Why did they ever go away from glass head lamps?

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Hello everybody, years ago cars/trucks had the glass head light lenses and they worked perfectly in my opinion. Fast forward years and all these car/truck manufacturers use plastic. The glass, all you had to do was clean them and they would be fine -- no hazeing or showing scratches. These plastic lenses are JUNK and a pain in the arse.


Dale
 
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Plastic is cheaper and is easy to mold into complex shapes. Automakers don't care about vehicle appearance or longevity after they leave warranty. Call it school of hard knocks.
 
Years ago headlights were all simply flat faced rectangles of varying sizes.

The shape of headlights radically changed with them being blended into the aero of the car and lights are no longer identical between models.

It isn't economically feasible to shape glass for each model vehicle, then change each model year, it could be done but the lights would be horrifically expensive.

UD
 
Originally Posted By: UncleDave
Years ago headlights were all simply flat faced rectangles of varying sizes.


Youngster. Years ago headlights were round before they were rectangles!
grin.gif


The makers of the sealed beams fought for years to keep the curved plastic lenses from being certified for highway use.
 
There also used to be a lot more glass around from headlights shattering during fender benders...don't miss glass headlights or bottles at all.
 
Some people before that were not happy with the electric light bulb replacing the carbide lamps or acetylene gas lamps on their vehicles.

shocked2.gif
 
Bulbs last longer in the new applications and the light is brighter.

One thing I most definitely miss about sealed beam headlights, is that the heat would melt off the snow and ice.
 
Probably due to CAFE. I had those old square lights on an older car and when it burned out I think I got another lamp at the auto parts store for around $5-$10, it was glass. It was pretty heavy compared to the one that the automaker put in which was plastic. Plastic is really light.

Some of the new lights are fine though, they really blend in with the car.
 
i am glad they went to plastic. like windshields, glass headlight would get damaged by rocks easily. then they lose their seal and condensation clouds them up.
 
Plastic bottles (key up sad music) => Pacific Gyer: Wiki

Glass headlights could be behind plastic aero shields (Ex: Jag XKE), but that would make for increased production costs...

I suspect we'll go back to glass bottles someday for enviro reasons ... Glass headlights, not so much (although I'd like to)
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The reason they switched is for styling.

It also helped that it provided a new venue for the automaker to make more money with replacement parts. Instead of $10 apiece to change headlamps, it's now $150. You still have to pay $10 if the bulb burns out.

This is one case where older technology is better. Other than styling, I see no advantage with the new plastic headlamp designs.
 
I used Hella H4 housings to replace the 5 1/4 round low beams. I'm thinking of grafting them into the Rat to replace the milky plastic lights on the Rat
grin2.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Kestas
The reason they switched is for styling.

It also helped that it provided a new venue for the automaker to make more money with replacement parts. Instead of $10 apiece to change headlamps, it's now $150. You still have to pay $10 if the bulb burns out.

This is one case where older technology is better. Other than styling, I see no advantage with the new plastic headlamp designs.


Bingo, a double play for manufacturers. They sell more cars cause they are cool looking, and sell more replacement parts. $$$$$ rules the game.
 
I miss the glass.

The Volvo in my signature looks great; glass housings. Anything else that age stored outside/ no treatment would be faded.
 
Originally Posted By: Kestas
The reason they switched is for styling.

It also helped that it provided a new venue for the automaker to make more money with replacement parts. Instead of $10 apiece to change headlamps, it's now $150. You still have to pay $10 if the bulb burns out.

This is one case where older technology is better. Other than styling, I see no advantage with the new plastic headlamp designs.


Well there are more options too with modern headlights. I have bixenons which list for $1500 a headlamp, but Hella is OEM and tney're about $600 and the knock offs without the ballast are in the $150 range. Part of the reason for the expense is that they have motors in them which auto level the headlamps and they also swivel up to 11 degrees with active curve illumination. Can't do that with regular glass headlamps.
 
Originally Posted By: GravelRoad
Some people before that were not happy with the electric light bulb replacing the carbide lamps or acetylene gas lamps on their vehicles.

shocked2.gif


Hogwash. There were sealed beams (lousy), then there were e code variants (excellent), now there are plastic assemblies.

The plastic assemblies wouldn't be so bad if the plastic cover was easily replaceable. They're not. It wouldn't be so bad if all manufacturers used good stabilized plastic to protect from uv yellowing/clouding. They don't. So you get stuck with forced obsolescence due to lighting issues that are indeed safety issues.

Sealed beams suck. Lights have gotten better. But their longevity and serviceability is now the issue, and it's not as easy as swapping a set of e codes due to shape and design. And to make it work, many plastic headlight designs don't even outperform sealed beams... they are every bit as bad!
 
Originally Posted By: AZjeff
Originally Posted By: UncleDave
Years ago headlights were all simply flat faced rectangles of varying sizes.


Youngster. Years ago headlights were round before they were rectangles!
grin.gif


The makers of the sealed beams fought for years to keep the curved plastic lenses from being certified for highway use.


HAHA I wish-

Im old enough to remember the round days as well !

UD
 
Cheaper, you can injection-mold polycarbonate into an form easier than glass. It's theoretically more impact resistant than glass.

The problem is that polycarbonate doesn't like heat or excessive exposure to UV light. HID xenon bulbs tend to give off more UV light, while regular halogen lamps give off more heat radiation. The coatings used on headlamps are exposed to the harsh automotive environment - but they are coated just like eyeglass lenses. I've noticed cars with HID headlamps using PC lenses get clouded faster, but I've noticed American-made lamps turn cloudy faster than imported ones despite the fact many of those are made by the NAFTA plants of the major lighting suppliers(Automotive Lighting/Koito/Stanley/Valeo). Could it be the coating supplied for the US/Mexican plants are different from what is made in Germany or Japan?
 
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