPLETELY off, and use a white cane to find our way at night instead!
>
> They'd better investigate the running lights of some weird car (sorry, I
> find it hard to identify US-only models while I'm doing 70 on the highway
> but they were the inner lights of a sedan-type car) several examples of
> which managed to irritate me a lot _during the daytime_  when I last
> visited the US in '99.

Yep, primary offenders are the daytime running lights on many GM cars.

> I found those more annoying than even the crappiest Xe systems, and there
> _are_ quality differences.

Indeed.  I think people are reacting to the fact that HIDs emit such
a different color of light than the standard halogens.  Sure, HIDs are
very bright, but good systems like those found on Audis have self-leveling
feature that continuously adjust themselves so they are always aimed
correctly.  There is the unavoidable occasional "flash" when the car rides
over bumps or crests over a hill, but you'd get that "flash" with any
good lighting technology.  The HIDs with their blue tinge is now getting
the brunt of the blame just because they are so easy to identify and
"scapegoat".

Just when we finally have legal advanced lighting systems on cars here in
the US, the last thing we want is to have the government legislate them
away due to public ignorance.

Now, lowering the lights on SUVs would be a good idea.  Heck, I wouldn't
shed a tear if SUVs were to go away altogether...

-Ti
2003 A4 1.8T multitronic (soon)
2001 S4 2.7T
1984 5000S turbo
1980 4000 2.0
--
    ///  Ti Kan                Vorsprung durch Technik
   ///   AMB Laboratories, Sunnyvale, CA. USA
  ///    ti at amb.org
 //////  http://www.amb.org/ti/
///




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