# Will Heads-Up Displays ever become common in production autos?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-heads-up-displays-ever-become-common-in-production-autos/999010
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 19, 2024, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-heads-up-displays-ever-become-common-in-production-autos/999010 "2024-03-19T01:16:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2024, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-heads-up-displays-ever-become-common-in-production-autos/999010/41 "2024-03-19T15:16:15Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#):
>
> It’s not a matter of “can’t”
I was responding to @Bullitt, who does seem to think it’s a matter of “can’t” (“it becomes a problem for all other nearby drivers and pedestrians”), which made me think that his experience with speedometer-glancing was significantly different from mine.
> [@Shalmanese](#):
>
> Is putting the speed in the HUD instead of the dash not that much benefit to some people? Definitely. But like, I don’t see an argument for why it would be worse.
I can think of several _possible_ reasons why it might be worse, some of which have already been mentioned by others in this thread (people find it distracting; hard to see through sunglasses); but I lack the experience to know whether they have merit.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2024, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-heads-up-displays-ever-become-common-in-production-autos/999010/42 "2024-03-19T15:29:51Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#):
>
> I can think of several _possible_ reasons why it might be worse, some of which have already been mentioned by others in this thread (people find it distracting; **hard to see through sunglasses** ); but I lack the experience to know whether they have merit. -
That’s on the fucking morons at the car companies.
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### Author:  [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2024, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-heads-up-displays-ever-become-common-in-production-autos/999010/43 "2024-03-19T15:44:04Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#):
>
> I was responding to @Bullitt, who does seem to think it’s a matter of “can’t” (“it becomes a problem for all other nearby drivers and pedestrians”), which made me think that his experience with speedometer-glancing was significantly different from mine.
I also said, bolding added —
> [@Bullitt](#):
>
> At freeway speeds of 65 mph, when your eyes are off the road for 1 second your car has traveled nearly 100 feet. It’s all about what happens during that 100 feet. Most of us, **and we all do it, right?** , have been fortunate that nothing happened during that 100 feet.
It’s not a matter of can’t. It’s a matter of the less we do it, the better things are. Much like @Shalmanese said.
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### Author:  [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2024, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-heads-up-displays-ever-become-common-in-production-autos/999010/44 "2024-03-19T15:48:54Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#):
>
> Why not minimize the distance your eyes need to move when you’re checking the speed? What’s the harm?
Precisely this.
Those little rectangular blind spot mirrors that I’ve ridden with for many miles? I’ve put them on my car lately, so my eyes don’t have to move far from the road ahead. I love them there too, and I am much safer because of them.
But my wife doesn’t like them. And I know several other people who don’t.
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### Author:  [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2024, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-heads-up-displays-ever-become-common-in-production-autos/999010/45 "2024-03-19T15:51:35Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> > [@running\_coach](#):
> >
> > I regularly see drivers without headlights _well_ after dark.
>
> Back when the instruments weren’t glowing screens, lotta times the first clue that you had forgotten your headlights was looking down at your gauges and seeing a black mass of nothingness. A ha!.
>
> With glowing screens, that reminder is now gone. **In many areas the overall lighting level is such that your headlights don’t add all that much.**
In those areas the headlights may not add much **for the driver** , but they add a lot to the other nearby drivers and pedestrians.
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### Author:  [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2024, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-heads-up-displays-ever-become-common-in-production-autos/999010/46 "2024-03-19T16:18:14Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#):
>
> There is nothing on the dash that i ever need to know this very instant.
My speed, as I come over a hill / around a curve & there’s suddenly a cop sitting up ahead. 😮 Do I / how much do I need to brake.
> [@running\_coach](#):
>
> Good luck with that. Some drivers need a hand to come out of the dashboard ans slap some sense into them.
> I regularly see drivers without headlights _well_ after dark. And I don’t mean that “civil twilight” bullshit.
We were doing a late night install; finished a little after 2am (which is also when the bars close) on a rainy night in the city. I _know_ my headlights were on because there’s a 90° turn in the parking garage so I could clearly see them reflecting off of the wall in front of me.
A couple of blocks later I get pulled over; cop thought she had a drunk because I didn’t have my headlights on. I can only guess I rolled them to parking light position when I activated the turn signal. Parking light position still gives you dashboard lights so I didn’t have the interior clue & the ground was so bright & reflective from the road being wet & all of the city lights that I didn’t realize it that way, either. Of course that was the _one_ night I was giving the boss a ride home; _never_ did live that one down.
> [@Shalmanese](#):
>
> Speaking of looking at sideview mirrors, ~10 years ago, cars started including a little light on the sideview mirror that showed whether it was safe to merge and new Kia/Hyundai models along with some other cars have a feature where when you put the turn signal on, part of the dash displays a camera view from the side of your car so you can check if its safe to merge without turning your neck.
>
> Features like that are mandatory for me for my next car purchase because these little tiny safety features are important to me.
Until you need to replace one; old school mirrors were $25; I know of someone who had to replace one in a pickem’up twuck; well over $1000 with all of the electronics in it for turn signal, camera, heat, & extension out (for towing)
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2024, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-heads-up-displays-ever-become-common-in-production-autos/999010/47 "2024-03-19T16:30:21Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#):
>
> I don’t see an argument for why it would be worse.
Distraction.
Your eyes tend to focus on the HUD and not so much on more important things around you.
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### Author:  [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2024, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-heads-up-displays-ever-become-common-in-production-autos/999010/48 "2024-03-19T16:34:00Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#):
>
> Distraction.
>
> Your eyes tend to focus on the HUD and not so much on more important things around you.
Is this speaking from personal experience or supposition? Of all the HUD’s I’ve ever experienced, I can’t imagine them being more distracting than just the standard dash. They’re low down, unobtrusive and generally pretty dim.
And if it does come from personal experience, is it an intrinsic nature of all HUDs and how you react to them or just the poor design of that particular HUD that could be improved with modifications?
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### Author:  [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2024, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-heads-up-displays-ever-become-common-in-production-autos/999010/49 "2024-03-19T16:36:11Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#):
>
> Speaking of looking at sideview mirrors, ~10 years ago, cars started including a little light on the sideview mirror that showed whether it was safe to merge
In my Escape that light gives both false negatives and positives on occasion, making it useless. I always shoulder check anyway, which saved my ass once when the little light said it was clear and it wasn’t. I now completely ignore those lights. False positives are annoying, but false negatives get peolle killed. If it didn’t look ugly, I would tape over the lights so no one in my family is tempted to rely on them.
These features get added as added safety in addition to what was currently being done, but over time people lean on them more and more and forget about the active safety they learned earlier.
As for HUDs, they are simple technology that has been available for decades. I think it’s safe to assume that they are fairly rare because they offer marginal extra value for significant increased cost.
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### Author:  [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2024, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-heads-up-displays-ever-become-common-in-production-autos/999010/50 "2024-03-19T16:37:56Z")
It came with the car a 2020 Ford Escape Titanium. I leased the car for three years and liked it enough to purchase it when the lease ended.
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2024, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-heads-up-displays-ever-become-common-in-production-autos/999010/51 "2024-03-19T16:39:12Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#):
>
> Is this speaking from personal experience or supposition?
> [@](#):
>
> Head-up displays (HUDs) present opportunities and challenges for mitigating driver distraction. HUDs may improve safety by reducing the time required to view driving-related information relative to a traditional head-down displays (HDDs). However, because the HUD is in the driver’s field of view, drivers may fixate on it or fail to perceive events in the environment.
From here: [Vehicle Safety Research | NHTSA](https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle-safety-research)
Full study:
DOT HS 813 293 January 2023
Head-Up Displays and Distraction Potential [Head-Up Displays and Distraction Potential](https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/66101)
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### Author:  [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2024, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-heads-up-displays-ever-become-common-in-production-autos/999010/52 "2024-03-19T17:24:11Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#):
>
> Distraction.
Can I be the guinea pig?
Before reading this thread I had no idea that Heads-Up was a thing for private cars. (I thought it was only for jet pilots.)
So I volunteer to be the test subject (guinea pig? lab rat? )–and here are my reactions, as a total newbie:
This thread contains 2 photos which show an HUD display.
Both pics leave me feeling “meh”–it may be okay, but not for me"
Post #5 shows the corvette speedometer. And my first reaction is: well, it looks okay,… in this specific instance.
But I notice that the display is shown against the background of the asphalt highway–a neutral, uniform color of gray. If the car was in city traffic, that display would be against a busy background of taillights, license plates, signs, arrows painted on the road, etc…Far less useful to me, I think. It would be more of a distraction, take longer to read than a regular dashboard speedometer, and take my attention away from my driving.
Post #29 shows: two speedometers, the legal speed limit, and a graphic display of two white lines and a car. This is very distracting to me, and I definitely would not want it. Those two white lines are NOT parallel to the white stripes of my lane, and the little graphic car looks like it’s going to crash into a car in the next lane. As a newbie, I find this display dangerously distracting. Those non-parallel white lines are confusing. And the whole thing is too “busy”, and distracting.
(Yes, I’m an old fart. I want to drive a car, not a computer. )
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### Author:  [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2024, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-heads-up-displays-ever-become-common-in-production-autos/999010/53 "2024-03-19T17:53:32Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#):
>
> A replacement cost, IIRC, about 10x as much as a standard windshield. Insurance companies balked at the cost and drivers balked at the deductible. Drivers wound up replacing broken windshields with standard glass models, and the insta-clear just faded away.
This is probably the biggest issue with HUDs as well. I worked on many patents for them about 15 years ago, and they all required some kind of extra optical features to be built into the windshield, to properly focus the image and avoid ghosting images because of double reflections and the like. Probably not 10x the cost of a regular windshield, but still more expensive.
The coolest use of a HUD I ever saw was in a high-end car (maybe a BMW?) that had an IR camera pointed down the road, and at night, it would display the image from that camera on the HUD, so you could see pedestrians from much further away. But this would be even more expensive, of course.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2024, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-heads-up-displays-ever-become-common-in-production-autos/999010/54 "2024-03-19T17:59:21Z")
Yes, I assume cost is the largest problem with HUDs. As for distraction, etc., i expect there are good and bad HUD designs, and that good ones can work pretty well.
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### Author:  [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2024, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-heads-up-displays-ever-become-common-in-production-autos/999010/55 "2024-03-19T18:06:29Z")
Besides the cost, there’s the demand side of the supply-demand equation. The public just hasn’t grown to want HUDs. When (If) that happens, demand will increase and costs will decrease.
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### Author:  [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2024, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-heads-up-displays-ever-become-common-in-production-autos/999010/56 "2024-03-19T19:10:07Z")
While I agree with all that, I think the public is mostly unaware of HUDs unless they happen to rent a car that has one or if they can afford a car that would have it included. Car companies aren’t talking about HUDs in their ads, so the general public is oblivious to the fact that they are out there, and while I would think they would increase the safely of the driver, they can also be a distraction, which is not a good thing. When I buy my next vehicle, likely in the next year or two, I would like to have it available as an option, but I don’t think that’s very likely on a base-model Toyota Tacoma.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2024, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-heads-up-displays-ever-become-common-in-production-autos/999010/57 "2024-03-19T19:21:33Z")
The freeway speed limit in Arkansas is 65. Despite warning signs and every thing except a gallows on the road, the only time I’ve been pulled over was when Mrs. Plant (v.2.0) was doing 90. And she got a mad as hell warning, not a ticket.
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### Author:  [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2024, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-heads-up-displays-ever-become-common-in-production-autos/999010/58 "2024-03-19T21:42:47Z")
I think a HUD would be fine if it were off by default, and there was a button on the steering wheel that you press to turn it on briefly. So instead of glancing down at the speedometer, I keep my eyes on the road and press the button. Then when I release the button the HUD turns off. It could come on automatically when displaying emergency information like low oil pressure, but normally would be off. It seems to me (not having driven with one) that a HUD that’s on all the time is going to be distracting and potentially obscure something that the driver needs to see out on the road.
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2024, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-heads-up-displays-ever-become-common-in-production-autos/999010/59 "2024-03-19T22:02:32Z")
My Wifes car has the speed limit thing displayed on her regular dashboard. It is sometimes wildly off.
65 mph on an unimproved twisting gravel road (it leads to our house)? That’s Baja 1000 stuff. I might be able to do it on a very powerful dirt bike, IF I could even get it up to that speed without killing myself.
So, a lot of that is GPS/GIS. A lot of it is still wrong. But it is getting better. It’s best to trust yourself. Not your car.
Never trust your car.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2024, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-heads-up-displays-ever-become-common-in-production-autos/999010/60 "2024-03-19T22:57:44Z")
> [@Bullitt](#):
>
> > [@LSLGuy](#):
> >
> > With glowing screens, that reminder is now gone. **In many areas the overall lighting level is such that your headlights don’t add all that much.**
>
> In those areas the headlights may not add much **for the driver** , but they add a lot to the other nearby drivers and pedestrians.
You misunderstood my point.
I wasn’t saying people _should_ drive around with headlights off because ambient lighting in cities is sufficient.
I was saying that people inadvertently drive around with their headlights off because their screens are glowing brightly _and_ the road is well-lit enough that they have no cue to tell them they’ve forgotten their headlights.
Both those things are more prevalent now than in the e.g. 1970s. Which is why we see more folks driving with headlights off.
Sorry I was unclear.
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