HID, why lows only?

Great. Greater blinding power for all. Some countries have automotive lighting regulations that require that HIDs have self-leveling capabilities to prevent them from blinding oncoming traffic. I'd think it high beam HIDs might make some things like street signs too bright to read at night.

High beams are only on along with low beams, so the combination is already plenty bright. Besides that - high beams are typically 65W output.

I'd like to see HID's banned entirely. They're dangerous to oncoming traffic. Or at least find a way to point them as far downwards as possible when they're on.

Yousuf Khan

I concur. Or how about auto-dimming HID so that when these come right up on your tail your not blinded in the mirrors (especially the SUVs).

So it's better people rely on awful halogen lights and have accidents due to poor visibility? HID's do not bother me when oncoming. Look to the right slightly--didnt you have driver's ed?

If you can't see with halogen, IMO you're going too fast.

Looking to the right works well for me, when the oncoming has halogen. The HID stuff glares very badly, and it's also a color that's harder to 'ignore' in my peripheral vision.

-John O

First - there's no particular reason why HIDs have to be that bluish tinge except maybe for a tiny tendency towards blue because of the current flowing through xenon gas. I've heard the first HID prototypes were very close to the color we see from standard or halogen lamps. Then the marketing types chimed in and said to the engineers, "Can you change the color so that it looks different? We might be able to sell people on this if they have something different to show off as a status symbol."

My main problem with HIDs isn't on flat ground. I live in a hilly area, and if a car is cresting a hill, the extremely bright HIDs could be pointing straight at my eyes.

As they are an arc lamp, HID lamps take too long to extinguish - so when you dip high beams for oncoming traffic, they would remain too bright briefly. This can be solved by using mechanical means to move the HID bulb or otherwise shield the light when the lights need to be "dipped", but this is an expensive solution generally only seen on very upmaket Euro cars.

The simple reason is because Hid are slow to turn on and it's near impossible flashing so all cars havce standard halogen lamps for high beam. There are now lamps called bi-xenon where a little motor move the mirror that make the lamp low beam so it became high beam, but there is always in addition a standard halogen for flashing purpose.

I bag your perdon for my poor english

Your English is just fine, and better than many yahoos who speak it natively.

-John O

discharge lamps do not like to be turned on and off quickly - as you do with high beams