The car is considered by many to be one the greatest inventions ever made, as it allows people to travel hundreds of miles without exerting too much effort while also getting to the destination quicker compared to walking or running. While cars are relatively simple to use, as long as you know what to do, there are more than a hundred complex components found within and on the cars that make them work.
There are so many important parts of the car, but some of the most essential are the lights. Even though lights don’t really contribute to how automobiles actually work, they are important for safety reasons. These safety reasons include having lights that will guide you on the road at night and using the lights as signals when you are making a turn or a stop. To learn more, here are the details about the different types of car lights and their uses.
Door Lights
Door lights are lights installed on the interior side of the car doors and are activated when the doors are open. When activated, the door lights like the Mercedes door light logo provide illumination on the floor you will be stepping on before going inside the car. So, if there is a puddle on the floor near the car, you can easily see it through the door lights.
Headlights
One of the most used lights in cars is the headlights, which are needed for illuminating roads or highways at night. Without headlights, you would often have difficulties figuring out where you are going, and this could lead to accidents.
There are two types of headlights that you should know about, and these are low beam headlights and high beam headlights. The low beam headlights are utilized to provide adequate illumination in front of the car without being too intense that it can blind drivers in other cars.
The high beam headlights are concentrated lights that offer better illumination, although they should only be used if there isn’t a car in front of you or on the other side of the road, as the lights can be quite blinding. But, there is also a third uncommon type of headlights called the fog lights, which are activated when the fog is too thick on the road.
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Parking Lights
Parking lights are the types of car lights that are found near the headlights and serve as a guide or signal for other cars that you are going to park in a specific area and currently moving. Not all cars have parking lights, but these are essential for drivers that don’t want to cause accidents while parking. Parking lights are specifically used at night or in dark places so that other cars can see that your vehicle is going to park.
Blinker Lights
Blinker lights are used whenever the car is stalled on the road or on the side, which is important to signal if the road is busy or full of traffic. If the vehicle needs to stop for emergency purposes or if it is damaged, make sure that the blinker lights are activated so that you can signal that your car is stopped and cannot move on the road or on the side of the highway.
Hazard Lights
Blinker lights and hazard lights often work in tandem as lights that are used for emergency situations, particularly when the car is stalled or damaged. Hazard lights are found at the front and back of the car and are typically utilized when you would need to stop or slow down due to an emergency. Hazard lights are often activated even before you stop that car, as they can signal that you are going to slow down and stop anytime soon. After using the hazard lights, you can then activate the blinker lights to signal that you have a stalled car.
Tail Lights
Tail lights are the opposite of headlights, as they are used to illuminate the back of the car instead of the front. At night, the tail lights should be activated so that cars behind you would know that there is a vehicle right in front of them. However, during the day, tail lights don’t really have use since your car is already visible.
Brake Lights
Brake lights are the type of car lights that are automatically activated whenever your car is stopping or when the brakes are used. The brake lights are used to signal to drivers behind you that are stopping or using the brake so that they can prepare to stop too.
According to many experienced drivers, the brake lights are often the ones that get damaged the most compared to other types of car lights since they are constantly activated. So, you would need to maintain your car’s brake lights properly and monitor its condition before you hit the road.
Signal Lights
Signal lights, also called by some people as blinkers or turn signals, are lights that are utilized to signal to other drivers if you are turning left or right. It is a general rule that you should already activate the signal lights a few seconds before you actually turn, as this would give cars behind you to prepare for your vehicle’s movement. The lights do not only signal that you are about to turn left or right but would also signal that you are about to slow down since you will turn in a specific area of the road.
Interior Lights
Of course, passengers inside your car wouldn’t be able to see anything if there weren’t interior lights. These interior lights can be activated anytime, although it is recommended that they should be turned on only when the car is stopped, as the lights inside can reflect on the windows of the car, making the road harder to see for the driver. The interior lights can sometimes automatically be activated when a car door is open.
And those are the different types of car lights that are necessary for vehicles or serve as useful accessories or add-ons. Be sure to maintain each type of car light properly so that you won’t experience problems on the road in terms of signaling or providing illumination for your vehicle.