[HN Gopher] The Porsche Macan EV Is Being Recalled Because Its H...
___________________________________________________________________
The Porsche Macan EV Is Being Recalled Because Its Headlights Are
Too Bright
Author : josephcsible
Score : 13 points
Date : 2024-12-03 21:47 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (insideevs.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (insideevs.com)
| josephcsible wrote:
| This sentence stood out to me:
|
| > Due to a software data set error, the affected vehicles were
| programmed from the factory after the Economic Commission for
| Europe (ECE) specs, whereas U.S.-spec vehicles need to conform to
| the requirements of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard
| (FMVSS).
|
| Presumably, if there were a way for the headlights to comply with
| both US and EU regulations, they'd just have them be that way
| everywhere, rather than having to deal with multiple
| configurations at all. So are the US and EU both saying that each
| other's way is wrong and too dangerous?
| echoangle wrote:
| Since the brightness seems to be the issue, the only way I his
| makes sense to me is:
|
| The US limits the brightness to X, the EU limits the brightness
| to Y, and Y > X.
|
| Porsche could just make every car globally use X, but they're a
| luxury brand so they probably try to use Y where they can, even
| if it is a bit of work to differentiate between markets.
| tomatotomato37 wrote:
| Porsche is also based in the EU so starting with a design
| that meets EU specs and then adjusting export models as
| needed is probably their procedure anyway
| Symbiote wrote:
| It's a significant difference. I doubt any manufacturer would
| want to limit their European vehicles to the American
| maximum:
|
| > European lighting standards (UNECE) allow over two times
| the light output from high beam headlight systems as compared
| to the U.S. (Broertjes, 2018). U.S. compliant systems allow a
| vehicle maximum of 150,000 candela while European compliant
| systems allow a vehicle maximum of 430,000 candela (Official
| Journal of the European Union, 2018). This provides for gains
| in sight distance, but also increases the potential for glare
| to affect oncoming and preceding traffic when high beams are
| not dimmed.
|
| And
|
| > 3. European specification systems consistently provided
| more roadway lighting when an oncoming vehicle was
| approaching, or a preceding vehicle was close.
|
| > a. Based on static target illumination data, the increase
| in roadway lighting could be as much as 86 percent
| (comparison of average European specification high beam to
| U.S. specification low beam).
|
| https://www.aaa.com/AAA/common/AAR/files/ResearchReportEuroS.
| .. (scroll to at least page 19-20 for illuminating
| illustrations).
| maxerickson wrote:
| The low beams on newer US cars are already blinding.
|
| Do people in the EU consistently behave politely and turn
| them off when appropriate?
| r00fus wrote:
| I remember when driving in the EU (France) that most cars
| allow you to adjust the angle of the beams, so you may have
| more light but it's often pointed down.
|
| Unsure if that was just the few vehicles I drove or if it's
| EU-wide.
| Kon-Peki wrote:
| This recall is for the high-beams. And yes, the EU allows
| brighter high-beams than the US.
|
| This seems to be the extent of the recall. But there are
| other differences between the EU and US. For example, on
| _what_ the headlights are illuminating. US headlights shine
| more light off to the right of the vehicle than EU and I
| think it is due to the assumption that roadside signs are
| more often lit via headlights /refection in the US vs sign-
| mounted lighting in the EU.
|
| I think most people agree that EU regulations allow for
| significantly better headlights than US regulations allow.
| But those better headlights _must_ be paired with an
| expensive adaptive system or they become terribly dangerous.
| If you compare "cheap car" headlights in the US vs EU they
| are probably very similar in performance.
| thephyber wrote:
| Brightness of two headlights is not a single floating point
| number.
|
| There are regulations governing the spread/angle, the minimum
| brightness, the maximum brightness, how much an object at X
| distance is illuminated, whether the angle of the beams is
| too bright in the vision of oncoming drivers, etc.
| potato3732842 wrote:
| >So are the US and EU both saying that each other's way is
| wrong and too dangerous?
|
| Real life disagreements on minor technicalities between
| competing bureaucracies are not zero sum or conducted in
| breathless hand wringing internet rhetoric. It's more like a
| disagreement on a FOSS mailing list.
| groos wrote:
| I believe EU allows directionally controllable projector
| headlights (my description, I don't know the official name).
| These can be brighter because they can be directed away from
| oncoming traffic. The US, in contrast, is lagging in
| approving this technology and puts an absolute limit on the
| brightness.
| thephyber wrote:
| There are some notable value judgements that are different
| between US and EU regulations.
|
| I remember reading that the US car safety rules generally
| assume that the people in the car do not follow the rules,
| whereas EU regulations assume they follow the law and use
| seatbelts.
|
| US crash safety tests don't care about the damage the car does
| to pedestrians, but EU regulations do factor that in.
|
| https://www.npr.org/2015/10/16/449090584/why-arent-auto-safe...
| KK7NIL wrote:
| > US car safety rules generally assume that the people in the
| car do not follow the rules > US crash safety tests don't
| care about the damage the car does to pedestrians
|
| As a EU citizen living in the US, this makes perfect sense.
|
| The quality of driving here is far lower, I often see
| vehicles without plates or temp tags and it's not unusual to
| hear about uninsured drivers hitting people.
|
| It's ironic that such a car centric country naturally ends up
| with terrible drivers because of the low barrier to entry.
| tradertef wrote:
| There are too many cars with this problem. Especially high trucks
| and SUVs whose beams blinds drivers in front of them..
| tester756 wrote:
| In general new cars have annoying lightings in compare to old
| cars
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2024-12-03 23:00 UTC)