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One of the regulations that make vehicles in the US different from those in Europe or Japan is our headlight rules. They’re laid out in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), and changing them is—or used to be—a lengthy, laborious process, which is a major reason automotive lighting technology has lagged in the US. But the current administration says it’s time for “bolstering driver safety, slashing red tape, and embracing new technologies,” so it’s going to start a negotiated rulemaking process to rewrite the regulations to suit 2026. “Today’s standards do not allow automakers to deploy the latest safety-improving lighting technologies, so we are bringing key experts and stakeholders together to modernize our standards and address potential causes of glare,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Jonathan Morrison said. “This collaborative approach will allow us to update outdated regulations, foster innovation, and keep everyone on our roads safer.” While it is fair to be skeptical of the government’s efforts to streamline bureaucracy, it is also fair to say US headlight regulations really could use an update. When Ars started covering cars, automakers like Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Toyota, and Volvo were trying to import adaptive headlight technology. At the time, the FMVSS only allowed for “dumb” high- and low-beams, nothing else. Meanwhile, lighting technology evolved, adopting first lasers and then LEDs with addressable pixels that can block out those that would otherwise illuminate oncoming cars.
document fetched 2026-10-09 02:52 · canonical https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/10/feds-get-ready-to-rewrite-car-headlight-rules