Newer Headlights Are Just Too Bright

The whiter, more bright headlights make me squint and panic. How can these new headlights be legal?

There are laws regulating how bright lights can be.

My longtime mechanic, Junior, said there are a few reasons for the overly bright lights.

"I think one thing it may have to do with is headlight alignment. Back when cars were simpler, it was easy for me to realign three or four screws around the slant of each headlight while shining them on the garage wall at the right height and width," he said. "But with the newer cars today, the headlight assembly is a one-piece monstrosity that costs hundreds of dollars to replace, and I haven't even tried to realign any new vehicle headlights yet."

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I know I'm getting older, but Junior said he's had a lot of complaints from younger drivers, too. I'm glad I'm not the only one who is complaining.

"I heard GM is recalling about three-quarters of a million older SUVs because the headlights are way too bright," he said.

I searched and found that he's right. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said General Motors recalled 740,581 GMC Terrain vehicles, made between 2010 and 2017, because the headlamp housing causes a projected beam from the lower lamp to reflect off the high beam reflector. GM admits that the super bright reflections cause glare to other drivers, increasing the risk of a crash. Vehicles built after 2017 use a different headlamp model that doesn't cause blindness to on coming motorists.

GM also said they weren't sure how long it would take until the repair is ready, but expects to be sending out letters of notification starting in late April.

Finally, auto makers are admitting that the headlights are dangerously too bright, or are they? I couldn't believe my blinded eyes when I read that the Detroit auto maker said it had only "one" complaint from a customer about the headlights.