https://www.consumerreports.org/hea...righter-but-often-lack-clear-advantages/
some excerpts:
Quote
... At Consumer Reports, 55 percent of the 2018 models we tested had LED headlights. Of the 2019 models we've tested, 86 percent had LEDs.
... in CR's testing, we discovered that these new lights don't offer any more illumination than traditional halogen and/or high intensity discharge (HID) headlights.
..Both LED and HID headlights can produce a brighter, whiter light than halogens, and they illuminate the sides of the road well. But how far a headlight illuminates straight ahead, in the direction a car is traveling, is what's most important, Stockburger [Director of Operations at the Consumer Reports Auto Test Center] says. In that respect neither HIDs nor LEDs have proved to be superior over halogens in CR's testing
... in our headlight tests, we've seen that neither LED nor HID low-beam headlights consistently illuminate more of the road ahead than halogens do. The poorer performers among all headlight types don't reach the 300-foot mark. The result is that drivers traveling at 60 mph or faster will "overdrive" their headlights, meaning they're going faster than the lights can illuminate the road ahead, giving the driver little time to stop.
..."Even with the new technology, low-beam headlights don't always provide enough forward seeing distance for the driver to react to an object in the road and stop in time," Stockburger says.
..."We've found that with LEDs and HIDs, manufacturers are having a hard time balancing casting enough light down the road without causing glare to oncoming drivers because of their intensity," says Stockburger.
...And owners should always be aware that headlight alignment is important regardless of the underlying technology. Headlights should be aligned vertically so that the road ahead is properly lighted, but also so that glare to oncoming drivers is limited.........We buy every vehicle we test from dealers for evaluation at our Auto Test Center and often have to adjust the headlight alignment on test cars before evaluating them, Stockburger says.
some excerpts:
Quote
... At Consumer Reports, 55 percent of the 2018 models we tested had LED headlights. Of the 2019 models we've tested, 86 percent had LEDs.
... in CR's testing, we discovered that these new lights don't offer any more illumination than traditional halogen and/or high intensity discharge (HID) headlights.
..Both LED and HID headlights can produce a brighter, whiter light than halogens, and they illuminate the sides of the road well. But how far a headlight illuminates straight ahead, in the direction a car is traveling, is what's most important, Stockburger [Director of Operations at the Consumer Reports Auto Test Center] says. In that respect neither HIDs nor LEDs have proved to be superior over halogens in CR's testing
... in our headlight tests, we've seen that neither LED nor HID low-beam headlights consistently illuminate more of the road ahead than halogens do. The poorer performers among all headlight types don't reach the 300-foot mark. The result is that drivers traveling at 60 mph or faster will "overdrive" their headlights, meaning they're going faster than the lights can illuminate the road ahead, giving the driver little time to stop.
..."Even with the new technology, low-beam headlights don't always provide enough forward seeing distance for the driver to react to an object in the road and stop in time," Stockburger says.
..."We've found that with LEDs and HIDs, manufacturers are having a hard time balancing casting enough light down the road without causing glare to oncoming drivers because of their intensity," says Stockburger.
...And owners should always be aware that headlight alignment is important regardless of the underlying technology. Headlights should be aligned vertically so that the road ahead is properly lighted, but also so that glare to oncoming drivers is limited.........We buy every vehicle we test from dealers for evaluation at our Auto Test Center and often have to adjust the headlight alignment on test cars before evaluating them, Stockburger says.
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