Headlights

[Ti Kan]

scott miller writes:
> Excellent writeup Mr. Woodbury!  I'd like to add "why".  Having DOT
> standards that conflict with the rest of the world makes it difficult for
> the rest of the world to sell in the American market.  That's worth a lot of
> $ to a few huge companies.

In the 80s and early 90s, DOT simply hadn't kept pace with the advances
in automotive lighting technologies, whereas the European countries
have.  Add a bit of bureaucracy, complacency, and "our sh*t smells
better than others" attitude to the mix, and that is what happens.

Things are changing for the good, though.  High-tech lighting is
finally here in the US.  None of the new Audis sold in the US use the
old DOT stuff anymore.  Unfortunately, the bureaucrats must justify
their existence by making the US regulations just a bit different than
the Euro standards, so as to make it a PITA for the auto manufacturers.

Anyway, there is a lot of good info about lighting technologies on
the Daniel Stern Lighting web site, particularly the article about NHTSA:

	http://lighting.mbz.org

-Ti
2003 A4 1.8T multitronic
2001 S4 biturbo 6-sp
1984 5000S turbo
1980 4000 2.0 5-sp
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    ///  Ti Kan                Vorsprung durch Technik
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