Exterior Lighting

[PV1]

(Really a suggestion to ALL car manufacturers, not just Mitsubishi)

Having had a family member follow me home in the i-MiEV the other night (I was driving a company car), I realized just how well-designed the exterior lighting on the i-MiEV is. The low-beam headlights don't cause any glare at all above the cutoff line/shelf, and even below, they aren't blindingly bright. The side marker lights are visible from the front, but my favorite design feature is how the turn signals are separated from the headlights by a decent margin. This makes them very clearly seen at night.

I've noticed that, on way too many cars, the turn signals are tucked in next to the headlights, and with the glare from the low-beams being too bright and just throwing light everywhere, the turn signals cannot be seen at a distance. The i-MiEV doesn't have this issue at all. Also, even though our low-beams don't shine as far down the road as other cars, this works out to both reduce glare and serve as a guide to following distance. Putting the light shelf at the base of the car in front of you is just about the proper following distance for 45 MPH roads, as another i-MiEV owner I know also pointed out.

So, my suggestions are:

1. Properly aimed projector-style low-beams.
2. Separately housed turn signals at least 8 inches away from the low-beam headlights, preferably outside and/or below the low-beams.
3. Warm White light (cool white/blue just blinds oncoming drivers in my opinion).

 

[Don]

Some cars are designed from the outside in. A clay model which is pleasing to the eye and looks like it's moving even when it's parked is the starting point and then you try and fit the really important things into that 'mold' - How it interacts with the humans who will use it and whether or not it does what it's designed to do well - which is move people and cargo - many times seems to be of secondary importance

Other cars seem to be designed from the inside out, for practicality and interfacing with the humans who will use it and then at the very last they try to 'clean up' the outside look so it isn't as ugly as a Blobfish (look it up)

While it's hard to knock things of real beauty, it's really refreshing to see anything expertly designed to do the very best job of what it was designed to do and if that's to move up to 4 people comfortably across town while carrying the usual cargo items, then the iMiEV surely ranks near the top of that list

The longer you drive one of these, the more you come to appreciate what the engineers created and where they placed their priorities

I've done all sorts of LED upgrades to my Ford Transit Connect, but I've not seen the need to do anything with the lighting (either interior or exterior) on either of the iMiEV's - As they came from the factory is pretty hard to improve on

Don

 

[PV1]

The longer you drive one of these, the more you come to appreciate what the engineers created and where they placed their priorities

Very true. The more I drive other vehicles, the more I like the i-MiEV.

As for modifications, the only change to the stock exterior lighting that I did was swap out the side and rear marker light bulbs for colored LEDs, which gave them a deeper color as well as being a bit brighter. I can now see the rear marker lighting up the road line in my spot mirror at night.

 

[Aerowhatt]

Very true. The more I drive other vehicles, the more I like the i-MiEV.

As for modifications, the only change to the stock exterior lighting that I did was swap out the side and rear marker light bulbs for colored LEDs, which gave them a deeper color as well as being a bit brighter. I can now see the rear marker lighting up the road line in my spot mirror at night.

Do you have handy what bulbs you used. My wife and I both run the park lights (for the side marker lights) during the day. The car is small on the outside and much easier to notice from the side or back with them on during the day. It would be wise to use LEDs since we run them so much.

Aerowhatt

 

[PV1]

I used these from Super Bright LEDs (though one of them has stopped working) for side and rear marker lights. I left the incandescent bulbs in the front markers:

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/parking-light-bulb/194-led-bulb-5-smd-led-tower-miniature-wedge-retrofit-car/206/

 

[Aerowhatt]

I used these from Super Bright LEDs (though one of them has stopped working) for side and rear marker lights. I left the incandescent bulbs in the front markers:

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/parking-light-bulb/194-led-bulb-5-smd-led-tower-miniature-wedge-retrofit-car/206/

Thanks, unfortunate that one has failed! The first reason for using LEDs in a critical role for me is reliability/longevity. Hard to do with so many sub standard LEDs being produced. Even Good quality unit (bulb) manufacturing companies are stuck with less than stellar components to use in their units. Capacitors are another item in this "can't get really good quality ones" category. I'm old enough to remember when well made was the rule not the exception . . . like it is now. Real shame all the resultant waste!

Aerowhatt