How LED Daytime Running Lights And LCD Instruments Are Making You Less Safe

HAL 9000

HAL 9000

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The night, I’m told, is dark and full of terrors. That’s why we have lights on our cars.

And while lighting is unquestionably better than it’s ever been, ironically, two pieces of relatively new lighting technology actually seem to be making things worse, visibility-wise, partially because they’re too good.

Let me explain.

The two technologies in question are LED daytime running lamps (DRLs) and LCD dashboard instruments, both of which are becoming more and more common on cars across the spectrum.

On paper, there’s nothing wrong with these features. In fact, they’re pretty great: the LED DRLs are bright and very noticeable, and LCD instruments are incredibly flexible and (usually) highly legible in almost all lighting conditions.

So, those bits of electrical kit work well; no question. That’s why it’s interesting that these two technologies have been installed on the surprising number of cars I’ve been seeing cars driving either at night or in genuinely crappy, dark, rainy, sodden weather without their actual lights on.

I’ve been seeing a lot of these cars lately; drivers of new cars blithely tooling down the road at night without their headlights, marker lights, or taillights on.

The drivers never realize that they haven’t turned on their lights because, from their perspective, they already seem to be on.

The drivers are fooled because their bright LED DRLs are casting just enough light to seem like their headlights are on, and their dashboard LED instruments are casting light no matter if the lights are on or off.

Crotchety old bastards like myself still remember a time when it was obvious you were driving without lights, because before DRLs you couldn’t see **** out the window, and before LCD instruments, your dashboard was as dark and quiet as a hibernating bear’s armpit, unless you actually turned your lights on.

Modern cars with always-illuminated instrument panels often use a tiny green idiot light to let you know when your lights are on, and it looks sort of like a pair of alien landers on a collision course or a couple of jellyfish just about to have that first kiss.

It’s small, subtle, and I’d be willing to wager that the average driver has no idea what the **** it means.

The problem is that the LCD dash has taken away the biggest visual indicator that your lights are on at night – you can see your instruments – and the DRLs are just bright enough to make you think your lights are on, especially in a city.

Of course, DRLs don’t include taillights, so in the dark or bad weather, drivers fooled by bright LED DRLs are effectively invisible from the rear (DOT-required reflectors help, but in crappy weather or fog, without taillights, you really can’t see cars ahead of you).

While I haven’t done a formal study, I’ve seen enough cars driving around like this for me to believe this is a genuine issue.

Many cars now include automatic lights that would solve this if – and this is a huge if – drivers always kept the switch on AUTO. They very often don’t, because I’ve seen them.

As always, instead of cursing the darkness, I’m here to turn on some headlights, so I have a solution: we need a very big and obvious indicator to let people know lights are on.

Something to replace that gut-level indicator of a whole dark dash when lights were off on old cars.

I’m thinking that little stupid light needs to turn into some big, full-instrument-cluster width bar-like indicator when lights are on. Something you can’t ignore or overlook.

When the brights are on, it can get that standard blue bright icon on it, too, but whatever it is, it needs to be obvious and clear about what’s going on.

I’m not sure how many of you have encountered this as well, and I know that there’s been idiots who don’t seem to understand the concept of turning on a light in the dark since there’s been acetylene lanterns on horse-free carriages.

But I do know that in the last week alone I’ve seen an F-Type, two Audis, and a Honda all driving around in the dark and/or heavy rain without any lights on save their DRLs, and it happens pretty consistently.

I don’t think it’s really the fault of the drivers, though. Technology changed without considering the effect it would have on drivers.

A long-established visual cue for lights being on (the illuminated dash, as opposed to the dark instruments of lights off) was replaced with a completely useless new indicator.

It’s time to make this right, and I don’t think it’s hard to do, at all.

The Lord of Light commands it.
Click to expand...

Additional infographics and pictures at the article link:

http://jalopnik.com/how-led-daytime-running-lights-and-lcd-instruments-are-1782654483
 
I must admit ive made this mistake, my lights are usually on the auto setting but sometimes after a car wash or for some other reason if the lights are not on auto it takes a me while to figure out they are actually not on.
 
chickenbeef said:
From the article -
Click to expand...


Only time mine is not on the auto setting is when I get it back from a service, so only once a year. Only I drive my car so it cannot go off the auto setting itself.

The internal instrument lights are also set to it's lowest setting as I do not like the bright lights on in the car, especially at night.
 
If drivers are to lazy to use their turn signals when changing lanes why would they pay any attention to a gigantic light on their dashboards? :(

ps. My lights and wipers are permanently on auto. ;)
 
My lights are auto, people who dont use theirs on auto if their car has them are idiots.
 
How sensitive is the light meter on some of your cars? My lights are set to auto but when it is cloudy and rainy they won't come on, I have to manually put them on. They will also take quite a while once it starts getting dark before they actually do come on.
 
PseudZ said:
How sensitive is the light meter on some of your cars? My lights are set to auto but when it is cloudy and rainy they won't come on, I have to manually put them on. They will also take quite a while once it starts getting dark before they actually do come on.
Click to expand...

It's usually adjustable (even if only at the dealer)


I used to have a Volvo. Safety conscious manufacturer of note - but how's this - the instrument panel was lit up regardless of whether the headlights were on. Caused me a couple of wtf moments until I got used to it...
 
PseudZ said:
How sensitive is the light meter on some of your cars? My lights are set to auto but when it is cloudy and rainy they won't come on, I have to manually put them on. They will also take quite a while once it starts getting dark before they actually do come on.
Click to expand...


Not sure on other cars but mine goes on about an half an hour before sunset on a normal day. In cloudy weather it goes on sooner but not always.

It's also linked to my wipers so if the wipers are on for a few minutes, the lights will go on irrespective of how bright it is.

This is on the 3 different Citroen's I've owner.
 
Why do we have these auto lights?
I mean we drove perfectly well without it, for years .

I just think it's a bloated feature, that most people forget about.

Coming soon, automatic indicators, that won't work!
 
eg2505 said:
Why do we have these auto lights?
I mean we drove perfectly well without it, for years .

I just think it's a bloated feature, that most people forget about.
Click to expand...


I've forgotten to switch my lights off on a few occasions in older cars, especially when driving with lights on in rainy weather during the day. Nothing worse than getting to your car and the battery is flat in rainy weather.
 
Rocket-Boy said:
My lights are auto, people who dont use theirs on auto if their car has them are idiots.
Click to expand...

I don't currently, because it has to be fairly dark already before they go on. I know I can adjust the level of darkness before they light up, but I got the car very recently. So please don't call me an idiot :p
 
Rocket-Boy said:
My lights are auto, people who dont use theirs on auto if their car has them are idiots.
Click to expand...

I have auto lights, but I don't use them. I manually switch my headlights on if I drive at night. And I do this only because if they're on auto, the DRL's don't switch on during the day.

Even with DRL's, it's still rather obvious if my headlights aren't on at night. You have to be really special or blind to not notice they're off (in my car anyway).

I have rarely come across people in the Durban area driving with just DRL's on at night. People here think fogs are sufficient. Fogs, or no lights at all.
 
eg2505 said:
Why do we have these auto lights?
I mean we drove perfectly well without it, for years .

I just think it's a bloated feature, that most people forget about.

Coming soon, automatic indicators, that won't work!
Click to expand...

Its all a plot to make humanity even stupider so we stop caring, then they can harvest us...
 
eg2505 said:
Where's my tin foil hat

But seriously, auto lights never work as they should,
My uncle's car overseas had them, and I remember they never worked right,
Just "fashion engineering"
Click to expand...

Mine worked perfectly... Spanish engineering ftw? :D
 
signates said:
The internal instrument lights are also set to it's lowest setting as I do not like the bright lights on in the car, especially at night.
Click to expand...

^^ This.
I set my LCD instruments lights to its brightest when my headlights are off and when my headlights is on it goes to a lower setting due to it being damn bright at night that it blinds me in a way.
 
eg2505 said:
Where's my tin foil hat

But seriously, auto lights never work as they should,
My uncle's car overseas had them, and I remember they never worked right,
Just "fashion engineering"
Click to expand...

Mine worked 100% all the time...

Sometimes a bit too well and they would turn on when I wouldn't have.
 
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