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Brightest Headlights on Prius?

Discussion in 'Newbie Forum' started by £aurie, Apr 17, 2022.

  1. £aurie

    £aurie New Member

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    I would like to buy a Prius that has the best headlights for seeing the road at night. What feature or features should I be looking for? Is this feature only available during certain model years and/or on specific model upgrades? I very much appreciate your input!

    ~ Laurie
     
    #1 £aurie, Apr 17, 2022
  2. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    #2 xliderider, Apr 18, 2022
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  3. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Depends on your budget and what general time period of Prius you're looking at... If you're looking at older Prius, in general the HID projector lights are harder to upgrade to brighter versions than standard halogen, which can be upgraded to the brightest newest LEDs.
     
    #3 PriusCamper, Apr 18, 2022
  4. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    The HIDs on the Gen 2 have been problematic so I'd start your research with the Gen 3 (which have their own problems but not related to headlights).

    The top model (2010/2011 Prius V and 2012-2015 Prius Five) come with LED low beam headlights although I'd say the standard halogens on the Gen 3s were actually pretty decent.

    For 2016 (Gen 4), Toyota moved to bi-LED headlights (so low and high beams share the same LED unit) and they're quite a bit improvement over the Gen 3 LEDs.

    IMO, the Prius Prime has the best LEDs currently in the Prius lineup. It has separate LED low and high beams and the beam spread in low beam is good and the focus and throw of light for the high beam is long. For the Gen 4 and Prime, you can check the headlight performance on the IIHS website as they test headlight performance now.

    For last generation, a Prius v with LED headlights (2012-2016) was rated "Good" by the IIHS if you prefer a wagon style Prius.
     
    #4 Tideland Prius, Apr 18, 2022
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  5. £aurie

    £aurie New Member

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    Interesting stuff...

    Thank you Tideland Prius for mentioning IIHS. I went to the website and and looked at the results for their headlight testing. It was disappointing to me that none of the Prius models and trims that were tested in the more recent years achieved a good rating, just adequate. From the diagrams illustrating their testing results, those trims that had the curve adaptive technology achieved better results than the trims without it. At least that is how I am interpretting the information. And assuming I am correct, does anyone have comments about the curve adaptive feature? If you have it on your Prius, do you like it? What are the pros and cons?

    Much appreciated!
     
    #5 £aurie, Apr 18, 2022
  6. £aurie

    £aurie New Member

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    Can anyone who has a Prius with curve adaptive headlights tell me what they think of them? Is there a noticeable improvement? Are there drawbacks? I’d appreciate any info as I’m not sure if it’s something I should look for or avoid…

    Many Thanks!
     
    #6 £aurie, Apr 20, 2022
  7. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Slightly better, yeah. Unfortunately not enough to bump it up to a “Good” rating.

    I have found the regular Gen 4 headlights adequate. Better than the halogens for sure. The Prime has good headlights (I think it’s still rated at Acceptable by the IIHS) and most of it comes down to the left hand illumination.

    I do not have the adaptive headlights on my Prius as it was offered on 2019 models and newer.
     
    #7 Tideland Prius, Apr 20, 2022
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