When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I've read several articles over the last few weeks stating that adaptive headlights will finally be legal in the US! I think this is fantastic news. I was wondering if Sharp Light Innovations, Vette Lights, Knight Drive, or any of the other fantastic Corvette lighting companies out there had any plans to develop an adaptive headlight kit for the C5 Corvette? I would certainly have interest in such a system (especially if it retained the flip up headlight functionality). Please respond to this post if you would be interested in something like that. R&D for such a thing would be no small task. We have to let these vendors know that the C5 community would have interest in supporting such a thing.
Adaptive headlights are controlled by the BCM in a car. It could be done aftermarket, but I suspect the cost would be prohibitive. You'd need a good location for the light sensors, and it would have to be calibrated and programmed very well. I'm thinking even the OEM units will work well in some parts of the US, and not so much in others, dependent on terrain. I welcome it though, as 90% of morning drivers in my area never dip their highs. Even when flashed, they just leave them burning away. Heck, I've been seeing more and more people driving with their highs on during the day, especially on mountain roads. Insane!
As for me, I have no use for such a thing, the less automated stuff the better. I'd rather see someone manufacture new ECBM's for the early C5s.
The tech is simple by today's standards, I could twiddle together a doohickey on an arduino type microcontroller, sensors, servos, relays, etc. More intelligent behavior like identifying oncoming headlights would be a slight bump in equipment like a cam, opencv, and a pi. Regardless, the results can't be worse than people who drive with highs on all the time. It definitely opens up more car design choices when low and high don't need to be separate.
Sounds expensive, C5 owners are cheap, I doubt there would be much interest in bringing this to market
Not all C5 owners are cheap. I've spent more on mods than I paid for the car. If they kept the flip up functionality, and worked well, I would gladly pay $2K+ for a set.
Not all C5 owners are cheap. I've spent more on mods than I paid for the car. If they kept the flip up functionality, and worked well, I would gladly pay $2K+ for a set.
Find me 5 others who would also pay $2k a set and I'll get crackin
"As for me, I have no use for such a thing, the less automated stuff the better. I'd rather see someone manufacture new ECBM's for the early C5s.[/QUOTE]" Totally. Give me the option of no power windows, no power locks, no power seats, no A/C, no active handling, no ABS, and no power steering,
Not all C5 owners are cheap. I've spent more on mods than I paid for the car. If they kept the flip up functionality, and worked well, I would gladly pay $2K+ for a set.
While I do get what you're saying and feel upgrades like this are positive, myself; I find it hard to believe aftermarket privateers can make a quality piece work into a crude and jittery style pop up style lighting system having it end well.
Don't get me wrong. If the setup delivered a quality piece worthy of the price tag, I have to say I'd be highly interested
C5 aftermarket headlights out there are better than than OEM but have serious flaws enough to stay away from.
I'm all for a better setup without negative quality or performance downsides.
Love to see what ideas are coming
Last edited by Hary Gahtoe; Nov 24, 2021 at 09:14 PM.
Adaptive headlights of certain kinds are already legal in the US, what with auto high beam and auto dimming. What has been been opened up is the Euro style use of many small LED's to produce very precise beam patterns which are continuously varied depending on steering angle, vehicle speed, braking/accelerating, road curvature, distance to the vehicle in front, etc., etc. These lights were not allowed here as the rules up until now required two distinct beam patterns - low and high, whereas the modern adaptive systems vary the pattern continuously.
Cornering lights of various sorts are a different thing altogether, whether they are lights that come on when the wheel is turned, or when a turn signal is activated, or like older (think 1960 or so) Citroens, which used the steering mechanism to turn the regular headlight assembly to see round corners
IDK...It might just be a pipe dream. I think it would be cool if someone figured out how to do it though. If it really represented the level of improvement that I think it would, I know there are several out there who would pay for them. However, we'd likely want to see them in action before dropping that kind of cash. I feel like George could make them work if there was a good enough market for them.
That is some cool technology there. All my vehicles are old so their headlights suck (though I just replaced my Expeditions headlights this week and they are better)
New headlight is on the right. Far better dispersion despite that it is still a halogen bulb.
We have an 04 Mercedes which has self leveling projectors. The quality of light and pattern is so much better, I want to hurl when I turn on the C5 headlights.
I tried the glass "euro" headlights and it had a poor pattern profile and sub par output even with 60w 6K bulbs. So until something good shows up I currently run an OEM headlight with a set of LED 65K bulbs with a H/L relay. It's not great but for now it's better than completely OEM.
What I would kill for would be a Quality flush mount, clear lens, fixed housing (non popup) with mini projector LEDs or better yet angel eye LED's in a flush mount fixed housing. That, would be my ideal setup but I'm not holding my breath for someone to make a factory level, quality piece anytime soon
Last edited by Hary Gahtoe; Nov 25, 2021 at 02:01 AM.
Reason: Too much multitasking
We have an 04 Mercedes which has self leveling projectors. The quality of light and pattern is so much better, I want to hurl when I turn on the C5 headlights.
I tried the glass "euro" headlights and it had a poor pattern profile and sub par output even with 60w 6K bulbs. So until something good shows up I currently run an OEM headlight with a set of LED 65K bulbs with a H/L relay. It's not great but for now it's better than completely OEM.
What I would kill for would be a Quality flush mount, clear lens, fixed housing (non popup) with mini projector LEDs or better yet angel eye LED's in a flush mount fixed housing. That, would be my ideal setup but I'm not holding my breath for someone to make a factory level, quality piece anytime soon
I’ve seen the V3’s but they’re older gen large LED that make alot of heat and light bleed behind the lens not like the latest jewel eye micro style.
Morimoto uses a copy of the jewel eye style used in alot of production cars systems that could be very effective in a C5 fixed housing. Much smaller light
Corvette's (at least C5's) don't seem to be on the radar for companies already building aftermarket mini rectangular retrofit housings.
I’ll wait https://www.morimotohid.com/morimoto...hts?quantity=1
Last edited by Hary Gahtoe; Nov 25, 2021 at 11:58 PM.
huh? where on earth would you get that notion from?
Well I didn't mean everyone, I realize a bunch of people on here plow a ton of money into their C5's. And I shouldn't have said cheap, I should have said 'value conscious'. It would be great if someone offered Adaptive headlights but personally I wouldn't spend $2k plus for them
I have the auto high beam LED headlights in my AUDI, and surprisingly works very well. I was hesitant when first using them, but have not been flashed once. I really don't need the highs usually since the lows are so good, but nice to have on, and not worry about constantly turning off and on. I seldom ever use on my Vettes for this reason, unless out in a rural area, very dark, and low traffic. I can't see these ever being a plug & play kit for a C5, or most any older car that does not already have all the sensors and cameras already installed.
I upgraded my C4 to the H4 Euro glass with 130w bulbs, great system, much better than the upgrade I did for the C5 with the Depo HID, and IMO all that is needed.
I’ve seen the V3’s but they’re older gen large LED that make alot of heat and light bleed behind the lens not like the latest jewel eye micro style.
Morimoto uses a copy of the jewel eye style used in alot of production cars systems that could be very effective in a C5 fixed housing. Much smaller light
Corvette's (at least C5's) don't seem to be on the radar for companies already building aftermarket mini rectangular retrofit housings.
I’ll wait https://www.morimotohid.com/morimoto...hts?quantity=1
Well, China is certainly stepping up to consume the Corvette enthusiasts and sell them chinese parts. Morimoto is a great example of that; oem quality. There are fixed headlights (the frog eyes) that have also been made by chinese companies (injection molded, seemingly refined and OEM quality-like) but again, this was part of a well established market.
All I can tell you, is KnightDriveTV will be showing two more C5 headlights kits shortly...one pop up and one fixed. The pop up is the evolution V2 of what I have now, the fixed is a whole different ball game and will look like nothing ever sold/offered to date.
Adaptive Headlights
Totally. Give me the option of no power windows, no power locks, no power seats, no A/C, no active handling, no ABS, and no power steering, 
