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Brake lights - Are they LED or just plain old filament
Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 7:03 pm
by Dermottdog
Hi people
My new car doesn’t arrive until early November. So, to get my fix, I’m constantly looking at any and every XC40 that I can lay my eyes on.
So today, in my work van, I’m a few car back from a 19 plate D4. Observing the cars brake lights, they seemed to be slow to eliminate and slow to fade out. This is of course a trait of plain old Filament lamps/bulbs.
Am I wrong or does the XC40 have LED brake lights that light up and go out instantly and my eyes have deceived me?
Re: Brake lights - Are they LED or just plain old filament
Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 9:09 pm
by Deleted User 1894
There's a thread from a while ago that suggests they are not LEDs:
viewtopic.php?t=738
Re: Brake lights - Are they LED or just plain old filament
Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 9:34 pm
by Dermottdog
Perfect. Thanks for the info.
Re: Brake lights - Are they LED or just plain old filament
Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2019 9:04 am
by ChrisLF
Perhaps Volvo are just being considerate to drivers stopped in traffic behind you! Especially if you are driving an auto.
Re: Brake lights - Are they LED or just plain old filament
Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2019 10:46 am
by ChrisLF
Have to say now that I've got the car and liking the look of the rear lights, well the whole car, I'm really not that bothered whether they are LED or not.
Re: Brake lights - Are they LED or just plain old filament
Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2019 12:59 pm
by K1t
I kind of agree with ChrisLF on this, BUT, I say, there`s always room for a little improvement where practical, especially on bulb/light reaction times, but not necessarily brightness/lumens. Had a little bit of useful info the other day, from a contact in Volvo Parts that might help with Volvo`s thinking. The O/E, REAR lighting specs I`ve been given are thus:- Rear Tail/Side lamp is a LED unit, Reversing Lamp is a LED unit, Stop light is a H21W Halogen (bright) bulb, the upper brake light is a LED unit, the Rear Fog Warning lamp is also a H21W Halogen type (bright) bulb and lastly, in my book, the odd-one-out is the Rear Indicator bulb, which is a 'std' PY21W tungsten bulb, amber coloured with offset pins. So I.M.H.O the 2 Halogen and the 1 tungsten filament-type bulbs would be candidates for the LED treatment, if you wanted to bother............When mine, eventually, gets here I`ll review this again!
Re: Brake lights - Are they LED or just plain old filament
Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2019 9:23 pm
by Dermottdog
Ok. Thanks for all your replies. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not an issue. I just thought that LED’s throughout the car would have been the way forward. I’ve read the thread on the same subject and people are upgrading. I won’t be going down that route.
Re: Brake lights - Are they LED or just plain old filament
Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:21 am
by q3billy
K1t wrote: ↑Mon Jul 15, 2019 12:59 pm
I kind of agree with ChrisLF on this, BUT, I say, there`s always room for a little improvement where practical, especially on bulb/light reaction times, but not necessarily brightness/lumens. Had a little bit of useful info the other day, from a contact in Volvo Parts that might help with Volvo`s thinking. The O/E, REAR lighting specs I`ve been given are thus:- Rear Tail/Side lamp is a LED unit, Reversing Lamp is a LED unit, Stop light is a H21W Halogen (bright) bulb, the upper brake light is a LED unit, the Rear Fog Warning lamp is also a H21W Halogen type (bright) bulb and lastly, in my book, the odd-one-out is the Rear Indicator bulb, which is a 'std' PY21W tungsten bulb, amber coloured with offset pins. So I.M.H.O the 2 Halogen and the 1 tungsten filament-type bulbs would be candidates for the LED treatment, if you wanted to bother............When mine, eventually, gets here I`ll review this again!
I find it strange when manufacturers do this, I have the same with my Focus.
I've got adaptive LED headlights that split the beam so I can still use full-beam with oncoming traffic with those
stupid sliding LED front indicators... Then at the rear I've got LED signature sidelight strips, LED reverse lights, LED fog lights which I found out are incredibly bright by blinding my OH when we were driving through fog...
Then I have filament indicators and brake lights, where's the sense in that? The LED fog light is so much brighter than the brake lights that if you forget to turn it off (which happens) people behind might not see your brake lights properly.
I've upgraded the indicators to LED already using the same bulbs I used to have in my XC40 and they were plug and play but need to find a good set of brake bulbs.
Re: Brake lights - Are they LED or just plain old filament
Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2020 10:40 am
by BionicRusty
I was hoping my MY21 would have full led rears but no, sadly Volvo continue with bulbs for rear lights (bar the tail lights which look good). Even BMW have gone all led now. Given Volvo’s reputation for safety, I’m surprised at this tbh. LED’s are much more reactive when you press the brake pedal and where cars have the led high line brake light and bulbs for main brakes, there’s a visible lag with the bulbs lighting up. And to think that Volvo used to advertise the safety aspect of LED brake lights on the XC60 over 12 years ago!