Dear Ram,

[nlambert182]

The flip side of this is that LEDs are supposed to last MUCH longer than pretty much anything else, it's why there is a big push to install them in home lighting (that and the energy savings).

In a vehicle, yes, it's a risk that they'll break from vibrations or whatever (and they're electrical so there's a chance they'll fail prematurely), but they SHOULD last for years, if not the life of the vehicle. So while yes, the headlight assembly is pricey, it SHOULDN'T (and most people likely WON'T) ever need to be replaced.

I'd have to disagree. I switched my entire house to LED and I've averaged roughly 3-4 years for LED fixtures and less than that for LED bulbs. LEDs also tend to fail fairly frequently in campers as well. I've seen them failing in vehicles too.

At the end of the day, LEDs have a service life as well. It's advertised as longer, but quite frankly in my experience so far (while I think the light output is better in most cases) I have found few that live up to the lifetime claim and many don't even meet their advertised service life.

 

[OLEJOE]

How about a 2500 on the lot without towing mirrors? “We can change them to towing mirrors for you for $1,200”.

The price for the mirror change was $1400.00 when I got mine. I told them they could keep the truck if they wouldn’t install the towing mirrors and brake controller on their dime. Took a month to get it done and 2 more trips to the dealer to get the programming right for the mirrors. They didn’t know how bad I wanted this particular truck but I would have walked away from it had they not agreed to the deal.

 

[2003F350]

I'd have to disagree. I switched my entire house to LED and I've averaged roughly 3-4 years for LED fixtures and less than that for LED bulbs. LEDs also tend to fail fairly frequently in campers as well. I've seen them failing in vehicles too.

At the end of the day, LEDs have a service life as well. It's advertised as longer, but quite frankly in my experience so far (while I think the light output is better in most cases) I have found few that live up to the lifetime claim and many don't even meet their advertised service life.

Maybe it's me, but every LED bulb/fixture I've put in (which has been a lot) have not been replaced since I put them in. Most have been in use for at least 4 years now - I would generally get maybe 2 out of an incandescent.

I'm not saying they don't have a service life - they absolutely do. I'm saying it SHOULD be much longer than incandescents or halogens regardless of application. Is it going to be in every case? No, and a lot of things factor into that - usage, ambient temperature, power fluctuations (our electrical grid in this country is in a sorry state, period, and many houses aren't wired very well either), all kinds of things.

Electronics fail, too, sometimes prematurely. And when it comes to mass-production it wouldn't surprise me to see a number of failures of them. I personally haven't seen many that weren't self-inflicted when it comes to LEDs though.

 

[Docwagon1776]

This brings up an interesting point, factory LED versus aftermarket LED.

Yes, halogen bulbs are pathetic in comparison to the currently available LED bulbs but, replacement costs of OEM LED light fixtures are completely insane and stupidly expensive.

If there ever comes a day when I could afford to buy a new Ram truck, I would prefer to buy the POS halogen lamps and then just install cheap aftermarket LED bulbs.

I'm in Canada and the cost for a pair of LED headlight bulbs is about $50 Canuckstan $. If I have to replace an OEM LED headlight assembly, AFAIK, my cost up here is about $1200.

And, the OEM LED headlight assembly included both high and low-beam bulbs so, now I have more chance and having to replace the assembly because there are 2 bulbs.

So, if one of the aftermarket LED bulbs fails, I spend $50 and I get a second spare bulb.
If one of two LED bulbs fail in an OEM LED headlight assembly, $1200.

The choice looks pretty simple to me even if I pay someone $150 to change the bulbs.

YMMV

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Cheap aftermarket LEDs are cheap for a reason. I'll stick with my adaptive OEM lights any day. The lights swinging with the steering wheel to keep them centered in your view, the brightness for you without the splash into oncoming traffic, etc. totally worth it. Modern headlights are one of the biggest motivators for me to no longer drive old trucks. (Old for me is, say, mid 80s and older. Last time I said 'old trucks' somebody broke out their 8 year old model like it mattered. )

FWIW, I have a 2011 Camaro SS/RS with HIDs. Still on the original bulbs and they are still bright AF without being annoying to oncoming traffic.

 

[RamDiver]

Cheap aftermarket LEDs are cheap for a reason. I'll stick with my adaptive OEM lights any day. The lights swinging with the steering wheel to keep them centered in your view, the brightness for you without the splash into oncoming traffic, etc. totally worth it. Modern headlights are one of the biggest motivators for me to no longer drive old trucks. (Old for me is, say, mid 80s and older. Last time I said 'old trucks' somebody broke out their 8 year old model like it mattered. )

FWIW, I have a 2011 Camaro SS/RS with HIDs. Still on the original bulbs and they are still bright AF without being annoying to oncoming traffic.

That sounds like a spectacular feature for headlights and I drip with envy.

Unfortunately, I suspect those lights won't be in my future unless I'm lucky with a lottery.

BTW, my cheap LED headlights have a pretty sharp and well defined cutoff line for the low beams, no splashing action.

I'm quite confident that I'm not disturbing any of the oncoming traffic and I haven't seen any indication to the contrary.

With the POS halogen bulbs in my Tundra, I was flashed periodically, even after verifying the headlight alignment.

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