It's honestly mind-blowing how far people will go to defend Tesla for using decade old parts and decade old designs. To actually try and spin it as 'they would've done it but they can't afford to!' is... wow.
You're misinterpreting that I'm looking for Tesla to completely redo the sheetmetal and have new shape lights. No. Use the same damn housing and put a diffuser over the LEDs. Replace the reflector beams with the LED projector used in the 3/Y. Make the same internal changes that they've already done to the other models.
1. I agree the Y taillight changes were done in the interest of homogenizing parts around the world. The Model S and X still use a different taillight assembly in North America and the RoW markets. If this is a change that benefits Tesla when made to the Y, I'd love to hear why it would suddenly be an impossibility for the S and X?
2. The Model 3, pre-projector LED headlights already had an IIHS 'Good' rating and an IIHS Top Pick+ rating. Meanwhile, the Model S headlights have an IIHS 'Poor' rating, and does not have a Top Pick rating. Which of these two looks like it needs 'improved performance' to you?
(with that said, having owned a 3, S and X, I would bet that the X headlights would score Poor as well if tested)
3. The niche products that weren't too niche to get a completely redesigned interior and new bumper moldings, but too niche to get new lights?
Given that the lights still share the same part numbers and are visually and functionally completely identical, no, I don't see any technological advances integrated. Internal changes that benefit manufacturing efficiency or reliability are not what anyone is discussing here