This year’s North American International Auto Show was remarkable in that while there weren’t as many concept and dream cars as there have been in past years, the amount of technology and imaginative new design and style in the lighting on end-stage prototypes and production cars was higher than we’ve ever seen. LEDs are popping up everywhere on all sorts of vehicles, including some very high volume models in a variety of segments as diverse as family sedans and pickup trucks. Last year Toyota marked a milestone by equipping their popular Corolla with LED low beams as standard equipment. This year, Ford score a coup with their F-150, which is the best-selling vehicle in the United States—it’s got the first full-LED front lighting package in the pickup truck segment:
It’s a very fancy, high-content, innovative lamp developed in coöperation with Osram and Flex-N-Gate. Low and high beams are produced with thick one-piece plastic optics. A wide lightguide traces the perimeter of the lamp, and the side marker reflectors are neatly placed on inboard wall.
It is interesting to find thematic similarities between the triumphant F-150 front light and the placeholder mockups on early-stage concept cars like Chevrolet’s Bolt: