History: from the first headlights to the lights of today's cars

Continuing with our usual technical post about cars, how they work or about their components, today I want to share with you a brief journey from the first car headlights at the beginning of the century to the complete headlights of today, where the latest trend is to use the ever-useful LEDs for all lighting functions.

The truth is that technology is advancing by leaps and bounds. Until recently, the most advanced lighting technology was xenon headlights, but we have not always had so much light in our cars. The first vehicles had the same lighting capacity as a candle holder, because they used oil lamps as headlights.

Let’s start with a review of the first lights, when the first vehicles began to appear and it became necessary to equip them with lighting. At that time (at the beginning of the century) oil lamps were used (which was the most practical option of the era). Cars such as the 1905 Cadillac (cover image) barely had any visibility given the little light provided by the candle holders.

Later, light bulbs appeared as we know them, but the lighting was considerably weaker. It was not until 1939 that we saw turn signals appear on cars, something that until then had not been considered important (even though turn signal designs had existed since 1907).

The halogen lamps that equip practically all vehicles today were an invention that was presented in Europe in 1962. Around that time, the third brake light began to be tested in the USA, while in Europe its use did not become widespread until 1980.

As a curious detail, we have France and its yellow lights, adopted during the World War to distinguish its citizens’ cars from those of the enemy, and they remained in force until 1993.

The next innovation in lighting was xenon, which was first introduced in a car in the BMW 7 Series in 1991. Later, in 2001, high-beam lights also became xenon and the well-known bi-xenon headlights were born.

And finally we arrive at LED lights, the latest technology. The first model to incorporate LED lights was the Lexus LS600h (for the position and low-beam functions), while the famous Audi R8 was the first vehicle to use LEDs for all lighting functions.

Source | Wikipedia, Own elaboration