Comparison of pre vs. post facelift lights

[Matias]

Finnish magazine TM has in it's car test measured pre facelift and post facelift lights of Tesla.

Area is 5 lux or better.

Left is pre facelift Model S, right is post facelift Model X

 

[Snowstorm]

What is considered good? How does other vehicles compare? The poor low bean coverage is concerning.

 

[Matias]

As a reference, here are the results from the same magazine with Audi A6, Mercedes E and Volvo V90. Dashed lines are for optional lights, continous lines are basic versions. Exept for Audi, which only shows optional LEDs, this is because of according to that article only 5% of Audis are sold without those optional LED lights. Area is the same 5 lux.

When comparing with these I would say that original Model S has rather good low lights and face lift has moderately good high beams. But original high beams and face lift low lights are rather poor.

 

[Snerruc]

My personal experience agrees with these findings.

 

[dhcp]

Mine too, my wife's new Audi can burn holes in trees.

 

[MuppetOwl]

This Finish test of the Xenon lights are the European limited 25W xenon D8S. 35W like US Tesla has and almost all other cars with Xenon is not legal on Tesla in Europe, because its more than 2000 lumens. Europe law says that the car must have headlight washers and auto leveling if more than 2000 lumens. The Tesla dont have that so on Euro Spec Model S they did use the D8S that is limited to max 2000 lumens. With 35W xenon its 3200 lumens so if they have compared to the 35W xenon the led lights would have done even worse.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

It seems the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) rated Tesla's new headlights as Poor.

Tesla Model S fails to achieve top IIHS crash rating, made ‘production change’ last week to improve results

Europe law says that the car must have headlight washers and auto leveling if more than 2000 lumens. The Tesla dont have that so on Euro Spec Model S they did use the D8S that is limited to max 2000 lumens. With 35W xenon its 3200 lumens so if they have compared to the 35W xenon the led lights would have done even worse.

Fair point - I had forgotten about the missing washers. You kind of forget such things could be missing given their prevalence in equally priced cars, but with a Tesla you never know.