headlamp
Sign in to saveAlso known as headlights, headlamps, headlight
thumb|A scooter (motorcycle)|motor scooter's front with an impractical number and variety of headlamps, added for decorative purposes and characteristic of [[Mod culture]] A headlamp is a lamp attached to the front of a vehicle to illuminate the road ahead. Headlamps are also often called headlights, but in the most precise usage, headlamp is the term for the device itself and headlight is the term for the beam of light produced and distributed by the device.
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- Automobile headlamps
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~82 min read
Article
69 sectionsContents
- History of automotive headlamps
- Origins
- Mechanics
- Acetylene Gas headlamp
- Electric headlamp
- Design and style
- Headlamp styling outside the United States, pre-1983
- Headlamp styling in the United States, 1940–1983
- International headlamp styling, 1983–present
- Hidden headlamps
- Regulations and requirements
- Low beam
- High beam
- Compatibility with traffic directionality
- Adequacy
- Use in daytime
- Construction, performance, and aim
- Light colour
- White
- Selective yellow
- Optical systems
- Reflector lamps
- Lens optics
- Reflector optics
- Dual-beam reflector headlamps
- American system
- European system
- Developments in the 1990s and 2000s
- Projector (polyellipsoidal) lamps
- Light sources
- Tungsten
- Tungsten-halogen
- Halogen infrared reflective (HIR)
- {{Anchor|High-intensity discharge|HID|Xenon}} High-intensity discharge (HID)
- Retrofitment
- History
- Operation
- Bulb types
- Color
- Advantages
- Increased safety
- Efficacy and output
- Longevity
- Disadvantages
- Glare
- Mercury content
- Cost
- Timeline
- Cold lenses
- Laser
- Automatic headlamps
- Beam aim control
- {{Anchor|Headlamp leveling|Headlamp leveling systems}} Headlamp leveling systems
- Directional headlamps
- {{Anchor|Adaptive front-lighting system (AFS)|Advanced front-lighting system|AFS}} Adaptive front-lighting system (AFS)
- {{Anchor|Automatic beam switching|Automatic high beam}} Automatic beam switching
- Rabinow dimmer
- Bone-Midland lamps
- Camera-based dimmer
- {{Anchor|Intelligent Light System}} Intelligent Light System
- {{Anchor|Adaptive highbeam|Adaptive Highbeam Assist}} Adaptive highbeam
- {{Anchor|Glare-free high beam|pixel light}} Glare-free high beam and pixel light
- Care
- Lens cleaners
- Covers
- Legality
- See also
- References
- External links
thumb|A scooter (motorcycle)|motor scooter's front with an impractical number and variety of headlamps, added for decorative purposes and characteristic of [[Mod culture]] A headlamp is a lamp attached to the front of a vehicle to illuminate the road ahead. Headlamps are also often called headlights, but in the most precise usage, headlamp is the term for the device itself and headlight is the term for the beam of light produced and distributed by the device.
Headlamp performance has steadily improved throughout the automobile age, spurred by the great disparity between daytime and nighttime traffic fatalities: the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states that nearly half of all traffic-related fatalities occur in the dark, despite only 25% of traffic travelling during darkness.