New LED tail lights 69 Cuda

pishta said

Ha, take a look at my 96 Breeze headlights, I think a flashlight is brighter....That polycarb lens material is not the best. I like the old glass Sylvania 5 buck headlight for clarity (HID not included) Consumer reports always finds new models that do not meet SAE guidelines on headlight brightness.

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No, Consumer Reports does not find models that don't meet "SAE guidelines" on headlight brightness. Their headlamp test protocol doesn't (can't) examine headlamps at that level. They do find models that have not-very-good headlight performance according to their test protocol, and they squawk about it. Keep in mind the Federal standard doesn't require good headlights and prohibit bad headlights. It requires compliant headlights and prohibits noncompliant ones. There is certainly too much room in the standard for bad headlamps, and many Chrysler Corp. models of the '90s came equipped with bad (but compliant) headlamps. You are certainly not the only owner of a Cloud car or first-generation LH-car or '96-'00 minivan to wish for the performance of a plain old sealed beam, and your complaint is legitimate; those headlamps on your car are highly unpleasant to drive with -- they are too small for the job they're asked to do, given the (low) level of technology and money put into them. (They can be improved considerably, but that's beside the point of this conversation). But subjective impressions of performance are very misleading. However unpleasant those lamps are to drive with (and they really are, even when new), they do give adequate safety performance. It might be just barely adequate, but it is adequate.

None of this is a sound reason to dismiss the Federal safety standards as irrelevant.