Vancouver asks feds for brightness limits on LED headlights

https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/vancouver-council-directs-federal-government-to-create-limits-on-led-headlight-brightness/

40 Comments

  1. PrairiePopsicle on

    All cities, towns, everywhere, should ask for this. Headlights should be a lumen based regulation.

  2. It would be a good move, but doesn’t the Federal Government just oversee standards for new automobiles? The provinces are free to regulate their own standards, which would have the advantage of covering all vehicles on the road, modified lights, aftermarket, misadjusted, etc.

  3. Sargent_Duck85 on

    I can’t see why any person or any politician would be against this.

    Make it happen.

  4. Chance_Ad_1254 on

    Sometimes I wonder if LED lights are a way to get ppl to consider buying larger cars just so they can see. I drive a hatchback its so frustrating when I can’t see when I make a left turn or whatever. 

  5. Next step: reduce the brightness of these LED lights in the streets. Light glare is making it impossible to see anything between the lights, even with a high vis vest.

  6. As a sedan driver can I just say that **THERE NEEDS TO BE A MAXIMUM HEADLIGHT HEIGHT**

    A 1/2 ton truck’s lights basically shine directly through my cabin. There’s no reason they need to be doing that.

  7. It’s taking a long time for the changes in the Us laws regarding matrix lighting to come into effect. I think canada we only allowed them in 2025.

    As someone who enables matrix lighting on cars in Toronto, it’s amazing driving on roads where you can visibly see your headlight adjusting for oncoming glare.

    Here is the excerpt:
    For many years, US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (specifically FMVSS 108) required that headlights have distinct, separate settings for “high beam” and “low beam,” and that these could not be blended or dynamically adjusted.

    Matrix headlights—which use dozens of small LEDs to dim specific areas while keeping the high beam on—violated this rule, as they blend high and low beam functionality into one system.

    However, this legal barrier was removed in February 2022, when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published a final rule officially allowing Adaptive Driving Beam (ADB) headlights, or “matrix headlights,” on new vehicles in the United States.

  8. I bought a vehicle in 2021 and get flashes a lot at night even though the lights are stock. My dad bought a new truck last year and his stock truck is even brighter than my little SUV. It’s crazy how bright these have gotten.

    I think they need to do a country wide lumen limitation for all new cars. The only issue is even if that was implemented today we’d have about 10 years or so worth of vehicles they’d have to grandfather in. Replacing headlights can be as much as $3000 depending on the vehicle.

  9. Tesla headlights are as bright as a thousand suns. Or Tesla drivers are using their hi-beams at all times.

  10. I deal with automotive headlight bulbs all the time. A DOT certified LED bulb set is over $100, while the Amazon specials are “offroad use only” for under $50 a set. How do you enforce LED brightness? Is there a tool that DOT sheriffs can carry around to test lumens/brightness?

  11. 5GCovidInjection on

    Follow the European regulations which regulate not only the brightness, but beam output, color temperature, and pattern.

    I live in the US. I went out of my way to buy headlights made by JW Speaker. Their LED lights conform to ECE standards, are road legal in Canada and Europe (double check the exact headlight for the compliance), and I haven’t gotten any high beam flashes from oncoming traffic when I put them on my vintage car. They cost a ton, at $280 USD per headlight, but they’re damn worth it.

    And please, for the love of god, countries need to ban counterfeit lights from China. They have burned my retinas too many times to count

  12. Crazy-Cook2035 on

    Much needed

    Some of these new 2025-2026 models have me wearing nighttime tinted glasses

    It is insane

  13. I drive a little Honda fit and I get blinded from all angles especially by big cool lifted monster trucks. Please my retinas are begging someone legislate the lights

  14. Finally. Between the brightness and the fact trucks and SUV have become so fucking massive and they don’t properly adjusted the heads lights down it’s actually painful to drive at night these days. I love when a huge truck tailgates me and their lights shine directly into my car and on my rear view mirrors to the point I have to adjust the mirrors away so they’re useless as rear views anymore… that’s super fun and safe…

  15. AbnormallyBendPenis on

    Don’t wanna be a party pooper but this would require distinctive homologation rule just for the Canadian market, so the car manufacturers would raise prices accordingly.

    Just something to keep in mind. Making a unique headlight spec for a 40 million population market isn’t cost effective for car manufacturers. This is one of those things that we should work with other countries to implement together, so the cost impact is minimum for Canadian consumers

  16. Its kind of funny how they went from one extreme to the other I bought a new blazer in 1997 and the moonlight was brighter and now they have went to brighter than the sun

  17. AnonymousBayraktar on

    I don’t think this should be limited to headlines. You should see what the Brentwood development in burnaby does to our night sky now.

  18. THANK YOU!! I hate how bright lights have gotten. I get that it makes things more visible for the driver but it’s blinding to other drivers. Especially on a bend when the cars are pointed almost start at you. I literally can’t see anything other than your lights for a moment.

  19. Finally. There should be a national regulation for this. My dry tired eyes are begging for it

  20. YES PLEASE GOD

    This is literally my biggest trigger, tone down the goddamn neutron stars people have strapped to the front of their cars.

  21. No, no, no, no, no!!!! It’s the colour temperature not the brightness.

    Lights used to be 2700K now they’re like 5500K Yellow to Blue/White.

  22. Tesla Model 3s are a big offender in my eye. Lots of other cars are too bright too but the 3s are every where and easily the brightest of the bunch.

  23. Not saying there shouldn’t be limits on how bright headlights should be, because yah they cause a problem. That said, for those of you that want a solution that doesn’t involve waiting for the laws to change, may I recommend you pop over to Amazon and order yourself a pair of anti-glare glasses? They cost under $20 for a cheap pair and they absolutely save you when driving in the dark with oncoming headlights frequently blinding you.

  24. Yea some of these lights are so bright, especially for cargo trucks, that I can’t use my left or right rear view mirrors without getting blinded,

  25. Adaptive Driving Beam/ Matrix Headlights are the solution to this.

    They dim out the sections where vehicles are located so as to not dazzle other drivers. They also are sometimes programmed to aim a beam directly at signage at night for optimal clarity.

    I have it activated on both my Audi and VW. Won’t buy a vehicle without it now

  26. Hippiegypsy1989 on

    As someone that just bought a new vehicle Abe being flashed constantly because people think my high beams are on… I fully support this