I have a 2017 ES and the LED headlights are terrible. The direct reflections are extremely bright, but tolerable. The bigger problem is the diffuse lighting they put out is very weak. Anyone know of any solutions to boost the amount of light while driving at night?

 

It seems Lexus dropped the ball on the LED headlights. I have a 2015 ES with the HID headlights and whenever I see a 2016 and up I wish I had the LED headlights. But the HIDs on my 2015 provide nice even light output. It does not appear to be as bright as the LEDs but when the road is dark it lights up the road nicely and shoots far.

 

I previously owned a 2013 ES with the HID headlights, and the illumination provided by them was excellent. I traded that 2013 ES and bought a 2017 ES with the bi-LED headlights. My drive home from the dealership with the 2017 ES was a 100 mile trip at night with much of the trip on unmarked and unlit 2-lane country roads. I immediately noticed that the bi-LED headlights on the 2017 were not illuminating the road nearly as well as the HID lights on the 2013 ES.

While the bi-LED headlights on the 2017 appear to be quite bright at their source, the distance to which they project is quite short, and there is a very sharp cut-off at the top of the beam. For those who drive mainly in urban/suburban conditions on well-lit and marked roads, the difference likely is not significant, but, for those who drive in rural areas on un-lit and unmarked roads, the difference is significant. The IIHS headlight ratings for the bi-LED headlights on the 2017 ES gave those headlights only a "marginal" rating.
https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle...017#headlights

In the time since I bought that 2017 ES, I've checked with 2 Lexus dealers and 1 Toyota dealer to see if any adjustments were available that would improve the performance of the bi-LED headlights, and all 3 dealers told me that the answer was "no".

 

Could always do what we did in the old halogen days when our headlights sucked - mount a set of PIAA driving lights. The predator-mouth grille we have is more than large enough to make them look inconspicuous, and if you get the right ones those things are more like airplane landing lights than headlights.

 

Right now I'm thinking the best option might be an LED strip under the bumper. Clearance is already kind of low though.

 

I find these posts about the bi-led not being bright enough interesting.... our 2014 IS has bi-led and are fantastic... our 2016 with bi-led were great and now our 2018 with bi-led are great... we had a 2007 and a 2010 with HID and I like the bi-led better. No complaints.
Have you tried driving with the fog lights on?

 

This may sound silly, and I apologize if you have already done this, did you try adjusting the aiming of your headlights up so that the point more straight out. I actually had to do that with my 2015 w/ HID headlights. They were aimed way too low.

 

With the 2019's Lexus offered the triple LED option. When I saw the price I nearly fell off my chair and vowed I wouldn't get them. However when I was looking for the UL edition ES, they mostly all had this option so I went with it. Whatever Lexus did with the LED's they did it right. The illumination from these lights is phenomenal. Add to that the auto leveling and cornering feature and Lexus hit a home run... I wouldn't buy another car without them...

AFAIK there are aftermarket kits available to upgrade lighting systems to a higher output range. Whether they can be adapted to your Lexus is the question.
Seems the older one's eyes get, the more light you need.

 

Not much you can do when they are LED without major headlight modification, like retrofit a different projector in. With the HID you can try different bulbs, etc. They make high performance bulbs, I currently have OSRAM's CBB bulbs in.

 

If I’m understanding things correctly, there are upgraded bulbs available. I would certainly call and chat with these guys before buying, but here is one example.
https://www.carid.com/2017-lexus-es-...226756617.html

 

Where and how do you adjust them?

Do the LED low beams have an adjustment?

 

Maybe stronger bulbs would help BUT the shape of the reflector wouldn't change and that is a HUGE factor of the beam shape and amount of light ahead of you. I like the PIAA driving light add-on idea as a guarantee to get great coverage in this situation.

 

I will preface my reply by saying that I try not to post information unless I have a high degree of confidence that what I'm saying is accurate. In this case, I don't have that high degree of confidence, but I'll pass along what I know and what I've been told or read.

If you have a 2016-2018 ES with the self-leveling bi-LED headlights, I don't believe that they can be adjusted. As I said earlier, I've been told by the service departments of 3 dealers (2 Lexus and 1 Toyota) that no adjustment is available. Also, if there are adjustment screws on the headlights, I can't find them.

I've also read that the self-leveling mechanism for the bi-LED headlights is somewhere in the rear of the car. And some have said that it is possible to raise the beam by "fooling" the self-leveling system by adding weights that make the system think that the front of the car is lower than the rear and that, then, cause the system to raise the beam. I have no idea whether that is actually possible, but, even if it is, it sounds to me like doing so would be a hit and miss proposition.

 

I've had the same experience as lesz. The bi-level LED's on my 2017 are not near as bright as the HID's I had on my 2014 or the HID's on my Roush Mustang. I don't drive much at night anymore anyway but when I do I keep the switch in the auto bright mode as the high beams seem to help somewhat. Fortunately I live in a rural area where they're not switching between high and low beams very much. As others have said I doubt there is an improvement to be made without swapping out the whole system to HID's.

 

I hope the LED headlights on the new current gen ES fix these issues. They seem super bright whenever I pass one on the road. I will probably end up picking up a current gen ES once the generation after launches. Lexus/Toyota needs to take some advice from Honda/Acura on LEDs. The light my friend's Acura TLX puts out on the road is like having the sun lighting your way all night.


Check this thread. Not sure if it helps for 2016+
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es-...too-low-2.html