My parents owned a 1963 Buick LeSabre.
One of the options on this Buick was cornering lights. When the turning signal was activated, a light on the side of front fender came on to illuminate the path. There was one such light on the right fender and one on the left. I haven’t seen this feature on any car for years. Is there some reason why cornering lights fell out of favour,?
Yes , because they were basically worthless .
Should have put them on the Firebirds that had recessed headlights. Blind cornering. 1979. Very good for out in the country where it’s dark. Lighting to the side has improved.
There are some Lexus models that have cornering lights, you won’t recognize them, with LED lighting they are not the big rectangular lamps of the 1960’s ans '70’s.
For the last 15 years Lexus has had an optional “Tucker like” headlight feature, the inboard headlamp turns with steering wheel input during turns, I wonder if the owners really notice the lighting movement during turns.
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Our Lincoln MKX steers the low beams in turns, seems to help.
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Agree with the other posters. Some modern cars have them.
Alternately, in low light areas, turn on your fog lights. They are a short wide beam that illuminates lane lines and curbs very well.
I only drove my parents’ 1963 Buick a couple of times. My mother really liked that feature and was disappointed that their next car didn’t have cornering lights. One of the few times I drove the car was at night on dark country roads. I thought it was a nice feature
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I had an early 1980’s caddy coupe DeVille (bought used) with those cornering lights. Wasn’t all that impressed with them.
I think it would be a good safety feature, especially to make pedestrians more visible. I’d prefer a separate fixed light pointing at an angle that lights up during turns rather than a steerable light fixture. The latter seems like an expensive repair problem.
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That is why Lexus headlamps cost $1200 each, they have motors inside for leveling and turning.
I have them on my 1993 Caprice. They’re helpful at lower speeds when I’m driving in my neighborhood
Benz had them in the mid-2000s
Might still have them, for all I know . . . left the dealership for greener pastures 10 years ago
My SAABs had them. They were kind of helpful at slower speeds.
BMWs had low beams that turned with the wheels in the 2000s and I think a few had them back in the 90s. They were unreliable and expensive to fix, My wife’s 2013 BMW has four headlights. The inside lights are high and low beams, and the outside lights are stationary but turned outward a few degrees. The ‘inside-the-turn’ outer light illuminates only when turning. So far they work fine.
My parents’ ‘89 Maxima had those. I remember discovering them and liking them. I’d use the turn signals in cloverleaf curves to improve visibility, but I didn’t miss them when they weren’t there on other cars or look for them when car shopping.
That’s probably why they didn’t become more popular; they’re a nice to have luxury feature, not a need to have item.
Weren’t there also a few cars that turned on the corresponding fog light when making a turn, and then turned it off after the the turn was completed . . . ?!
I used to have a 75 Harley Shovelhead dresser with a Liberator fairing on it. It had dual headlights and one would think fantastic. Not so. The fairing was frame mounted so in a leaning left turn at night the forks were aimed left and the lamps were kind of shining up in the air to the right. Because of the lean one has to steer to the right a bit. Sounds convoluted but…
The MSF calls it counter-steering, and when it’s explained it makes sense to most.
When you put your motorcycle into a leaning turn, or press on the side of the handlebars in which you want to turn, the front wheel actually turns slightly in the opposite direction. It’s usually so slight that it looks like the wheel is straight, but that’s why it’s called counter-steering, and depending on your motorcycle’s geometry, it can make your headlight point up in the air.