Corolla headlights: Bi-LED vs panorama LED?

[FROSTYBALLS]

Undoubtedly the brochures of other manufacturers will have similar disclaimers re images and specifications. This is part of the real world that we live in !

Please move back to the topic subject - Corolla headlights ....

[Rambler56]

16 hours ago, Ian.S said:

Once again someone is making a statement without either checking or qualifying it. I have an Excel with bi-led headlights and it does not have washers. It is UK spec. 
 

I tried both types of headlights, the single led ones on a three week loan while waiting for my Excel to be delivered. Once I got the Excel I noticed a considerable improvement in the headlights. One very big advantage that I have noticed that LEDs have over halogens is that they don’t crust up with dirt/salt in the winter. 

No washers one my Excel, but different markets add/remove additional equipment so I would not be surprised if washers were available in some markets but not necessarily because of the higher output LED lights.  I was under the impression that it was mandatory for manufacturers to fit washer systems only if they fitted xenon headlamps, and if specced with halogen or LED lights they may potentially have them as optional extras.  My A6 had xenon, washers, and headlights were really good.  My Discovery had halogens and a flat pattern, without washers, and they were dismal.  The Corolla BiLEDs seem fine but they don't seem to have the spread of the Xenons.

[RoseParr]

Now I wonder whether the Bi-LED headlights are brighter and have a better light beam than the parabola LEDs?

[frizzbee30]

On 6/7/2022 at 12:59 PM, RoseParr said:

Now I wonder whether the Bi-LED headlights are brighter and have a better light beam than the parabola LEDs?

Yes, due to the way they handle ĺight, and obviously more expensive. 

[Miguel1111]

On 12/1/2021 at 9:11 PM, clix said:

available

I have bought last week a Corolla Active tech (Spanish market version) with panorama led and the headlights are very good. I think that bi led is unnecessary. Also, it is not because I have it, but in my opinion it looks much nicer the normal led than the bi-led. For me the bi-led looks very ugly, especially the day lights. Today I see a taxi bi-led with the day lights and I realized that they are extremely ugly (the headlights)

[mjjferreira]

11 hours ago, Miguel1111 said:

I have bought last week a Corolla Active tech (Spanish market version) with panorama led and the headlights are very good. I think that bi led is unnecessary. Also, it is not because I have it, but in my opinion it looks much nicer the normal led than the bi-led. For me the bi-led looks very ugly, especially the day lights. Today I see a taxi bi-led with the day lights and I realized that they are extremely ugly (the headlights)

I think the opposite. Bi-led are WAY nicer than standard led lights.

[Kental]

2 hours ago, mjjferreira said:

I think the opposite. Bi-led are WAY nicer than standard led lights.

Agreed, I much prefer the day running lights on the Bi LED compared to the 3 dots on the std LED lights.

[AisinW]

Unfortunately, we do not have standardise test like https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/Toyota/corolla-4-door-hatchback/2022   .  The projector headlights are all A rated, acceptable.  The multireflector light is not listed there. The Matrix LED should give the most effective lighting without the need of extreem brightnes. Does anyone ever compare the Matrix LED vs the Projector type LED?  

I found my Auris with Halogen HIR2 is not satisfactory.  It is supposed to be 1875 lumens HIR2 bulb but Toyota chose Longlife Philips with 1340 lumens for both low and high beam.  The older Auris with bi-Xenon is much brighter and make sense because most xenon is at least 4000 lumens. I am debating with myself what to choose:

1.  Drive with halogen upgrade to Hella HIR2 (1875 lumens) but only 500 hours instead of 2000 hours Longlife Philips. 

2. Buy an aftermarket LED bulb (Bevinsee V35 or V45, Apollo X77, Auxbeam GX) 2-3 years warranty about $40-$150 or GTR Ultra 2 Lifetime warranty $260.

3. Fitting a good quality xenon from reputable brand like Morimoto, or Xenondepot. $200-300 

4. Sell the Auris and get Corolla with bi-LED or Matrix LED.  ($8000 more money), or at least get Auris with bi-LED ($2000). 

In conclusion, I have to choose driving legally with Halogen but risking for an accident from lack of lighting or drive illegally but much less risk of accident by using brighter LED bulb. I already hit curbs several times at night during the rain because water reflections and unpainted curbs in some cities with this lousy halogen projector headlight.  The curbs in Europe are rarely painted and the roads are not painted with reflective/fluoresence paint unlike in the USA.  Most roads in the USA are painted with fluoresence paint and plastic reflectors on the lane dividers. That's probably why, American are fine with 9006 bulb that rated for only 1000 lumens. 

The LED in projector headlights will not glare anyone because of the sharp cut-off on projector. Generally it never need any adjustment with a good LED bulb and the pattern is good. Solid homogenous beam pattern but have darker spot about 1 m from the car because of 2 sided light instead of cylindrical geometry.  Those listed LED are the best I know. I had tried many garbage LEDs and 99% of them are complete garbage. I had tried and used V45 Bevinsee for couple weeks and it is noticably brighter than HIR2 Hella. About 2x brighter but no one ever blink/high beam on me and no need to adjust the headlight. It looks very normal without any glare or bluish color.  

What do you guys think the best solution for Auris owner with HIR2 projector beam?

[TonyHSD]

3 hours ago, AisinW said:

Unfortunately, we do not have standardise test like https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/Toyota/corolla-4-door-hatchback/2022   .  The projector headlights are all A rated, acceptable.  The multireflector light is not listed there. The Matrix LED should give the most effective lighting without the need of extreem brightnes. Does anyone ever compare the Matrix LED vs the Projector type LED?  

I found my Auris with Halogen HIR2 is not satisfactory.  It is supposed to be 1875 lumens HIR2 bulb but Toyota chose Longlife Philips with 1340 lumens for both low and high beam.  The older Auris with bi-Xenon is much brighter and make sense because most Xenon is at least 4000 lumens. I am debating with myself what to choose:

1.  Drive with halogen upgrade to Hella HIR2 (1875 lumens) but only 500 hours instead of 2000 hours Longlife Philips. 

2. Buy an aftermarket LED bulb (Bevinsee V35 or V45, Apollo X77, Auxbeam GX) 2-3 years warranty about $40-$150 or GTR Ultra 2 Lifetime warranty $260.

3. Fitting a good quality Xenon from reputable brand like Morimoto, or Xenondepot. $200-300 

4. Sell the Auris and get Corolla with bi-LED or Matrix LED.  ($8000 more money), or at least get Auris with bi-LED ($2000). 

In conclusion, I have to choose driving legally with Halogen but risking for an accident from lack of lighting or drive illegally but much less risk of accident by using brighter LED bulb. I already hit curbs several times at night during the rain because water reflections and unpainted curbs in some cities with this lousy halogen projector headlight.  The curbs in Europe are rarely painted and the roads are not painted with reflective/fluoresence paint unlike in the USA.  Most roads in the USA are painted with fluoresence paint and plastic reflectors on the lane dividers. That's probably why, American are fine with 9006 bulb that rated for only 1000 lumens. 

The LED in projector headlights will not glare anyone because of the sharp cut-off on projector. Generally it never need any adjustment with a good LED bulb and the pattern is good. Solid homogenous beam pattern but have darker spot about 1 m from the car because of 2 sided light instead of cylindrical geometry.  Those listed LED are the best I know. I had tried many garbage LEDs and 99% of them are complete garbage. I had tried and used V45 Bevinsee for couple weeks and it is noticably brighter than HIR2 Hella. About 2x brighter but no one ever blink/high beam on me and no need to adjust the headlight. It looks very normal without any glare or bluish color.  

What do you guys think the best solution for Auris owner with HIR2 projector beam?

Imo just buy better bulbs within the spec of the car and stay legal, just get better and stronger light in exchange for shorter life. I personally choose the Philips long life eco vision H11 for my auris gen 1 and do change bulbs only twice a year but my driving is exclusively during the night. Keep like that until you decide to upgrade to Corolla, another auris just for the lights not worth it imo. 

[AisinW]

Thanks Tony.

I found this video is very informative. Most cars with halogen projector type, they have separate additional bulb for the high beam like in Avensis and older Auris have H11 + 9005/HB3 bulb.  That helps alot on designing bright enough headlight. Golf in this test has H7 + H15 bulbs.  Generally, any reflector type headlights need much less lumens to get the same intensity of lights on the road.  Reflector type halogen is brighter than even xenon on projector type for the same car and headlight housing. That's why basic model Corolla have reflector type with lower wattage and can deliver comparable brightness as the bi-LED projector type although subjectively people like one than others. 

Tony's Auris has no brightness issue because it is reflector type with  2 bulbs: H11 + HB3 instead of only one HIR2 (projector).  That's why older Auris have brighter headlight than newer Auris except for the xenon bulb or bi-LED. Most halogen is tested at 13.2Volt and our Auris HSD usually runs at 13.8-14.4V from the DC to DC converter. 

https://www.motor-talk.de/videos.html?link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FX1L_aFGjmSI  

 

[AisinW]

55 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Imo just buy better bulbs within the spec of the car and stay legal, just get better and stronger light in exchange for shorter life. I personally choose the Philips long life eco vision H11 for my auris gen 1 and do change bulbs only twice a year but my driving is exclusively during the night. Keep like that until you decide to upgrade to Corolla, another auris just for the lights not worth it imo. 

I did just that, I bought Hella HIR2 1875 lumens $8 from Amazon or $16 a pair, much cheaper than Philips Extreemvision= OPTIWHITE but similar brightness $40 a pair.  It is noticably brighter, at about 40% than the Philips LL/OEM bulb.  Just for curiousity, I tested the V45 LED that cost $45 and it is about another 50% improvement from Hella/Optiwhite bulbs.  So overall, it is double the OEM bulb brightness and white color.  We could not improve much with what we have in Auris projector type with only one bulb for both low and high beam legally. Something that we have to swallow. 

 

[TonyHSD]

6 hours ago, AisinW said:

Thanks Tony.

I found this video is very informative. Most cars with halogen projector type, they have separate additional bulb for the high beam like in Avensis and older Auris have H11 + 9005/HB3 bulb.  That helps alot on designing bright enough headlight. Golf in this test has H7 + H15 bulbs.  Generally, any reflector type headlights need much less lumens to get the same intensity of lights on the road.  Reflector type halogen is brighter than even Xenon on projector type for the same car and headlight housing. That's why basic model Corolla have reflector type with lower wattage and can deliver comparable brightness as the bi-LED projector type although subjectively people like one than others. 

Tony's Auris has no brightness issue because it is reflector type with  2 bulbs: H11 + HB3 instead of only one HIR2 (projector).  That's why older Auris have brighter headlight than newer Auris except for the Xenon bulb or bi-LED. Most halogen is tested at 13.2Volt and our Auris HSD usually runs at 13.8-14.4V from the DC to DC converter. 

https://www.motor-talk.de/videos.html?link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FX1L_aFGjmSI  

 

I agree with you. The gen 1 auris has only one annoying thing with the headlights, the dipped beam are placed inside the headlight and the higher beam on the otter side, this makes the light a bit too centred and in dark places when you make a turns you are actually turning into a darker areas without clear view. I do tend to use the fog lights in these cases and this helps a lot. Apart from that, no complaints. A bit brighter light might be beneficial, but I like the longest possible life out of the bulbs. 👍

One thing worries me with auris 2 and Corolla respectively is when any of  the headlight led goes wrong and the price of replacement of the whole unit would be a killer. I know warranty will eventually cover it but I am thinking out of warranty replacement 🫣

[AisinW]

Yes, that's right. Typical Bi-LED from 2nd gen Auris with Valeo OEM costs close to £650 from online store. It is identical to Toyota part. With the big sale number of Corolla, the replacement will be probably £500 or less and aftermarket will be much cheaper. 

Generally, the longlife HIR2 or H11 bulb 1340 lumens  last 1500-2000 hours or 60k miles for most people. 

I think the LED OEM will last really long. So far, no one report any Auris 2015 bi-LED failure yet. 

Headlights on Lexus LC500 costs $1862 each. It is not terrible yet for the highest class Lexus. It is probably still way cheaper than S class for the same year. 

 

[TonyHSD]

10 hours ago, AisinW said:

Yes, that's right. Typical Bi-LED from 2nd gen Auris with Valeo OEM costs close to £650 from online store. It is identical to Toyota part. With the big sale number of Corolla, the replacement will be probably £500 or less and aftermarket will be much cheaper. 

Generally, the longlife HIR2 or H11 bulb 1340 lumens  last 1500-2000 hours or 60k miles for most people. 

I think the LED OEM will last really long. So far, no one report any Auris 2015 bi-LED failure yet. 

Headlights on Lexus LC500 costs $1862 each. It is not terrible yet for the highest class Lexus. It is probably still way cheaper than S class for the same year. 

 

Lol, these are costly replacements if happens outside warranty. 

[AisinW]

But I believe the used parts market should be available 10 years after the productions. The mass produced headlights will be also cheaper over time. 

[AisinW]

I just tried corolla with Bi-LED and it has adjustable headlight height from the driver side like the halogen auris2. The matrix LED has no adjustable setting, only automatic setting from the rear axle that adjust automatically like Auris2 Bi-LED. 

The manual adjustment on the headlights under the hood is still possible. 

Do we have different regulation now for LED headlights? The automatic height adjustment with sensor on the rear axle is no longer mandatory?

[Kental]

20 hours ago, AisinW said:

I just tried corolla with Bi-LED and it has adjustable headlight height from the driver side like the halogen auris2. The matrix LED has no adjustable setting, only automatic setting from the rear axle that adjust automatically like Auris2 Bi-LED. 

The manual adjustment on the headlights under the hood is still possible. 

Do we have different regulation now for LED headlights? The automatic height adjustment with sensor on the rear axle is no longer mandatory?

My understanding the requirement is down to the light output of the LEDs, above a threshold, the auto adjustment is still mandatory, just now LED lights are replacing halogen rather than just being an upgrade so lower powered versions are available.

[AisinW]

5 hours ago, Kental said:

My understanding the requirement is down to the light output of the LEDs, above a threshold, the auto adjustment is still mandatory, just now LED lights are replacing halogen rather than just being an upgrade so lower powered versions are available.

Do you confirm the bi-LED and panorama LED both have no leveling sensor on the rear axle?

[Kental]

18 hours ago, AisinW said:

Do you confirm the bi-LED and panorama LED both have no leveling sensor on the rear axle?

Current UK cars have an internal headlight level adjuster.

[AisinW]

Yes,  i saw them too in Germany

[Marxon88]

Matrix LED or AHS LED has a levering sensor on the rear axle and no adjustment on the dashboard.

Height can also be adjusted under the hood.

[AisinW]

Yes, I understand that Matrix LED Corolla and Bi-LED Auris have automatic leveling sensor on thr rear axle and no manual adjustment on the fly in the cabin.  However, bi-LED and Panorama reflector Corolla have manual adjustment like halogen in Auris. 

[TonyHSD]

Another bad experience with Audi suv and their stupid led lights. It was on dark A41 Watford towards Aylsbury for those who knows that interesting route. 
The Audi had these modern blue lights that enlighten everything ahead and around.  
When he was driving behind me the lights were projecting ahead of me, some will say this is good and helpful to you too, but it’s not at all trust me , it’s very distracting and frustrating.
Then he overtaken me and I was following behind, the car was keep switching its light patterns every where and even against the oncoming cars, and when the light itself touched the oncoming cars then the lights changed their projection so not to blind them, but that was each and every time way too late and he got flashed by pretty much all drivers on the opposite side of the traffic flow. These lights should  be banned by the authorities for safety. They only work correctly on paper. I don’t understand why car owners simply not disabled this stupid function and enjoy trouble free and hassle free night driving. 
On top on all that stupidity with modern technology I also noticed that more than ever many drivers doesn’t bothered to switch from high beam to dipped beam either on purpose because they are speeding or just because doesn’t care and play nasty. Driving standards are the poorest of all times. Period. 
Good luck all. 👍

[Cyker]

Yeah, there's just all sorts out there. Very common for people to just be driving around on DRLs only at night in London; Another point against DRLs!

I was in a long chain of cars going down a country lane at dusk, and the car in front had no lights on at all! (Or both rear tail lights had failed).

Flashed them a few times, no response, put them into my mental "Learner" category and doubled my separation gap  

 

[Dylanfan]

On 11/5/2022 at 11:00 AM, Cyker said:

Yeah, there's just all sorts out there. Very common for people to just be driving around on DRLs only at night in London; Another point against DRLs!

I was in a long chain of cars going down a country lane at dusk, and the car in front had no lights on at all! (Or both rear tail lights had failed).

Flashed them a few times, no response, put them into my mental "Learner" category and doubled my separation gap  

 

That’s the problem with having the dash lit up all the time. I remember when this started in the 70s? there were always car driving in towns without lights ‘cos they just didn’t realise there lights weren’t on.