I used to drive a 3rd gen Acura TL, which was only available with HID lights. It’s also a very common car, so I’ve met them in oncoming traffic a lot. The lights never blind me unless the driver forgot and left his brights on. (those headlights had a neat system where the same bulb was used for high and low beams. An electronic shutter would click down to block the top of the light output when low beams were selected).
What does blind me is when someone runs an HID conversion kit, which replaces the factory halogen bulbs with an HID bulb and ballast, but sticks it in the factory reflector. As the reflector is not designed for that bulb, the light pattern is completely screwed up and there is no cutoff line as with factory HIDs. Those are obnoxious. They’re also illegal but I’ve never heard of a cop ticketing anyone for them.
At any rate, it’s a moot point. I’m not sure any cars are even coming with HIDs anymore. LEDs are better in every way, including not being susceptible to early death if you click the lights on and off too rapidly as when flashing your headlights to warn of a hazard, or when your automatic headlights flip on in the garage and immediately back off when you pull out. I know Acura has moved to LED, as has Lexus. BMW’s low-end option is still halogen because they like to charge you for stuff that comes standard in Hyundais, and if you upgrade them you get LED.
