Koito were the first to produce LED headlamp with the Lexus LS 600h, and the setmaker are continuing with new LED headlamp launches on the Toyota Prius, Lexus HS250h and Lexus RX450h.
Driving Vision News visited Koito and spent a day with management to better understand their strategy and their results. This week we present the range of LED headlamps and Koito’s targets for the future.
First go: LS600h headlamp launched in May 2007
Low beam
Low beam is produced by 3 projector optical modules, each equipped with a 4-emitter light source array. All three projectors move together for AFS functions. There’s also a reflector with one 4-emitter and one 2-emitter light source array, for a total of 18 emitters and 50w consumption per side of the vehicle.
High beam
High beam is produced by a projector system making 2 functions, visible high beam and IR light for night vision. An IR-pass filter is shifted into the beam path for situations in which visible-light high beam cannot be used, according to the same principles as the cutoff shield shift in a BiXenon or BiHalogen projector.
Second generation: Toyota Prius, Lexus RX450h and HS250h launched May 2009
The Toyota Prius and RX 450h headlamps are presented in the pictures below:
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