I’m sure by now we have all seen cars with their “lights on” in the middle of the day. For those of us who are not in tune with the trend we probably find ourselves thinking “oh shame that guy has his lights on, how ridiculous”. Well, chances are these are probably daylight-running LEDs or DRLs. And I’m here to tell you the highs and the lows of this automotive trend.
First off why do they exist? Well, there is the obvious reason like more visibility on the roads. This is to the benefit of the driver with the DRLs on as the car will be more visible especially in low light scenarios while driving. Then there is the total ego-stroking reason. Which is, they look fantastic on most cars, be it the BMWs, Mercedes, Toyotas, Audis etc… They all look really awesome.
Which leads me to which car manufacturer has the coolest DRLs? Now obviously this goes without saying. This is highly subjective because the huge array of DRL patterns, shapes n sizes; we won’t all agree on who has the coolest ones. So with that out of the way I have to say Hyundai kills it for me with the DRLs. Especially on the 2021 Tucson and the 2021 Sonata. I can hear people screaming because those cars have seriously acquired taste-type design aesthetics. But hey it is what it is, I love them. This of course doesn’t take away anything from the likes of Mercedes, BMW, or even Audi, I just found Hyundai to be a bit more daring with the light patterns.
The History
Who started the DRL trend? A lot of people don’t know this but DRLs have been around since 1984 with the Volvo 240, they just weren’t LEDs but they stayed on throughout the day for safety reasons. DRLs were first mandated in Sweden in 1977. Other Scandinavian countries and Canada soon followed suit. They became more popular in Northern countries where there is less ambient daylight during winter months. Vehicle manufacturers Saab and Volvo were the first to implement DRLs. However the LED versions as we all know them today were made more popular by Audi and Lexus.
So now for the not-so-flattering side of DRLs, why r they controversial in some places, well one major reason is not the DRLs themselves but, drivers not knowing the purpose of their DRLs. A lot of people actually forget to switch on their lights at night when their DRLs r on and this is very dangerous because when your DRLs are on, your tail lights will be off and DRLS are not made for nighttime driving as they are meant to give general illumination during the day and not focused illumination during the night that your main headlights offer, this means DRLs r capable of dazzling oncoming traffic during the night coz they r unfocused.
So please be safe out there with your DRLs and learn how to use them so you can look cool while being a safety beacon for you and other road users.
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