Here’s The One Technological Drawback Of Old Cars That I Cannot Stand

I just drove my 30 year-old diesel, manual Chrysler Voyager 1,500 miles over the span of a few days, and while on the French Autoroutes, German Autobahn and British Motorway, I had plenty of time to reflect on what I love and what I loathe about this Graz, Austria-built minivan. Yesterday, while finishing the final leg of my trek back to Germany late at night, I was reminded of one thing about old cars that drives me nuts, and I bet I’m not the only one who feels this way.

Obviously, crash safety is a big deal when we’re discussing the shortcomings of old cars, but that’s not really something that’s palpable when you’re driving a car. What about ride quality? Hasn’t that come a long way lately? Sure, but also, there are plenty of cars from 50 years ago that rode like Cadillacs. For example: Cadillacs.

Handling? Well, I think if we’re talking about sports cars and not cruisers, I’m sure old-car handling could bother some folks. Same thing with braking performance, though plenty of cars from the 1990s could stop on a dime.

I think tech features could be a bother. Not having Bluetooth to talk with someone while driving is a bit of a bummer, and for lots of people, lack of heated seats could stand out as a major downside of driving an “oldtimer,” as they call them here in Germany.

But none of that bothers me. I’m writing this article to complaint a bit about a feature that pretty much every single one of my friends agrees is a huge drawback of old cars: the headlights.

Seriously, get behind the wheel of a classic car, and, if it’s equipped with power discs, I bet it stops well enough. I bet the wipers work great. I bet the ride is probably fine. I bet, for a cruiser, it handles well enough. I bet the seats are comfy. I bet it could possibly be efficient enough, especially if it’s a lightweight, fuel-injected 1990s car or a diesel like my van. I bet the visibility is great thanks to slender pillars. And while, sure, if you have an old automatic, that’s a huge pain compared to modern eight-speeds and 10-speeds and the like, I bet the number one drawback that will bother you more than any other will be the poor nighttime visibility. Especially if your car is from the 1990s.

Headlights have come so far in the least 20 years, with HIDs becoming more prominent in the early 2000s, and LEDs really pushing headlight technology to where it is today. In more recent years, automakers have had more incentive to improve headlights thanks to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Starting in 2016, it began its headlight evaluation. Here’s The Insurance-funded Institute’s reasoning for the new testing:

About half of all fatal crashes in the U.S. occur in the dark, and more than a quarter occur on unlit roads. Headlights have an obvious role to play in preventing nighttime crashes, but not all headlights perform their job equally. Differences in bulb type, headlight technology and even something as basic as how the lights are aimed all affect the amount of useful light supplied.

Headlight technology has been developing rapidly in recent years. LED and high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps have begun to replace the traditional halogen ones. Many automakers offer curve-adaptive headlights, which respond to steering and swivel according to the direction of travel. Many also offer high-beam assist, a feature that can increase the use of high beams by automatically switching between high beams and low beams based on the presence of other vehicles.

At the same time, government regulations about headlights don’t guarantee consistency when it comes to the amount of illumination they provide in actual on-road use. This has resulted in large variation in headlight performance. Many vehicles sold today have inadequate headlights, despite the recent strides in lighting technology.

And here’s how IIHS actually conducts its evaluations, which measure light intensity when going straight or around curves:

IIHS engineers measure the reach of a vehicle’s headlights as the vehicle travels straight and on curves. Sensors on the track measure how far from the vehicle the light extends with an intensity of at least 5 lux. A lux is a unit of illuminance, or the amount of light falling on a surface. For comparison, a full moon on a cloudless night illuminates the ground below to about 1 lux.

Both low beams and high beams are measured on five approaches,

• Straightaway
• Gradual left curve (800-foot radius)
• Gradual right curve (800-foot radius)
• Sharp left curve (500-foot radius)
• Sharp right curve (500-foot radius)

On each approach, visibility measurements are taken on the right edge of the roadway. On the curves, measurements also are taken on the left edge of the travel lane. On the straightaway, the second measurement is taken at a point corresponding to the left edge of a two-lane road. This allows the engineers to gauge the illumination on both the right and left side of a straightaway, which are typically quite different. With most headlights, there is a steep drop-off in light on the left side of a straight road in order to prevent glare to oncoming vehicles.

Glare for oncoming vehicles is also measured from low beams in each scenario. Engineers record the percentage by which it exceeds a set threshold.

IIHS describes its scoring methodology, stating:

IIHS engineers compare the results of the testing with a hypothetical ideal headlight system. Using a system of demerits, they apply the visibility and glare measurements to determine the rating.

In this system, the low beams are weighted more heavily than the high beams because they are used more often. The readings on the straightaway are weighted more heavily than those on the curves because crashes are more common on straight sections of road.

A vehicle with no demerits doesn’t exceed the glare threshold on any approach and provides illumination to at least 5 lux over the distances shown in the graphic [above]. Longer visibility distances are required on the straightaway compared with the curves because vehicles tend to travel at higher speeds while going straight. Similarly, greater visibility is required on gradual curves compared with sharp curves.

My van would absolutely fail this testing. Just look at these little candles:

Honestly, the late 1980s and early 1990s really represented the start of headlight crapification. The plastic lenses tended to yellow in a way that sealed-beam lights didn’t, and they’d also tended to allow water to fog up the inside of the lens. The result, as shown in the photo on the right above, was extremely poor illumination. Honestly, I had to drive on my high beams to see comfortably down the road. It also doesn’t help that a plastic tab cracked, and the light is no longer aimed properly:

I tried doing a comparison between my van and my dad’s 2015 BMW 320i, which comes equipped with LED projector-beam headlights. Should I have waited until nighttime? Sure, but this blog can’t wait:

As you can see, the BMW on the right of the first image above is throwing a lot more light onto that garage door, while the van? Well, it’s sending a few little splotches of orange light onto that surface.

In truth, my van’s headlights are maybe the worst ones I’ve ever used. My Jeep Cherokee XJ’s sealed-beam units weren’t much better, but my brother’s 1966 Mustang’s sealed beams were. They’re actually not too bad, but still nowhere even remotely close to as bright as my BMW i3’s headlights, which are similar to my dad’s 320i’s lights shown above.

If only there were an easy and clean way to retrofit these machines with brighter lights that still projected the right pattern down the road. I’ve heard of some folks trying different LED retrofits with success, but it seems like results are mixed.