[RSnic]

Boy, are you telling me!

On eof the first things I did was change out the OEM halogen bulbs for whiter and brighter Sylvania SilverStar Ultras.

Wonder if BMW will quietly change the bulbs out during services -- guess you live in hope!

[Bob in IL]

I agree, the halogens are pretty bad. I guess some models are ultimate driving machines during daylight hours only.

[spuntyb]

Unsurprising. The halogens on my e90 were nearly useless, even with bulb upgrades. Xenons on the F31 are definitely better, but not the greatest.

[PennSt8]

I realize that this is a bit moot, but all of this makes me wonder if VLD would have made a difference here.

[hollandog]

Hope BMW will step up the game now and kill those damn Halogen.

[Adamr916]

Originally Posted by greekcs

Do 2016 models have VLD coded?

US models don't as it's still not legal here.

[greekcs]

bummer. I coded this and the hba no dazzle feature. makes a huge difference.

[nicknaz]

nice data, thanks for sharing.

Interesting that the high beams were fine and issue was with low beams. I wonder if this was aiming or a choice to minimize glare.

too bad the adaptive xenons were not tested

EDIT: halogens on a 3er.. that's an instant PASS/don't buy for me. superior lighting performance aside I want the halos and blue look of the xenons or LEDs at night

[Emilim]

I can understand them slamming the halogen lights but I don't see how there could be such a big difference between the adaptive LEDs and the static ones. The static LEDs are rated almost as poorly as the halogen which makes no sense. As far as I can tell from my test drives they're identical on straightaways (adaptives are obviously better in corners due to the swiveling lights).

I drove a VW CC before this (with bi-xenon) and I personally feel the LEDs on my F31 are at least just as good. But by their account I should be driving into trees at every corner.

Same goes with the C-class. I've driven the C400 with full projectors at night and it performed just fine. I have no idea what they're on about the glares. Maybe they just got a badly aimed unit.

[RSnic]

Originally Posted by nicknaz

nice data, thanks for sharing.

too bad the adaptive xenons were not tested

EDIT: halogens on a 3er.. that's an instant PASS/don't buy for me. superior lighting performance aside I want the halos and blue look of the xenons or LEDs at night

NickNaz,

The 3 Series got a Poor headlight rating and was a Marginal with LEDs; please see: http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/veh...s-4-door-sedan

And BMW already came back with a non-answer; please see: http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/lo...373927971.html

I agree; Halogen headlights at this price point is ridiculous; it would be nice to see BMW do recall that upgrades headlights -- ah, to dream!

[PhoenixBimmer]

another setback for BMW after poor performance in small overlap crash test.
http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/veh...s-4-door-sedan

[howiegu]

Originally Posted by secretariat

I thought the LED's were OK, not great. Then i got them coded and they are really good. When I jump into my wife's Ford F150 I can't see anything. Every car should come with LED's coded.

How and what did you coded your LED?

[scrape1]

Interesting that the halogen projectors on the base Accord outperform the LED lights on the Accord Touring. And of course, anything BMW sells on the 2 and 3 series.

Goes to show you that a sound design of the housing and projector is much more important than the type of bulb used.

[BM57]

Originally Posted by bahasad

It appalls me that BMW can still sell these cars with halogen headlights. My brand new Ford has good projector LEDs/HIDs and it costs half the amount of my BMW. The standard halogens have very poor visibility in my opinion.

It reminds me of Apple selling a 4k iMac with a 5400 RPM HDD as a default. Unbelievable.

[GregW / Oregon]

I looked for a recent thread on this and couldn't find one. New information:

The Institute for Highway Safety just issued headlight ratings after extensive testing. The BMW 3 Series halogens ranked "Poor", while the LED version was in the top 1/3 of cars tested with a "Marginal" rating. Note that only one system out of 82 tested was rated as "Good", the Toyota Prius V LED.

"Among the 44 headlight systems earning a poor rating, the halogen lights on the BMW 3 series are the worst. A driver with those headlights would have to be going 35 mph or slower to stop in time for an obstacle in the travel lane. A better choice for the same car is an LED curve-adaptive system with high-beam assist, a combination that rates marginal."

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/news/deskto...ed-improvement

[OMMMG]

The LEDs make a huge difference, I love them

[nicknaz]

the title is wrong.. what was tested was 2016 3er halogen, non adaptive LED and adaptive LED. no xenon tested

It also looks like the low beam adaptive LED are just aimed low by design. The high beams project light just fine according to that test

[nicknaz]

Originally Posted by RSnic

NickNaz,

The 3 Series got a Poor headlight rating and was a Marginal with LEDs; please see: http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/veh...s-4-door-sedan

Look at the specifics for adaptive LED. the pic shows high beams are exceeding or close to the "optimal high beam illumination" bar.

The text below the pic also says "good" other than the sharp curves which are "fair". Low beams is where the "inadequate" is mentioned

High beams
On the straightaway, visibility was good on both sides of the road. On curves, visibility was good on the gradual right and gradual left curves and fair on the sharp left and sharp right curves

.

I interpret that (generously perhaps) as "the high beams were fine and issue was with low beams"

anyway, honestly, no skin off my back. 33 mo with wife's F30 335 with adaptive xenons and we thought visibility was fine, and I'm certainly not going to trade my F80 (also with adaptive xenons) for a prius V to get the prius' headlights

there's always room for improvement in all cars

[damnitBobby]

and are the LED's on the 340i even the same as the LED's on the M3?

[Mauricio Palacios. MD]

Originally Posted by Gabreigns

Good find. I wish they had the same test with HIDs as well. That would probably put give an official word to the argument of HIDs vs LEDs.

+1

It is well known that the HID xenon system (that is not an option anymore in F30 MY 2016) is brighter and better in every way than the LED system. Again, it's all about money. LEDs are easier and cheaper to manufacture than xenons with its rare and dangerous elements, projectors, actuators, leveling and cleaning systems, ballasts (not to mention when the vehicle equipment includes "adaptive" features), etc.

The hid xenon system, in my humble opinion, would score an Acceptable to Good note in this report.

I hope BMW do something about this issue, specially when we have an institution of this kind confirming what we already knew...

Stop playing merchandising games with elements directly involved with our security.

Excellent day...

[Kabrich]

Originally Posted by sjpaul

This real issue is how the headlights are aimed from the factory - its way too low, reducing down-the-road visibility. That's why even the xenons (which are excellent, IMO) received only a marginal score.

Adjust the aim up, and the performance is markedly better.

Where is the "marginal" or any score on the xenons?

[Mauricio Palacios. MD]

It is well known that the HID xenon system (that is not an option anymore in F30 MY 2016) is brighter and better in every way than the LED system. Again, it's all about money. LEDs are easier and cheaper to manufacture than xenons with its rare and dangerous elements, projectors, actuators, leveling and cleaning systems, ballasts (not to mention when the vehicle equipment includes "adaptive" features), etc.

The hid xenon system, in my humble opinion, would score an Acceptable to Good note in this report.

I hope BMW do something about this issue, specially when we have an institution of this kind confirming what we already knew...

Stop playing merchandising games with elements directly involved with our security.

Excellent day...