Michigan-based Gentex, the world’s biggest provider of auto-dimming rearview mirrors, has a vested interest, but it’s certainly not wrong when it says that on-road glare, driven by extra-bright headlights, is a huge problem for motorists. Can some inexpensive sun visors make a difference?The glare issue is aggravated by the aftermarket, where online sellers have made it the Wild West for super-bright headlights. The UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) acknowledges road glare as a major issue, and that’s led to new mandatory automatic headlight leveling in Europe in September 2027, as well as work to standardize ADAS projections to fight dazzle. Reports NBC, “Improving lighting to help prevent nighttime crashes—which have a fatality rate three times higher than daytime collisions—has been a priority for US automakers, safety advocates, and regulators for more than a decade. Yet Americans today may face more headlight glare and less-effective headlights than drivers in other countries.”In one study, 71% of respondents said they found road glare unbearable or annoying.On the other hand, a Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) study says that even as consumer complaints reach a crescendo, “Glare is implicated in just a tiny fraction of nighttime crashes, and that percentage has hardly changed over the past decade.”Gentex Vice President of Marketing Craig Piersma said the company sells 50 million auto-dimming mirrors annually, enough to make a dent in the problem, but now it has another idea—the dimming transparent sun visor, which can be lowered to cancel out glare. The product will be on the market circa 2027, he said, and is likely to first appear on luxury cars. Says Gentex, “They fold down like a traditional visor but include a clear, dimmable panel that can variably darken as desired by the driver or passenger.” For its dimming mirrors and visors, Gentex uses the “electrochromic” process, making materials darker via the use of light sensors, proprietary gels and microprocessor-based algorithms.The visor looks something like a big tinted lens, and as the sun gets brighter or the ongoing headlights get annoying it can be flipped. The visor dims depending on the intensity of the light directed at it. The driver can simply leave the visor flipped down, since in normal conditions it’s transparent.Headlights are supposed to meet federal and state regulations, and they do when cars and trucks are new. But after the sale, owners often go in search of something brighter, not considering that their fellow motorists might be getting blinded by the light.