so is that way we see some with just a striaght strip, some with a 'smile' strip, and some (as I saw yesterday) with full, all round the headlight....

 

do you think the people who buy these cars actually know what they are for, or is it a case of 'I want the lights that are the brightest that make sure people know I have a little willy!!!!!!'

 

I think it's more a case of manufacturers thinking 'we have to fit them now so we may as well try and get

some design in there to make them as appealing as we can.' Well on premium cars anyway.

Everyone else does the bare minimum to satisfy legislation and cuts corners elsewhere

to compensate. Particularly on budget branded cars. it might be poor quality factory fit tyres 

or cheap interior plastics but the savings have been made somewhere to try and make them

competitive.  

i find most led drl's far to bright and they are also blinding......

Day running lights blinding? During the day ? How do you get on driving at night when cars have their headlights on?

I will say the DRL fitted to my Nissan look fine... until you get in front of the car.

Then then they are really bright and actually hurt your eyes if you look at them.

I'm not sure that's really needed, but at least people see you coming and shift.

Day running lights blinding? During the day ? How do you get on driving at night when cars have their headlights on?

since you have taken the time to read my post, you might want to finish reading it and you will get the answer to the question regarding the drl's

Days gonna be d law soon so there's no escape... The t w o t award is surely shared between our tecnic brothers and clitreon. FFS

I will say the DRL fitted to my Nissan look fine... until you get in front of the car.

Then then they are really bright and actually hurt your eyes if you look at them.

I'm not sure that's really needed, but at least people see you coming and shift.

 

+1 in agreement on the last line above.

 

Having had 'normal' bulbs in the DLR's on the Fiat 500 i had, while the car was seen & i am convinced from reactions that they did actually stop people diving out from side roads, i did however see that i was getting quite close before they noticed me & paused their attempt. However with the LED DRL's on the Octy is it more noticable based on previous experience that driver reactions at junctions seems far less 'frantic' to jump out as they can see me a lot earlier. It is also very noticable on motorways & dual carriageways that people who obviously dont use rear view mirrors often enough, actually ' see' better led DRL's behind them.

since you have taken the time to read my post, you might want to finish reading it and you will get the answer to the question regarding the drl's

I have just re-read it and still don't understand how you find the DRL's "blinding".

I will say the DRL fitted to my Nissan look fine... until you get in front of the car.

Then then they are really bright and actually hurt your eyes if you look at them.

I'm not sure that's really needed, but at least people see you coming and shift.

I hadn't really thought about these lights being aggresive but the past few days I have taken notice of cars fitted with led DRLs. It's seems to make the drivers aggressive & therefore to echo what was said above "you see them coming and shift". In other words some drivers are using them to intimidate those in front - from my experience over the last couple of days that's true. "LED DRL's - look at me & get out of my way". As others have said just my opinion so don't switch your LEDs on in reply.

I have just re-read it and still don't understand how you find the DRL's "blinding".

non directional light output, unlike like a car's head light the lights are angled to the left as not to blind other road users. The drl's are not, they just shine in whatever direction they want.

I have the standard bulb type on the 500 and the LED integrated type on the

other car (I won't name it as I don't want to get anybody all hot under the collar again)

Neither are aggressive, both types dim when headlights come on. The Fiat is bright yellow

and I think that's more eye catching than the DRLs it has.

And I don't have them on in the other car as I can just switch them off.

 

(I've literally already had somebody spitting at my car from a scabby old land rover

as they felt that somehow me having a nicer car than them gave them the right to do so

I was just parked in a bay at Tesco express, there was no reason at all for it other than

she, yes she was a swampy tree hugger type and saw me as a capitalist pig I'd imagine

and she'd be right. But my car is a lot kinder to the environment than the old polar bear killer

she was in so maybe she should re evaluate her values)

 

Mine come on with my headlights, but I can't do anything about that.

In terms of brightness they are about the same on either car, just different type of light.

The LEDs are much whiter in colour than regular incandescent bulb DRLs on the 500.

I think we are confusing whiteness with brightness here tbh.

If you put your face level with either my LEDS or Mrs gs bulbs they are both quite bright.

And yes they say 'look at me' to some extent, but THATS THE BLOODY POINT OF THEM.

And why new cars MUST have them. What's so hard to understand? They make you

more spottable.

 

In 5 years time when a lot of the older cars on the road today are gone more or less

every single car will have them blazing away all the time and this argument will be pointless.

They just stand out now because A LOT of cars don't have them at all as they are too old.

Even then a lot of people retro fit them to try and make their old cars look more current.

It's just that often they do it badly and it looks naff.

All I'll say is imitation is the best form of flattery

Ive had normal DRLs on a Golf and two sets of LED ones on a Fabia and Octavia vRS and have to say on the whole they definitely make things safer and are worth having, on the Golf they werent a fashion statement, on the Fabia and Octavia (and countless other vehicles) they are. The Fabias were bloody stupid because they were put where the fog lights normally went so the "youve got your foglights on accusations and hand gestures from the "uneducated" drivers were plain to see. The Octavia looks better for its DRLs, the style and placement of the light units are great and they definitely do both jobs, making the car more visible and improving the looks in equal measure.

I think retro fittment of LED lights should be made illegal as in most cases they are too bright and mounted in ridiculous locations....also they more often than not serve to make a car look ridiculous, particularly if they were never supposed to have them in the first place.

If I see a car with DRLs Im a car man, i know they are meant to be there and understand why they are there; I say bully to those who dont, they need an education in the safety benefits and also need to appreciate the things will be the law soon so just need to accept them. They arent in any way agressive, the way the cars are driven maybe but lets face it lots of people drive cars like that whether they have DRLs or not.

non directional light output, unlike like a car's head light the lights are angled to the left as not to blind other road users. The drl's are not, they just shine in whatever direction they want.

But they are not as bright as car headlights!! I suppose if you were right in front of them 2 metres away they would be bright but in a car at normal lane separation distances? Never.

LED's, incandescent, next to the foglight, in the headlight, old man's eye's etc. etc.

 

DRL's are here to stay, better get used to them folks.

Aggressive..... You got to be kidding... its a thin line with lights. how the hell can that be aggressive

Ahhhhhh, my eyes, my eyes, I can't see, screeeech - crash!

 

 

Only the aftermarket halfords specials. Manufacturer fitted I don't have an issue with.

I had a Volvo C30 -which at the time of launch had headlights that you couldn't turn off: if you turned the dial to the off position they stayed on but you couldn't use the high beam (unless you had a dealer deactivate them in software). Then came the facelift where they put LED day running lights in the fog light housings  :wonder:

I had a Volvo C30 -which at the time of launch had headlights that you couldn't turn off: if you turned the dial to the off position they stayed on but you couldn't use the high beam (unless you had a dealer deactivate them in software). Then came the facelift where they put LED day running lights in the fog light housings  :wonder:

 

Same as the VW Polo, like the MkII Octavia it's dedicated DRL's are part of the fog light cluster so if it wasn't specced with front fogs VW simply turned on dipped headlights (and tail lights) whenever the ignition was on, even with the switch in the off position.

 

Ths is why you see so many Polo's (and Mazda 6's) driving around during the day with sidelights on, its the only way the driver can turn off dipped headlights.

Not really but I do remember some years ago Neil Kinnock suggested British cars should have their lights on 24/7 to reduce road fatalities. Everybody laughed at him but it would seem VAG have managed to sell the idea to the masses! 

 

 I don't think they look any more aggressive than a bozo who drives around with illuminated fog lights on a clear summer's day. However on a car such as Peugeot 308 or Toyota Aygo they look like dog ****! 

Surely the most offensive, overpowering, aggressive and blinding lights award must go to Mercedes -by a country mile. I'm sure that it's something they'd describe as 'road presence'

 

A little over the top for an executive vehicle... but that said, they look so evil in the rear mirror when they come up behind you