It wasn’t too long ago when LED (light-emitting diodes) lights were a feature one could only find in the top end premium cars. Today, they have become cheap enough to be produced in large quantities and as a result, are storming the car market.
LEDs are much more energy-efficient than conventional halogen bulbs because they do not generate light from heat. For example, a Visteon-designed LED headlight for a Bentley requires only 15 watts for the low beam, whereas an equivalent halogen bulb needs 65 watts to do the same job. They last longer as well; about 10,000 hours or 10 times longer than a halogen unit.
According to a forecast by London-based L.E.K. Consulting, by 2016, 29 percent of all vehicles made in North America will be fitted with LED taillights – an increase of 10 percent compared to this year.
“Taillights have become a style statement", says Steffen Pietzonka, vice president of marketing for Hella, which produces LEDs for Audi. "Over the next four years, a lot of entry-level and mid-sized vehicles will have LEDs. It offers huge styling opportunities."
Styling aside, LED brake lights also offer a safety advantage as they light up in just 200 milliseconds, which is much faster than conventional units, and thus are able to warn following motorists much earlier.
However, LED daytime running lights like the ones pioneered by Audi, will be less common because they require heating systems to keep the silicon from overheating. As a result, they cost nearly four-times more compared to xenon units (US$60-80 compared to $20).
L.E.K. Consulting predicts that only 1 percent of NA vehicles will have LED headlamps in 2016, while 12 percent will have xenon headlights.
Story References: Autonews
10 Comments:
Honda accord had LED taillights back in 06
Could they make those LED tailights just a tad less bright. Being stuck behind a set of these at a stoplight at night is pure torture to the retinas.
Nice! Those Mustang rear lights look EXACTLY like the one of the car in the game 'TrackMania 2: Canyon'!
Amen. So true... so...so true. I usually just close my eyes at the stoplight.
And the Cadillac Deville had them in 2000
Not.
Got to get the attention of all those cell phone users/texters out there!
They did. People don't want to give credit to them, but they were the firs with LED tailights.
Ah! Found it! I was wrong. 1998 Maseratti 3500GT.
I'll update my records as such.
LEDs have a way to go yet. LED headlights are superior to ordinary halogens but inferior to HID lamps in terms of output and efficiency. They're a stylistic choice not a practical one. They do have the advantage of long lifespans but they're also pretty heavy (large heat-sinks required for concentrated high power designs) and very expensive.
LEDs have a mixed blessing in that their light cut off is extremely sharp, meaning they don't scatter much light normally. This means in headlights you can get a very clean beam quite easily, a good thing. But in tail lights and other lights designed to be seen rather than to see by it means from some angles their light output isn't great.
Laser lighting shows much greater promise for headlamps in my opinion.
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