A DrivingVisionNews survey of North American buses and transport trucks shows these vehicles are generally equipped with cutting-edge LED rear and side lights, but the forward illumination technology on these same vehicles is often outdated. Many new buses and goods trucks use standard-fitment round or rectangular sealed-beam headlamps, which fell from popularity on passenger vehicles almost immediately after replaceable-bulb headlamps were first permitted in the US in 1983. Those trucks and buses that do use replaceable-bulb headlamps frequently use older technology such as 9004 bulbs, parabolic reflectors, optic lenses, and mechanical aim — all considered obsolete in the passenger car field. In the opposite of Europe, only one model of goods truck sold in North America uses projector low beam headlamps, and none is available with xenon lamps.
The failure of xenon headlamps to gain even a modest share of the heavy-vehicle market is, from a technical standpoint, puzzling. The size and weight of these vehicles, and the large amount of nighttime service they see, demands high performance headlamps, but these are generally not supplied. Xenon headlamps’ very long service life between bulb changes likewise seems ideally suited to HDV headlamps, but they likewise are not supplied.
The failure of xenon headlamps to gain even a modest share of the heavy-vehicle market is, from a technical standpoint, puzzling. The size and weight of these vehicles, and the large amount of nighttime service they see, demands high performance headlamps, but these are generally not supplied. Xenon headlamps’ very long service life between bulb changes likewise seems ideally suited to HDV headlamps, but they likewise are not supplied.