I find if I drive within the range of my headlights as designed and adjust to the road weather conditions I'm good.
Which is to say slower and with more caution than I'm used to.

I've discovered that with the wider use of non-highway approved bulbs these days, it's annoying and the brighter beams even on low distract me approaching.
Especially unsafe on single lane narrow roads without shoulders prevalent in my neighborhood

Safety first!!! Be careful out there...

 

Love this post!

 

Very true, which is why beam shape is so important when choosing an LED headlight, but also making sure that you properly adjust the headlights...

It is important to note: headlight bulbs are highly regulated by Federal agencies: primarily NHTSA & FHVSS JW Speaker has a nice write up about it: https://www.jwspeaker.com/blog/educa...kZiWbDuEkGe_t3

Although these regulations are primarily for automobile manufacturers, lighting manufacturers, sellers of vehicles / lighting, and repair shops. As a vehicle owner, you can change just about everything about your car if you do your own work.... but you must be aware that legal consequences may result from those changes if those changes cause violations to the existing regulations. I.e. if an oncoming vehicle runs into you because your LED headlights are blinding them (too bright, improper aim, etc...), you become at fault even though they hit you on your side of the road. In the case of severe injury or death, you can even find yourself facing civil and/or criminal charges.

Also important to note that there are no user swappable LED headlights that pass US safety regulations.

I've had a few different LED headlights in 3 vehicles. You'd think that Sylvania would have a top-notch offering.... on low (2004 Hyundai Accent), I was being flashed nightly, Philips on low (2005 Hyundai Sonata), I was being flashed every couple of days, Osram on low (2010 HHR LT) I would get flashed every week or so. Some no-name brand I bought for my Hyundai Accent (& a few weeks later for the Sonata) on low I would get flashed about once a month & they were brighter and had better coverage than all of the previously mentioned bulbs. Hikari (a Japanese company) on low (2010 HHR LT) I've never been flashed, has the best field of view, and relative brightness - Installed in Nov 2020, these are actually designed to be direct replacements for Halogen headlights although they won't fit every vehicle due to their cooling solutions...

I'm trying out a different brand for the newly acquired LS, AutoOne, a third of the price of the Hikari I'm interested in, and comes in a direct 1:1 form factor replacement that will fit any factory housing, even the ones with a rear cover. Hikari looks to have better cooling, and has a adjustable beam pattern, i.e. you can rotate the LED post (it has a locking ring to keep it from moving while driving) independent of the H13 body, to ensure the beam is not tilted at an angle, independent of any headlight adjustments.

Headlight adjustment may just be the most important part, and is something a lot of people overlook when replacing their own headlights. Here's the best headlight adjustment guide I've found for the HHR

 

Do-it-yourseffers messing up headlights is so out of hand that I see no hope of any sort of enforcement or other fix in the foreseeable future,, at least in the US, with all the anti-gubmint, anti-reg-yoo-lay-shun sentiment.

And many many of the cheap LED substitutes produce such a scattered field that no amount of adjustment can keep them from blinding on coming drivers.

We are doomed to a Mad Max future.

 

I’ve installed several sets of LED headlights and always ensured the are aimed correctly, never been flashed , never been pulled over by police.

 

Oldblue, Are you using the complete assembly? DOT approved or just bulbs in the original housing?
The auto parts stores and suppliers sell them with the disclaimer for off-road use only; because they can.
The smoke shops and gas stations sell synthetic hemp, using similar loop holes?
By hey, up north of the border the Canadian Mounties can't catch you anyway.
The HHR has more horses than their four legged ones. Even without the SS turbo!

 

I have in OEM headlight assemblies and Depo B2E OEM assemblies with aftermarket headlight bulbs .