Daytime veiling glare in automobiles caused by dashboard reflectance

Abstract: Veiling glare has always existed in cars, but during the last years it has been brought up as a big problem. One reason is that glossier materials are being used in car interior design. Another reason is that the customers who buy the cars are getting more quality conscious. They demand to get top quality for the high price that they pay for a car, and veiling glare problems could be regarded as “low quality”. Veiling glare is when light hits the car interior and reflects into the windshield, causing mirror-like images in the windshield (ghost images). This can impair the driving experience in two ways. It can lower the contrast of the road scene and it may be a cluttering for the driver. This work handles daytime veiling glare from dashboard reflectance. The purpose was to investigate the area and to see if Saab can avoid the problem with veiling glare by using virtual prototyping (see chapter 3.3.1). This has been done by examining if the light simulation software Speos can be used to simulate and predict veiling glare, and thereby be used as a tool for better design. Key words: Veiling glare, dashboard, windshield, Speos, virtual prototyping.