Corolla headlights: Bi-LED vs panorama LED?

[TonyHSD]

Driving without lights ON simply equals to driving without due care. No driver paying attention to the road and his driving will forget to turn its lights ON, could happen but everyone who pays attention behind the wheel will quickly realise and turn them ON. 👍

[James Todd]

On 11/29/2021 at 9:03 PM, MikiMaz said:

Hi, it's me again hesitating between different trims of the Corolla TS.  Now I wonder whether the Bi-LED headlights are brighter and have a better light beam than the parabola LEDs? The dealer says that the difference is only aesthetic but my impression is that the Bi-LED is brighter. Is it possible to find some comparison? Thanks

Yes, it is possible to find a comparison between the Bi-LED headlights and the parabola LEDs. The dealer is correct that there is an aesthetic difference, but many people believe that the Bi-LED headlights are brighter and have a better light beam. I would recommend doing some research online to see if you can find any concrete evidence to support this claim. Thanks for the question!

[AisinW]

With halogen bulb, the projector headlight is usually broader, more homogenous partern on wider area but less bright on the hot spot. The reflector is the other way around. The reflector LED need less power for the same brightness and may lead lower heat and wattage. 

By the way, I found that the Auris 2 HIR2 is actually bright enough if we seat higher. I installed Hella 8€ HIR2 and it is as bright as Optiwhite from Toyota Dealership with the same spec 1875 lumens at 13.2 V. 

[James Todd]

On 11/7/2022 at 3:49 PM, James Todd said:

Yes, it is possible to find a comparison between the Bi-LED headlights and the parabola LEDs. The dealer is correct that there is an aesthetic difference, but many people believe that the Bi-LED headlights are brighter and have a better light beam. I would recommend doing some research online to see if you can find any concrete evidence to support this claim. Thanks for the question!

I would like to add that I have done some research on https://headlightsize.com/toyota-corolla-oem-light-bulb-replacement-guide/ and there you can find a comparison.

[JayCee88]

On 12/1/2021 at 1:40 PM, rkovacec said:

While we discussing about headlights, is it possible to replace headlight 81110/81150 (panorama LED) with Bi-LED? 

I have 81110/81150-02S60 installed and i want it to replace it with 81130/81170-02S70. From my point of view, i think it should be possible, but i am a Toyota newbie. Is there any expert who can help me?

Apologies for reviving an old post, but I have a question about the headlights on my MY22 TS Trek. It looks like the the first one so I believe it’s the panorama LED. 

My previous car Volvo S90 has the same reflector type led headlights and I find them brilliant and night. Lights up the road well without annoying other drivers. 
However with the Corolla I find the light throw a bit short and not as bright. 
I was initially mistaken that the panorama lights is an upgrade over the projector type.

Does anyone here have bi-led lights?

My commute does include dark country lanes so really missed the crispier light that my S90 had  

 

[TonyHSD]

2 hours ago, JayCee88 said:

Apologies for reviving an old post, but I have a question about the headlights on my MY22 TS Trek. It looks like the the first one so I believe it’s the panorama LED. 

My previous car Volvo S90 has the same reflector type led headlights and I find them brilliant and night. Lights up the road well without annoying other drivers. 
However with the Corolla I find the light throw a bit short and not as bright. 
I was initially mistaken that the panorama lights is an upgrade over the projector type.

Does anyone here have bi-led lights?

My commute does include dark country lanes so really missed the crispier light that my S90 had  

 

Have you tried to adjust the height from the roller button next to the steering wheel? I noticed a lots of Corolla drivers with these reflector led has their light pattern straight into the ground, which means they have messed with the settings. When driving alone should be set at 0 point. 

[JayCee88]

5 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Have you tried to adjust the height from the roller button next to the steering wheel? I noticed a lots of Corolla drivers with these reflector led has their light pattern straight into the ground, which means they have messed with the settings. When driving alone should be set at 0 point. 

Yes, mine's at 0 point at the moment. I did try increasing it which resulted in further beam but it's scattered and not as focussed.

Bit of a shame, personally I think the reflector headlights looks better compared to the projector, but I suppose at the cost of brightness.

I might do some research to see if it's possible for a retrofit upgrade.

[rkovacec]

12 hours ago, JayCee88 said:

Yes, mine's at 0 point at the moment. I did try increasing it which resulted in further beam but it's scattered and not as focussed.

Bit of a shame, personally I think the reflector headlights looks better compared to the projector, but I suppose at the cost of brightness.

I might do some research to see if it's possible for a retrofit upgrade.

Hi Jaycee88,

retrofit is possible, but warranty will be lost.

There is a kit, please check link

https://www.ebay.com/itm/164999049824

Regards

[AisinW]

In Corolla, Panorama light is the base model, and we can upgrade for a technology upgrade (bigger digital dashboard, bi-LED, wireless charger, etc.).  The Matrix LED is only available on the most top trims.  All of the headlights does not require washer fluid, it means less than 2000 lumens. Therefore, it is relatively less bright on the hot spot area but it is probably more homogenous and useful lights on matrix LED than Auris2 xenon lights ~ 3500 lumens. 

[JayCee88]

2 hours ago, rkovacec said:

Hi Jaycee88,

retrofit is possible, but warranty will be lost.

There is a kit, please check link

https://www.ebay.com/itm/164999049824

Regards

Thanks! It’s a relatively new car so I wouldn’t want to invalidate the warranty. 
My headlight looks like the one on the left but the colour output is white, so I don’t think they are halogens. 

[JayCee88]

2 hours ago, AisinW said:

In Corolla, Panorama light is the base model, and we can upgrade for a technology upgrade (bigger digital dashboard, bi-LED, wireless charger, etc.).  The Matrix LED is only available on the most top trims.  All of the headlights does not require washer fluid, it means less than 2000 lumens. Therefore, it is relatively less bright on the hot spot area but it is probably more homogenous and useful lights on matrix LED than Auris2 Xenon lights ~ 3500 lumens. 

Thanks for the clarification. 
If I’ve understood correctly the relative brightness (lumens) in all the different headlight options in the Corolla is less than 2000 lumens. The only difference are functionality and perhaps a more focussed beam?

Oh well, I will need to live with it 🙂 I’ve been used to brighter LED headlights but I can adjust. I’ll just need to ensure the headlights are clean as well to ensure maximum light output. 

[AisinW]

Toyota is very modest on the headlights department.  The Auris 2 and Yaris pre-2020 uses very dimm headlight setup.  We have only 1 bulb for low and high beam with projector style on Auris and Yaris using supposed to be the brightest halogen type HIR2 1875 lumens. But Toyota install the longlife Philips bulb 1340 lumens instead. Therefore, it is like installing H1 bulb but 1/2 light is choped by the shutter for the low beam.   I am so annoyed and barely can see the road when it is wet.  I use fog llights a lot when the road is wet and it helps.  So, I decided to install trully  4000 lumens LED bulb.  

[JayCee88]

19 minutes ago, AisinW said:

Toyota is very modest on the headlights department.  The Auris 2 and Yaris pre-2020 uses very dimm headlight setup.  We have only 1 bulb for low and high beam with projector style on Auris and Yaris using supposed to be the brightest halogen type HIR2 1875 lumens. But Toyota install the longlife Philips bulb 1340 lumens instead. Therefore, it is like installing H1 bulb but 1/2 light is choped by the shutter for the low beam.   I am so annoyed and barely can see the road when it is wet.  I use fog llights a lot when the road is wet and it helps.  So, I decided to install trully  4000 lumens LED bulb.  

I had an interesting experience on a dark road where I was almost blinded by glare of oncoming vehicle. The headlights on my TS were not powerful enough to illuminate road in-front of me during that time so I had to slow right down. Might consider turning on fog lights for extra output but even the fog lights seem very feeble. 
Shame it’s not possible to upgrade bulbs in the panorama LED unit. 
 

I find adjusting the light over to 2 point illuminates the road further , but at a cost of a more dispersed beam. 
 

I might invest in a glass coating to help keep the headlights clean. 

[AisinW]

The panorama LED in Corolla is still better than the one in Auris TS.  The bi-LED in Auris TS is much brighter and white colors always give better contrast.  Changing the halogen with LED Bulb is not legal in most countries although  Polices do not really enforce it.   But we must be mindful and responsible to setup the height properly.  Fortunately for projector style in Auris and Yaris, any LED will have the same exact cut off as halogen as long as the height of the LED chips match the position of the Tungsten filament in halogen.  But I against any LED retrofit on reflector type head lights. 

[TonyHSD]

The other night I was followed by a Corolla excel on a dark stretch of the motorway. I noticed it was a Corolla by the side led illumination,  TS model likely was a ph car and was loaded the car light didn’t blind me at all and when he overtaken me I had a chance to see his light pattern ahead was times better than what I have seen on other Corolla s mostly icon specs as they are most popular around me. The difference between two types of headlights is day and night. The excel car was lightning ahead very nicely, all 4 lanes with very bright and white light ahead and sides, perhaps auto levelling and that function was spot on 👍 Let see the new my23  that comes with new lights will be as good as this one. 

[DC_Ms]

21 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Let see the new my23  that comes with new lights will be as good as this one. 

One would say it should be at least as good if not better … but you never know 🙃😁

[Dylanfan]

The other night, out with two mates. The one with a Focus commented on how good the Corolla lights were, both in light coverage and whiteness. The other guys car is a Golf and he agreed.

When I’ve been in the Focus it is noticeable that the lights are very poor, almost to the point of being dangerous. The golf, although better, is nothing like the Corolla.

 I think the Excel lighting is probably the best I’ve ever had in over 50 years of driving, although I did have a Citroen C4 Picasso with directional light and there were also excellent.

[TonyHSD]

48 minutes ago, Dylanfan said:

The other night, out with two mates. The one with a Focus commented on how good the Corolla lights were, both in light coverage and whiteness. The other guys car is a Golf and he agreed.

When I’ve been in the Focus it is noticeable that the lights are very poor, almost to the point of being dangerous. The golf, although better, is nothing like the Corolla.

 I think the Excel lighting is probably the best I’ve ever had in over 50 years of driving, although I did have a Citroen C4 Picasso with directional light and there were also excellent.

My best ever lights on any car were on Prius plus 2015-> , they are led and similar to Corolla excel. After I had this car for some time and then changed it for other cars with halogen bulbs it took me ages to adapt to the different headlights. Again Toyota cut these nicer lights from all other models and left it to top spec only, even GR doesn’t get these although similarly priced. 👍

[YarisHybrid2016]

Simple solution: test drive both! I'm definitely going to be doing this as I will be doing a lot of night driving.

[drykoke]

5 hours ago, YarisHybrid2016 said:

Simple solution: test drive both! I'm definitely going to be doing this as I will be doing a lot of night driving.

Good idea, but not sure that the dealers around me will let me test the cars in the night time.

[DC_Ms]

On 2/8/2023 at 12:49 PM, TonyHSD said:

The other night I was followed by a Corolla excel on a dark stretch of the motorway. I noticed it was a Corolla by the side led illumination,  TS model likely was a ph car and was loaded the car light didn’t blind me at all and when he overtaken me I had a chance to see his light pattern ahead was times better than what I have seen on other Corolla s mostly icon specs as they are most popular around me. The difference between two types of headlights is day and night. The excel car was lightning ahead very nicely, all 4 lanes with very bright and white light ahead and sides, perhaps auto levelling and that function was spot on 👍 Let see the new my23  that comes with new lights will be as good as this one. 

On MY22 all trims except the Excel , had LED multi-reflector headlights and the Excel had LED dual-beam projector headlights.
 

on MY23 Icon comes with simple LED , Design & GR Sport LED dual-beam projector headlights and the Excel now comes with multi-beam LED headlights with adaptive high-beam.

I’m missing something here or now the better headlights come on Design & GR Sport , and the Excel got downgraded ?! 🤷‍♂️

[TonyHSD]

2 hours ago, DC_Ms said:

On MY22 all trims except the Excel , had LED multi-reflector headlights and the Excel had LED dual-beam projector headlights.
 

on MY23 Icon comes with simple LED , Design & GR Sport LED dual-beam projector headlights and the Excel now comes with multi-beam LED headlights with adaptive high-beam.

I’m missing something here or now the better headlights come on Design & GR Sport , and the Excel got downgraded ?! 🤷‍♂️

Sorry I can’t answer this question. I only been able to notice recently a marginal difference between Corolla trim levels headlights work in the dark and real life situation. It’s not like the reflector led are too bad but the projector ones are really the better option. 

[gojefat]

Bi-LED headlights may provide better visibility and illumination than parabolic LED headlights, according to studies conducted by the IIHS and the European Commission. However, the performance of headlights can depend on other factors and vary between different models and brands. To determine the difference in performance between the headlights in the specific Corolla TS models you are considering, ask the dealer for a comparison or conduct your own research.

[Don Mac]

There is a good post about this, with pictures in the "Got a MY23 Any Questions?" thread