The one drawback to LED lights on your car (2024)

Consumers have every right to expect that advancements in vehicle design, engineering, and technology are brought forward and introduced to improve function, safety, and motoring enjoyment. But countless automotive blogs, driver chat rooms and letters from less-than-satisfied owners to automakers often dispel this perception. A great example is the increasing use of LEDs (light emitting diodes) to light up the exterior of our rides.

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Auto designers and engineers are turning to these little luminous marvels to allow them to create new styles of lamps to compliment sleek and/or aggressive exterior forms. With LEDs, headlamps no longer have to be large, non-aerodynamic hulking bulks that break up body and hood lines. Tail lamps as well can be sculpted into unheard of forms and fit into uniquely shaped niches in vertical, diagonal, or horizontal lay-outs. They make things easier when it comes to crafting self-leveling or steering-directable lamps in less expensive vehicles.

And of course their power-conserving abilities help in reducing fuel consumption. Yes, the more electric power a vehicle demands of its alternator, the harder it becomes to physically spin, and the more fuel its engine has to use to operate it. Swapping out incandescent lamps for LEDs won’t necessarily make a major difference in fuel economy, but with car manufacturers striving to meet increasingly stiffer government fuel mileage standards, every little bit counts.

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Automobiles are not the first group to encounter the LED invasion. Consider home and municipal use. The average signalized traffic intersection equipped with incandescent bulbs can consume up to the equivalent of the same electricity as 2.5 Canadian homes annually and a total switch to LEDs (done in countless towns and cities around the globe) can provide the same light for about 10 per cent of that amount.

But one major drawback that both traffic lights and vehicles have experienced with LEDs is their lack of produced heat. While the LED drivers mounted onto vehicle headlamps can produce enough heat that they require cooling fans, little of this energy gets to the lens where it can help to melt snow and ice. Fortunately, the air flow over these lamps helps to keep things clear in the winter. The same certainly cannot be said for tail lamps. Take a look at vehicles ahead of you while driving on snow-covered roads when their tires are kicking up a suitable amount of the white stuff. If those drivers are intelligent enough to have on all of their exterior lights, those vehicles equipped with incandescent bulbs will be showing you a bright clear red lens (unless they’re salt covered), while most of the LED type will be white with snow and almost utterly useless.

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Traffic light designers crafted the little metal hoods over each lamp to specifically take advantage of prevailing winds to help focus and funnel air movement to blow snow off the lenses. But even these have their limits in freezing rain events. Maybe it’s time for auto designers to look at their creations’ aerodynamics. To be safe while driving in winter with LED lamps (regardless of the time of day or the light or visibility conditions) make sure all of your exterior lights are on (of course this goes for non-LED lamps as well) and clear of snow or ice. This may mean stopping from time to time to give them a quick wipe with your snow brush, but if you’re in thick traffic in the middle of a snow squall, this small inconvenience is a much better alternative to being rear-ended. If you want to know if your ride is incandescent or LED equipped, pop the exterior lights on when it’s parked in the driveway and has a dusting of snow on it. Within a few minutes you’ll have the answer.