Do Your Eyes and Headlights Make a Good Team?

I’m not sure if it’s just me getting older or my car, but it’s getting harder and harder to see the road while driving at night. It’s one thing to make sure luxury items like your Car Radio or Car Navigation System are working, but it’s even more important to maintain parts that affect your safety. Headlights begin to dim over time, and as the days get shorter in these winter months their brightness becomes even more important.

There are many different types of headlights such as incandescent, halogen, and xenon. Incandescent bulbs are the more traditional bulbs and tend to dim faster as the filament inside evaporates over time. Xenon bulbs use newer technology, specifically the HID (High Intensity Discharge) xenon bulbs which use two electrodes in a xenon gas-sealed bulb rather than a traditional filament. We are seeing these bulbs more and more in newer cars because the light they create is not only three times brighter than a halogen bulb, but lasts ten times longer. While three times brighter seems great for the driver, I can think of a time or two I’ve been blinded by an oncoming Audi or BMW, thinking their brights were on. Some headlights out today, such as bi-xenon, are so bright that they require self-leveling so they don’t blind other drivers on the road.

No matter which type of headlight your car uses, if you’re squinting to see the road at night you either need new bulbs or a pair of glasses. If you do notice your yellow-glowing halogen lights are much dimmer than they once were, be sure to change them both at the same time! It’s also fairly easy to upgrade them to xenon for that new, fresher look. Dimming headlights is a common problem but an easy fix, so don’t sacrifice your safety or the safety of other drivers on the road.

Are Old Cars Safer Than New Ones

It is a common held belief that old cars are safer in an accident than a new modern car. This is simply not true but the thought that there is about 500 yards of metal between you and the car in front makes some people feel safer. Older cars with their steering gear box and steering rack units that had to handle a great deal more weight than newer cars had a much harder time avoiding accidents. The fact of the matter is there is no replacement for technology when it comes to being safe behind the wheel.

After watching a number of crash-test videos from new cars and seeing how much of a beating a new car can take I thought it would be a good idea to take back at the classics. What can be found by just doing a search on YouTube is a bit scary. Older cars seem solid and like they could take on a brick wall without flinching, it is just not true. Recently an independent company put a 59 Impala and faced it off against a modern one. The result is not as expected while the modern impala may have been totaled but seems to be just superficial. The damage looks bad but the cabin seems to be completely intact which means the passengers would be ok. The 68 did not fare as well, Not only did the car seems to completely collapse from the impact but the driver was subject to many injuries that would threaten their life. That is if they were not crash test dummies.

 

The fact of the matter is that modern cars have been built with safety in mind and the technology to back that up. Even though a new car may seem to be plastic and light the truth of the matter is that crumple zones and frame strengthening in key areas means that the car will disperse the energy of a crash more efficiently. This in turn means that the driver will be more protected from the force of the impact. After watching all the test videos of older cars it become clear that modern automotive travel is a much safer way to travel then the classics.