LED Taillights
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Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 11
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LED Taillights
So the 2008 Accords are out now, and it appears that the Sedan may not have LED lights anymore? From the pictures of the Coupe, it seems like the only LEDs are in a horizontal strip in the middle of the lights. The top and bottom seem to be regular incandescent bulbs. Can anyone confirm the presence of LED taillights in the new 2008 Accords in the Sedan and Coupe?
As we all know, the 2006 and 2007 Accords use LEDs for the brake lights across all models and levels. More and more cars are using LEDs for taillights as they use less energy and are safer because they light up faster. However, there’s a serious drawback to LEDs in that they gradually lose their brightness over time. A typical red LED could lose about 50% of the light output in 7-10 years. Some LEDs will fail completely before that time also due to manufacturing defects. Which means that there’s a possibility of burned out LEDs randomly on the LED taillight array of the Accords. Now, I thought, there must be people selling replacement LEDs to replace them, but after a long Google search, I couldn’t find any single LED replacements (or even the entire array) for manufacturer-installed LED taillight arrays. Could it just be that as LEDs are started to gain widespread use just fairly recently, none have burned out yet, hence the lack of such single LED replacements?
As we all know, the 2006 and 2007 Accords use LEDs for the brake lights across all models and levels. More and more cars are using LEDs for taillights as they use less energy and are safer because they light up faster. However, there’s a serious drawback to LEDs in that they gradually lose their brightness over time. A typical red LED could lose about 50% of the light output in 7-10 years. Some LEDs will fail completely before that time also due to manufacturing defects. Which means that there’s a possibility of burned out LEDs randomly on the LED taillight array of the Accords. Now, I thought, there must be people selling replacement LEDs to replace them, but after a long Google search, I couldn’t find any single LED replacements (or even the entire array) for manufacturer-installed LED taillight arrays. Could it just be that as LEDs are started to gain widespread use just fairly recently, none have burned out yet, hence the lack of such single LED replacements?
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 13
From:
RE: LED Taillights
2008 Accords do not have LED tails.
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Been Around A Long Time Member
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 2,631
RE: LED Taillights
back on topic...
In the last 5-10 years, many agencies transitioned to LEDs for their traffic signal heads (red and green, some yellow) for the energy savings. Was a good idea, and still is, but now many of these LEDs are starting to fail as they are reaching they end of their lifespan. The only issue is that when they fail, they dont result in an open circuit the way a bad bulb does, so the safety monitors in the cabinet wont always pick them up.
The moral? If you see a signal head with a few bad pixels, call your agency to replace it!
In the last 5-10 years, many agencies transitioned to LEDs for their traffic signal heads (red and green, some yellow) for the energy savings. Was a good idea, and still is, but now many of these LEDs are starting to fail as they are reaching they end of their lifespan. The only issue is that when they fail, they dont result in an open circuit the way a bad bulb does, so the safety monitors in the cabinet wont always pick them up.
The moral? If you see a signal head with a few bad pixels, call your agency to replace it!
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