Headlamps
Usually taken for granted, headlamps can take years to develop and produce. Performance, legality, durability, cost, appearence, and customer preferences are all factors of a modern headlamp project.
Headlamps are broken into two subgroups, low beam and high beam. Low beam is usually the more used pattern, and should be used when other traffic is present. A good low beam pattern is wide and even providing plenty of light to the sides of the vehicle to help see around turns and the sides of the road. Proper low beam pattern will not blind oncoming traffic and can be a major styling element of the vehicle when illuminated. Low Beams should be used when other cars are present at night and during poor weather conditions-day or night. A High Beam is a far-reaching lamp that is for use when other cars are not in the area. It is a long narrow pattern for maximum distance. High beams should not be used when other cars are in the area or in bad weather. Having a low beam failure is not an excuse to use your high beams when other traffic is present. High beams do not have any anti-dazzle properties and those who use their high beams when they should not are not only hurting themselves but also those around them. Feel free to flash your High Beams at people who use their High Beams incorrectly. High Beams can be flashed to signal other drivers for other reasons too. If someone is holding up traffic in the left or passing lane, flash from a distance to signal him or her to move over. Do not be shy, they are holding up traffic which can be a hazard. If they flip you off or flash their High Beams at you once they are behind you, they are not mature enough to be on an interstate. Flashing your high beams when you are right on someone's bumper can be called aggressive and some states can write a very vague ticket for aggressive driving. See turn signals under Signal Lighting for more flash to pass options.
Fog Lamps
Often misused and misunderstood: Fog Lamps are for visibility for the first 300-500 feet in front of the vehicle. They come standard or as an option on most cars and trucks. This does not mean that they are a good performing fog lamp. For styling and cost reasons, O.E. fog lamps usually are not very effective. A proper fog lamp produces a very wide and short pattern with minimal glare. Fog lamps will not add any distance to your vision, but rather increased width. The added width will help you see the sides of the road in poor weather. Using Fog Lamps when conditions are good will hurt your vision by creating a hot spot in front of the car. The human eye naturally looks where there is the most light, so looking 10-20 feet in front of the bumper will not help you at 60mph. For this reason, Fog Lamps are not to be used with the high beam. This is both by law and for maximum vision. Fog Lamps should not be used just with the parking lights. While this might look attractive to some, it does not provide the distance for speeds over anything but a crawl. In extreme fog, the parking and fog lamps can be used without the low beams to reduce glare to the driver, but speed must be drastically reduced. When such poor weather occurs, it is best to get off the road and stay off. Chances are, someone will not slow down and plow into the back of another vehicle that is moving slowly. Also keeping the fog lamps off after rain when the roads are still wet will reduce glare, as the water on the road surface will reflect light into oncoming drivers' eyes. Fog Lamps should be mounted below the bumper to help get under the fog and weather. Mounting above the bumper is not advised and will not help you when you need it. Do not let this discourage you from installing fog lamps on your car, this article is intended to show that adding fog lamps is not a fool proof fix for poor headlamps.
Driving Lamps
Not as popular as fog lamps, but still something that is easily found at your local auto parts store. Driving lamps are best described as supplemental high beams. Used with the stock high beams, they reach beyond the stock headlamps and their beam is usually narrower than a stock high beam. They are not to be used by themselves, as they do not give the width needed for proper vision. Driving lamps are not for poor weather. Using Driving Lamps in such conditions can cause horrific glare if used improperly. Using driving lamps as a flash to pass function is not a good idea, it is plain dangerous. Driving lamps usually are not allowed on the street in the U.S., so a cover that blocks light is needed when not in use. Driving lamps benefit from being mounted high on the vehicle, but roof mounting can cause glare on the hood. If you are not driving though waist deep brush, roof mounted lights really are not needed. Mounting above the bumper should be enough. Some driving lamps contain an integrated parking lamp or city light. More correctly identified as a position lamp, these 5 watt white bulbs are intended to be used incase the mounting of the driving lamp blocks the stock position lamps from some angles. This is more for Europe as their white parking lamps are mounted usually in the high beam reflector. European trucks have roof mounted clearance lights like North American trucks too, but they are white, like their lower position lamps. Truck drivers in Europe like to install driving lamps on the tops of their cabs for extreme distance, and having an integrated parking lamp in the driving lamp allows the driver to reduce the amount of holes in the roof. Another plus with the integrated parking lamp is that when the driving lamps are off but the parking lamps on, other drivers know what how much light you can throw.
Cornering Lamps
1) Not well known outside rally and off road circles, cornering lamps are for sending extra light into turns. They are like a fog lamp in that they produce a wide pattern, but they do not have the sharp glare-defeating cutoff. They produce a cone of light that is good for usually 1000 feet or so and should not be needed for road or any normal car use. These lamps are best left for the WRC and Safari teams. Slow rock crawling rigs have reported good results with such lamps by pointing them straight ahead. Due to the cone of light from the cornering lamp, when mounted above the bumper they work well for when the truck is at extreme angles as a standard driving lamps narrow beam would be lost in the sky when pointed upward or the weeds when down.
2) Cornering Lamp is also a name for the turn signal based lamps seen on some U.S. and Swedish built cars in the 80s and 90s. Using a signal light bulb, these non halogen lamps would send a stream of light adjacent to the vehicle, but they did not provide a very wide pattern. They are static and can aid in vision, but very rarely added as a retro-fit.
Bending Lamps
Similar to a Cornering Lamp (2) in that bending lights are used for turning, but are different in when they are used and how they are triggered. Based on steering, yaw, or even GPS sensors(not yet); a bending light sends extra light into the inside of the turn to fill in the dark area next to the car. These can be static(stationary) or dynamic(pivoting). Using a halogen light source, Bending Lamps are much more useful than the Number 2 Cornering Lamp previously mentioned. Static Bending Lamps are useful as they can provide much more width than a swiveling projector due to packaging constraints of the swiveling unit. Static systems could also be faded on or off to make the transision less noticable, or to reduce the possiblity of glare to others when the full power of the Static Bending lamp is not needed. These lamps are best for urban areas which 90 degree turns are the norm.
Dynamic Bending Lamps use the low beam of the headlamp. By swiveling the low beam left to right, the low beam pattern is rotated on its vertical axis towards the inside of the turn. Dynamic Bending Lamps benefit by using the low beam, which has a much greater reach than a Static Bending Lamp. This extra reach would be very useful on a less twisty road where the addition of a Static Bending Light would be less effective.
The combination of the two types creates an ideal situation. Together, the Dynamic Bending Light will pivot with the changes of direction of the vehicle. Once three dimensional GPS maps are available which would include altitude changes, the headlamps would be able to adapt to hills and grade changes to prevent the short vision when at the "trough" of a series of hills and the glare to others when at the "crest." Also, the headlamps would not have to wait for the driver to react to a change in direction, rather the headlamps could turn before the car turns to further the vision of the driver.
Adaptive Forward Lighting
Combined with Bending Lamps, AFS is the most advanced form of forward lighting. By tying into the speed, steering, or 3D GPS system of the car, AFS adjusts the beam pattern if the car is in town, country road, divided highway, or high beam. This can be done different ways, but the patterns will be similar. A town light will have maximum width and will not blind pedestrians or other drivers. This will benifit drivers in traffic circles (roundabouts) and typical 90 degree turns found in modern cities. The country road pattern will be similar to the current ECE asymetrical beam pattern. The lamp will have reduced reach on the inside lane to prevent glare to oncoming drivers, while the curb side will have increased reach and height to further down road visiblity and to better read street signs. A divided highway pattern will be a symetrical pattern with maximum distance without dazzling oncoming traffic. The fourth and final function is a no-holes-barred-high-beam.
Forward Lighting
Signal Lighting
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