Down the Road

摘要

When was the last time you looked at your car's headlights? Sure, you look with them all the time, but as automotive safety tools, they tend to be taken for granted. We keep tabs on oil levels, tire wear and even windshield cleanliness-or at least we should-but we usually don't notice our headlights until one burns out. At that point, of course, you have literally half of your nighttime visibility until you can get things fixed, which might be days or even weeks. At the same time, says Alan Barlow, an SVP and general manager at lighting leader Osram Sylvania, headlight strength and brightness tend to degrade over time, by up to 20%. "For thousands of miles leading up to the time your headlight fails, your headlight effectiveness could be significantly compromised," Barlow says. "Unfortunately, most consumers don't realize this."