Are IPF Headlights of the E-Code version?

[Redsnake]

I don't get what the fascination is with sharp cut offs. The IPFs have a decent cut off for me, since I still like to see a little bit ahead of me when I have the low beams on. My dad's Mercedes-Benz has a really sharp cut off, but when driving with the low beams on, I feel as though I wouldn't see a deer in my lane until I'm right on top of it. :confused1

Like I stated, the IPF housings are really nice and do light-up the road quite well. However, one thing at least for me, is being able to 'aim' the lights especially when you are running upgraded wiring and wattage bulbs. Also, if you look at the way the Cibie lights are compared to non-E housings, the area under the sharp cut-off is very bright and quite flooded w/light. This REALLY helps when driving in neighborhoods and also down long country roads in my opinion. It also doesn't blind oncoming drivers and we all HATE being blinded by people in bright-lighted vehicles.

As a side note... I think some of those high-end luxury cars have 'self-leveling lights' that can bounce up/down depending on the road conditions, going over hills, etc... and that aids at times in blinding oncoming traffic.

 

[N8N_99xj]

I can understand that. I hate being blinded by lights behind me also. When I aimed my headlights I had a few family members with smaller cars drive in front of me to make sure I didn't blind them. I just find that some cars with factory projectors like Cadillacs, GMC Denalis, Acuras, Audis, etc will blind me more than other cars with halogens. It must be the way they are aimed or something. Seems more high end cars such as M-Benz, BMW, etc are still very bright but don't blind oncoming traffic. You'd think that if manufacturers were going to build a headlight setup they would do it the right way.

I think you answered your own question... the more expensive cars get the better stuff. It costs money to design a better headlight, and it apparently is not considered cool to use an off the shelf 7" round or other standard format reflector assembly but every car needs "aero" headlamps. Unfortunately for the less expensive models "legal" is good enough.

European cars still tend to have better headlights, because ECE regs are much more stringent than FMVSS 108 and define a fundamentally better beam pattern to boot. So the European manufacturers are used to having to design better headlights, as pretty much any E-code is better than the majority of US-spec headlights on the road.