I'd love to have glass headlights in both of my Mopars. BUT, I doubt that they'd have the same contour as the crappy plastics have provided us all for so many years.

 

Think about the wrap-around windshields Ford made in the late 50's. Or a wine glass. ------ It can be done.

 

When you say "new", you mean early 90s and upward, right? Because it's been that way for 25 years - plastic lenses that degrade with UV exposure.

 

...so are we going forward or backward ?

Yes.

(That said, you don't HAVE to polish them. You can always REPLACE them.)

 

Weight loss was one of the reasons for the plastic headlights. Even some of the later cars with sealed bean headlights (like my 1987 Dakota and many later M bodies) used a plastic sealed beam. Of course, all the replacements in the parts stores were glass and obviously heavier.
The second reason for the plastic headlights was aerodynamics. Some European cars have glass areo headlights. They have to be very expensive to replace. With minimal car, I've gotten good service out of plastic headlights. I finally replaced them on my 1999 Dakota which spent most all of its life outdoors. The lenses were still clear due to polishing as needed, but the driver's side one had gotten moisture inside which degraded the reflective material. New lights were inexpensive (I got DOT approved stock replacements) but they still won't do what the modern HID lights will do. The headlights are one of my favorite features on my Durango.

 

The plastic headlights are much better now than they were in the early 90s, late 90s, etc .
Replacement is not always practical at $250+ per lens. You can go aftermarket and get a bizarre, illegal light pattern, of course.
I think one reason for plastic headlights to gain popularity so quickly was styling - and cost. I would guess that the crazy shapes they want now would be very expensive in glass.

 

Another thing a lot of the new cars have ugly headlights and taillights. I remember someone here saying that some looked like a Chinese guy squatting.

 

But by using these plastic headlamp housings, we have gotten away from the law..........sealed beam.

 

Styling is subjective.

Pretty sure "sealed beam" isn't the law anymore - although both GM and Ford were still producing vans and trucks that used them very recently.

 

I think they need to put some restrictions on todays headlights, some of them are absolutely blinding coming at you these days and the high beams are'nt even on . The white headlights are irritating as hell.

 

Sometimes that does't even help , I religiously wax them and still see some what I call spalling on them . And I use waxes and polishes that supposedly have anti UV properties .

 

I've done some research in the past on these "Plastic headlights" and found that, indeed you can clear them right up again, the only problem is you eventually remove the clear coat/protective clear that's applied to them and they go bad really quick, in the sunlight, without this barrier. I've tried to track down what they use for sealing these when manufacturing the assemblies, but I've come to a dead end, as it's been reveled as a "trade secret". If anyone's out there who does bodywork for a living, he/she may have an idea of what they use. I had a problem in the past, with driving lights becoming pitted from road debris, to the point of having a sandblasted look. I cleaned them up to factory condition by water sanding them with P1000,P1500,P2000 water paper, but in doing so, removes the clear that's applied from the factory. They lasted great, but I did have to make sure I had a UV wax on them. Seemed to work.
Those aftermarket HID kits should be banned! Nobody can see anything with those coming at you or from behind you. Just a big scattering of lights. The worst car on the road today for tail lights is anything VW. They are dull and small and can hardly be seen at night. I don't know how they are legal. They are worse than those people with the black or smoke tint over their tail lights.