Headlights

They sure look nice, as do the tail lights which I like much more than the "Z" tail lights on my 2016 model.

Let's hope the Prime headlights are just as good as the LED headlights on the 2016 regular Prius. Outstanding. Best and brightest headlights I've ever had.

Check YouTube road-test reviews for the Prime. Lots of videos.

 

It's a very similar design to Acura headlights--multiple LED projectors, although the Prime uses 4 lowbeam projectors where Acuras have 6. They may very well perform better than the Liftback headlights. The Accord and Civic use a different design, with downward-facing individual LED reflectors and no lenses.

 

Based on the MSRP of the vehicle, I doubt you could find better headlights and taillights in this price range. Very impressed by the quality

 

IIHS started a headlight evaluation program of 2016 cars recently. Of the 31 midsize cars tested with 82 types of headlights, only one rated "Good", the Prius v. Hopefully Prime takes it up another notch.

FTA: "A vehicle's price tag is no guarantee of decent headlights. Many of the poor-rated headlights belong to luxury vehicles."

New IIHS ratings show most headlights are lacking

 

I think they are only currently testing vehicles larger than the Prime ( & Prius). Notice they did not test the 2016 Prius.

 

The solution: matrix array LEDs.
The problen: NTHSA

 

The projector assemblies in the 2015 Prius v "5" tested are the same as in the 2016 Liftback, made by Koito.

 

Note that different versions of the Prius v have three different headlight designs. That rating applies to only one trim level: Five equipped with Advanced Technology package.

Many other cars on that list also have different lights on different trims, and their best rating applies to only a single version.

 

The Five with AT is the one with LEDs, and the same LEDs as the 2016 Liftback.

As far as OEM LEDs vs. drop-in LEDs in a halogen housing: no comparison. I tried out a set of those drop-ins before retrofitting Koito projectors; yes, they are bright but most of that output is spread too much below the cutoff which increases foreground lighting at the expense of distance. Because of the resulting increased contrast, the ability of the driver to see in the distance is diminished. With actual LED projectors, the light is concentrated by the bowl design in a hotspot just under the cutoff to improve distance lighting.

 

Right, the linked article says that. The best rating for each of the tested cars could be halogens, HID's or LED's depending on trim level. The base halogen equipped Accord outperformed the up market trim with LED's and high beam assist.

 

With one huge caveat: "A vehicle with excessive glare on any of the approaches can't earn a rating above marginal."

I think this is a major flaw in how IIHS set up their testing. If a particular headlight option improves visibility it will still earn a "marginal" rating if their (proprietary) methodology indicates excessive glare; at the same time, we don't know how they're measuring glare or what their hypothetical perfect headlight looks like. If you read subsequent press releases, exactly 1 out of 11 pickups and 0 out of 17 SUVs were rated "good"; at least three of those SUVs were knocked back to "marginal" on the basis of glare alone, according to their write-up.

ETA: And the truck article says that 14 of the 23 headlights tested were rated "marginal" or lower based on "excessive glare."