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Headlight upgrade for older parent's 2010 Gen. 3

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Accessories and Modifications' started by lex, Jun 29, 2023.

  1. lex

    lex 2005 Prius, always garaged

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    Surveying the possibility of upgrading headlights to improve nighttime visibility for my mother, a senior. She generally avoids nighttime driving but an improvement in illumination for the occasional nighttime jaunt would be beneficial. Have spent time reading through the forum on this, but didn't come away with a clear idea of what's best, or a recent recommendation, and thought I'd note the specific reason for the upgrade here is to help with senior visibility. A swapping of bulbs for either HID or LED is something I was intending to do on the car myself, unless for some reason it has to be more involved (full headlight assembly). Looking to take a step soon while in town from overseas. Recommendations and advice appreciated. Thank you.
     
  2. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    You can just get the brighter bulbs. Since she doesn't drive at night much, they should last
    a while.
    And maybe clean the lenses if they are fading...

     
  3. lex

    lex 2005 Prius, always garaged

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    Thanks - I'm searching for a recommendation as to a specific model/brand of bulb for our purpose.
     
  4. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    I used sylvania. They have 3 levels I think. I used the 2nd.
    Then I ordered some online to test them. They were just as good, or better.
    And about half the price. But I don't remember what brand they were.
    Just search ebay...
    Go two steps above standard.
     
  5. lex

    lex 2005 Prius, always garaged

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    These? They're Sylvania H11 type, noted here for night driving. Halogen. I supposed the bulbs needn't be LED, just simply better for visibility than stock.
     
  6. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    I believe those are the brightest ones. Are her's LED's from the factory?
    If they are, then you should get LED's. They are bright.
    But if they are the hologens, then that's what you want.
     
  7. lex

    lex 2005 Prius, always garaged

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    Hers are, in fact, stock/OEM bulbs from the year the car came out in 2010. I don't think they've ever been replaced, or if so, then at the dealer years ago with OEM. They have a yellowish cast like all earlier headlamps, and are surely the old halogen bulbs, not LED.

    She needn't get the brightest, whitest bulbs on the planet, just something that offers a solid improvement for seniors in nighttime driving over the OEMs, something that I can install with ease, preferably.
     
  8. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    Okay, same as mine. Those upgraded sylvania bulbs will be a huge improvement over
    the stock ones.
    Is the bulb yellowed, or the light assembly lens?
    You can use sandpaper to clean it up and then polish it and improve that also.

     
    Merkey likes this.
  9. nicoj36

    nicoj36 Active Member

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  10. lex

    lex 2005 Prius, always garaged

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    The lenses are not too bad. Could you please post the link here in full? When using the hyperlink through the forum, I'm continually getting a phishing notification about priuschat, but I can see that the link wants to take me off priuschat to the site/vendor you're linking to (walmart?).
     
  11. lex

    lex 2005 Prius, always garaged

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    Thanks - Could you please post the link here in full? When using the hyperlink through the forum, I'm continually getting a phishing notification about priuschat, but I can see that the link wants to take me off priuschat to the site/vendor you're indicating.
     
  12. nicoj36

    nicoj36 Active Member

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    Just open the links, they're on Amazon. If you get phished, you can report me to the manager ;)
     
  13. lex

    lex 2005 Prius, always garaged

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    There are many on Amazon and risking adding anything malicious on this PC isn't good, nor necessary when sharing the http address instead of a hyperlink (which isn't entrained in the phishing defect site managers will wish to rout out) is easy. Baring that, perhaps the Amazon address can be teased out of the site's code but currently I see only a gopriuschat http address before the virus software shuts it down. Just paste the address in your reply, thank you. It's not you, the forum member, but the hosting site. Are others getting that?
     
  14. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    What PriusChat might be warning about is the use of the link shortening service a.co, which seems like it might be a short domain registered by the Amazon people, but I am unable to find any registration record for it here:

    ICANN Lookup

    I can see how the use of a link to a domain with no available registration data might trigger a warning from PriusChat.

    Generally, if you just make a link to a product on Amazon using the original amazon.com URL, instead of this odd shortened one, that will work just fine.

    In fact, explicitly making a link to the amazon.com URL works better for more people than just pasting in the address. The reason for that is that the PriusChat software aggressively looks for text in your post that looks like an Amazon URL, and turns it into a blob of JavaScript that shows ads. Then anybody who is browsing PriusChat with protective JavaScript settings doesn't see your link at all, just a few inches of blank space.

    Making the link yourself prevents that from happening.
     
  15. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    The problem with the brighter halogen bulbs is they burn out quick, sometimes in months. I have seen people use them, not realize one has burned out, only to have no headlights (low beams) when the second one burns out.

    Cleaning the yellow haze off the headlight assembly makes a difference. Do it.

    I have gone with direct replacement LED H11 equivalents. I tried one priuschat recommendation but replaced with a better. Pics and links below.

    Sylvania Headlight Restoration
    This kit is very good and does not require power tools. Follow directions closely and wait on the final uv coating until both headlights are ready for it.

    IMG_2287.jpeg

    Lasfit H11 LED Low Beams

    IMG_2288.jpeg

    These bulbs will be far superior to factory halogens even when the halogens are in brand new headlight assemblies. Low beams have a defined distance and height cutoff so the aimed area with these Leds is a very bright white light with good side to side coverage.

    Realize that older people lose night vision, eg the ability to see shadowy forms in darker areas not directly illuminated, eg by moonlight or other distant light sources.

    In the end, older drivers may want to minimize driving on pitch dark roads or heavy rain. Or think more about safety over cost and buy a recent car with lane tracing and active braking.
     
    #15 rjparker, Jun 30, 2023
    Last edited: Jun 30, 2023
    lex likes this.
  16. C-in-DC

    C-in-DC Member

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    There’s an old thread on here about someone using beam tech LEDS throughout their car. It said the brake lights on the gen 3 are the only LEDs from the factory. Do a search for that. Similar to @rjparker ‘s suggestion.
     
  17. lex

    lex 2005 Prius, always garaged

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    Thank you for the detailed response. Keenly aware of the issue with senior vision changes. Fortunately, she seldom drives at night and the roads here in Fresno, California are reasonably well lit. Will give the the Lasfit LED H11 bulbs a go and report back here with our experience. There are so many H11 versions from Lasfit with various designations - this is the exact one recommended, yes?


    And keen to try the lens cleaner - is it more critical with these high-intensity beams that the lenses be clean in order to avoid the lens creating glare, refracting, and splitting up the beam?
     
  18. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    Yes those are the leds I have. The yellowing on the headlights is like dark sun glasses, effectively reducing the light. Usually by varying degrees depending how bad they are.

    Some retrofit leds seat at the wrong angle, shifting the beam from an even horizontal plane to a glaring vertical angle.

    Meanwhile truck lifts raise their lights by a foot or more fouling up the low beam distribution again. Made worse by retrofit leds that may be five times brighter.
     
    lex likes this.
  19. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    Not especially. It's just that a cloudy lens can block more than half of the light your bulbs put out, no matter what they are.

    A much brighter light source would potentially create a glare and heat retention problem- you aren't worried about nothing. It's just that your replacement bulbs, while noticeably brighter, aren't brighter-enough to cause those potential consequences.
     
  20. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Gen 3s in trim V (early years) or 5 (later years) had LED low-beam headlights. There's no replacing those LEDs though. If the OP had those and they conked out, the headlight assemblies would need replaced.