Eli5 why do cars only have two headlights?
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1 is too few to light the sides of the road without making it too bright for other drivers and mounting it in a higher positron and two works fine so why add another? You’ll see trucks mostly but some cars with grill mounted or roof mounted lights, it’s not a rule to have 2, per se.
Some have more than 2. Motorcycles often have just one.
I’m not sure I get your question. It’s built on the assumption that cars have two forward facing lights that can function as headlights, but that assumption just isn’t true. Lots of cars use arrays of LEDs now, and there are FAR more than just 2.
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Cars have had various numbers of headlights over the years. Two headlights became the most popular and accepted standard, probably mostly due to asthetics.
Then at some point laws were put in place that required a minimum of 2 headlights. There are also laws in place limiting the amount of headlights a vehicle can have on the road. Usually it’s limited at 4 or 6.
The ~~Edsel~~ Tucker had three, some 70’s cars (like my 77 Ford Capri II) had four (two for high beam).
But four headlights cost more money than two headlights, and one doesn’t provide adequate coverage.
In the dark, lights indicate the boundaries of your vehicles.
If you only had one headlight in the middle, other drivers couldn’t see in the dark how wide your vehicle is.
When you have 2 lights in the front and 2 lights in the rear, all 4 corners of your vehicle are visible.
Also having the 2 lights on the edges of your vehicle helps you see better what’s going on on both sides of your vehicle. Again, having 1 in the middle means you’d have a dark spot right in front of each of the corners of your cars.
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