Too much light in interiors

Status
Not open for further replies.

555

Joined
Jun 8, 2009
Messages
799
Location
New England
The topic is driving at night. All examples here are about driving at night only.
Thankfully when I was a young man someone had suggested to me to turn my interior lights down as much as I could and still read my instrument panel. Good advice.
Here comes the complaint, I guess it's my turn today(#2) Thin Film Transistor liquid crystal displays or TFT are becoming more popular and many vehicles have more than one and they are adjustable but they always seem too bright. I admit that I have limited experience with the number I have seen or read at night(have not been lucky enough to drive a new R8 V10)but I think less light is best and some applications are more about impressing the driver/buyer.
When one considers how many separate light sources a driver contends with(IP, cell phone,GPS) its no wonder there aren't more night time accidents. Could there be a correlation with more drivers driving with high beams on because their pupils cannot dilate because there is too much interior light?
There are certain conditions where brighter lights can impede brisk progress. An empty two lane mountain road(at night) you turn your head to assess the uphill hairpin coming up but with your super ultra mega high beams your pupils have gotten pretty small, can't adjust fast enough to see through that uphill hairpin fast enough. Even with turning headlights, they only turn after you turn the steering wheel. I'm not talking about auxiliary aftermarket driving lights.
Well at least this post didn't turn into a rant.....yet.
 
When I am out driving after dark, I see many cars with the dash lights turned up to maximum, you can see the face of the driver clearly illuminated. I have always taught my girls to use minimum lighting to help preserve a little bit of night vision.
 
Originally Posted By: Inspecktor
When I am out driving after dark, I see many cars with the dash lights turned up to maximum, you can see the face of the driver clearly illuminated. I have always taught my girls to use minimum lighting to help preserve a little bit of night vision.
I had to ride in a co-workers car with two other passengers at night. The driver/owner complained about the poor headlight performance of his two year old car and occasionally stuck his head out the window to see! All the while the dash lights were at maximum. Thankfully the ride was short and at low speed on a country road. I can't remember if this sort of thing is covered in drivers ed. Thanks for the response.
 
i think you are better off making a correlation that there are more suvs and crossovers on the road and their ride height leads and as a cladd have marginal lighting that is often poorly aimed and leads to your rant versus interior lighting.
 
Last edited:
I agree. Light pollution has really gotten out of hand and is probably causing more accidents than preventing.
 
My Volvo has a screen for gauges and it dims down fine... Same as it's nav screen.

My mom's Mazda either nukes my retinas at night, or I can't see the gauges/switches.
 
I agree with learning how to use the dimmer feature for your dash lights. I always dim the dashboard when I'm driving out of town (no streetlights).

One factor no one mentions is tinted windows. I hate them. They reduce total vision during nighttime driving and there's nothing you can do about it. I've had cars without tinted windows, and I remember the difference seeing at night. It was quite remarkable. Too much light in the daytime?... wear sunglasses. Good luck finding cars without tinted windows nowadays.
 
I just purchased a 2006 Infiniti M45 and even on the lowest brightness setting, it's still a tad too bright.

I like my interior lights quite dim for night driving.
 
My Camaro dimmer in it's lowest setting turns off all interior lights and sets the display in the tach to minimum britghtness which might be a tad too dark but it's really awesome for night time driving
 
My dad taught me that when driving out of town at night, to dim the interior lights so as not to cause eye strain and tiredness. I agree the TFT displays are often too bright regardless of how low the dimmer is set.

My mom taught me something similar about watching t.v. at night in the house. Keep a light on so you don't get the drastic contrast between the monitor and a very dark room.
 
May Saabs had a "night panel" button. Press it and all the lights but that of the speedo went out.

You could also set a max speed warning buzzer if you wanted to.
 
Originally Posted By: raytseng
i think you are better off making a correlation that there are more suvs and crossovers on the road and their ride height leads and as a cladd have marginal lighting that is often poorly aimed and leads to your rant versus interior lighting.
By yourself on a mountain road at night, there are cars whose interior lights at their lowest level will hurt your night vision significantly.
 
Originally Posted By: Kestas
I agree with learning how to use the dimmer feature for your dash lights. I always dim the dashboard when I'm driving out of town (no streetlights).

One factor no one mentions is tinted windows. I hate them. They reduce total vision during nighttime driving and there's nothing you can do about it. I've had cars without tinted windows, and I remember the difference seeing at night. It was quite remarkable. Too much light in the daytime?... wear sunglasses. Good luck finding cars without tinted windows nowadays.


The standard tinted windows have a very slight tint to it, compared to privacy glass on trucks & SUV's.
 
"I wear my sunglasses at night!"

I couldn't resist.
shocked.gif
 
I don't really notice this, but I direct my vision outside when driving night or day.
Most newer cars have an automatic dimness feature that dims the interior light sources when the headlights are used.
The accessories people bring along, like phones and GPS navigators are a more significant source of light than anything installed in the car.
 
Originally Posted By: 555
The topic is driving at night. All examples here are about driving at night only.
Thankfully when I was a young man someone had suggested to me to turn my interior lights down as much as I could and still read my instrument panel. Good advice.
Here comes the complaint, I guess it's my turn today(#2) Thin Film Transistor liquid crystal displays or TFT are becoming more popular and many vehicles have more than one and they are adjustable but they always seem too bright. I admit that I have limited experience with the number I have seen or read at night(have not been lucky enough to drive a new R8 V10)but I think less light is best and some applications are more about impressing the driver/buyer.
When one considers how many separate light sources a driver contends with(IP, cell phone,GPS) its no wonder there aren't more night time accidents. Could there be a correlation with more drivers driving with high beams on because their pupils cannot dilate because there is too much interior light?
There are certain conditions where brighter lights can impede brisk progress. An empty two lane mountain road(at night) you turn your head to assess the uphill hairpin coming up but with your super ultra mega high beams your pupils have gotten pretty small, can't adjust fast enough to see through that uphill hairpin fast enough. Even with turning headlights, they only turn after you turn the steering wheel. I'm not talking about auxiliary aftermarket driving lights.
Well at least this post didn't turn into a rant.....yet.


Most of the interior lighting in my car is red, it sure does help to keep your nightvision. Not everybody likes this, as it's a bit harder to see during daytime, especially as the sun shines on the cockpit dials but that's only a minor issue imo.

I have HID exterior lights from the féactory. they have a very wide beam AND turn into the bend. I adjusted them higher than standard to reduce the lighting immediately in the foreground, and extend the range so that I don't have a definite cutoff anymore, they just seem to fade out. as a result, I don't need to use my high beams (same HID bulbs that remove the cut-off + 55W H1 bulb aswell).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top