headlights that shine toward where you are turning?

This isn't really EV specific, but I've found lately that once in awhile I am in a situation where I am unable to see properly to the right or left when I am turning. I am wondering if Nissan can add some lights that would help illuminate the road to the right or left when the steering wheel is turned past a certain angle. I think this idea has been implemented on some past HCVs (the Tucker?) and I am wondering what the results were (was this a desirable feature?). I suppose it could be done either by physically turning the light or by adding a second angled light on each side?

The other situation I have that is related is that sometimes in not-well-lit neighborhoods at night I cannot see the street signs since there is nothing reflecting from them. Not sure what can be done about that.

My Acura RL had those, and I loved them. It really did help while driving at night.

My old '89 Grand Marquis had a side light that illuminated when the turn signal was on.

I'd take just a 2x wider spread. The fact that I've had to dodge over 10 different deer in last two weeks makes me want for lights powerful enough to light up the field 100 meters in every direction.


To heck with drivers, watch out for suicidal deer.

Lexus RX has/had those as well.

On the few modern cars w/them, it seems to be only found on luxury cars.

kubel said:

My old '89 Grand Marquis had a side light that illuminated when the turn signal was on.

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Yep, and the '90 Town Car. Liked them.

1920's Duesenbergs...

Seems like initially some positive feedback on this suggestion, with others also wanting to see better at night, and noting that they have had good experiences with the feature in other cars. Hopefully Nissan will consider implementing it, but they seemingly put a lot of work into their headlight housing design and I'm wondering if they would let that get in the way of alterations in response to customer demand. Maybe it could just be additional LED lamps to the right and left that come on when needed?

jlsoaz said:

I am wondering if Nissan can add some lights that would help illuminate the road to the right or left when the steering wheel is turned past a certain angle.

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My 2003 Volkswagen CC Executive has this feature. Audi/VW products tend to call this "adaptive lighting" (I think BMW may use the same terminology). It adapts to the steering input up to a certain angle/percent to allow you to see where you are going. I find this is helpful not just out in the country where I have extended family that I visit, but even just entering my house. I live just 50-yards from the closest street light, but my driveway/garage can be hard to see in the dark. In the case of my VW, there is a completely extra bulb that illuminates in the direction you are turning at slow speeds, to aid seeing where you are about to go. If you see the "new" Beetle (that came out last year) or other newer Volkswagen products, you'll see their fog lights turn on to aid with this as well. I don't see why they could not easily add an extra turning-aid light, but the "adaptive" lights (that actually change angle) would seemingly be the kind of thing that might be rather expensive to add. And for a car that is already pricey for the market demographic, they probably wont rush to add it sadly. I agree, however, it is a GREAT feature!!

The Tucker.

I was told by a Tesla Model S owner that their car had the steering wheel activated side headlights, but I haven't been able to confirm this online... (or in person)

Electric4Me said:

I was told by a Tesla Model S owner that their car had the steering wheel activated side headlights, but I haven't been able to confirm this online... (or in person)

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I got my Model S yesterday and it does have steering wheel activated side lights. They come on if you turn the steering wheel and are going over a certain speed. I can't test it very much because the car didn't come with any temporary registration and I'm only driving it around the neighborhood.

Although this feature would be nice, something that might be cheaper for them to do would be just to make the headlights shine a little more out to the sides in the first place. I noticed switching to my LEAF from my prior car, a 2008 Prius (which had regular old headlights), the region of the road covered by the lights left-to-right is MUCH smaller. The Prius would illuminate more to the sides, though not very brightly, so that I could see where I was turning to a little bit.