Which Headlights Are Best: Halogen, HID or LED?

Choosing the right headlights has major safety implications. According to 2021 research by the International Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI), headlights with good IIHS ratings are associated with:

• 29% lower rates of crashes resulting in driver injury
• 20% lower overall nighttime crash rates (per mile)
• 19% lower single-vehicle nighttime crash rates

Headlight expert Alan Brandt joined us to discuss the key factors you should consider when choosing new headlights. Alan is the national automotive lighting sales manager for Old World Industries. Prior to joining OWI in 2017, Alan worked for Lumileds, a subsidiary of the global consumer electronics giant Philips.

Things to know about headlight design, engineering, and technology

"When your car comes off the assembly line, it has an original equipment (OE) bulb," Alan says. "Those bulbs last about five, maybe six years, depending on how much you drive your car. What most people don't know is that you can get replacement lights that are whiter and brighter than OE bulbs."

Specially engineered blue coatings give replacement bulbs that added brightness. "The blue coating filters yellow out of the light, which makes it whiter," Alan explains. "Engineers also use gasses and special filament and lens designs to make that light shine further down the road."

The National Transportation Safety Administration (NTSA) has specific guidelines for automotive lighting, including limits on headlight brightness ratings. "You can't really go brighter than NTSA guidelines allow, but you can get more light down the road and you can get better quality light," Alan says.

The headlight technology your vehicle uses will dictate your replacement lighting options to some degree. Passenger vehicles use two main types of headlights: halogen and xenon. Light-emitting diode (LED) headlights are also available, but they come with a whole host of technical and legal issues.

Here's a breakdown:

Halogen capsule headlights

Halogen headlights have been around for decades. They generate light by forcing an electrical current through a tungsten filament, which superheats the tungsten. The hot tungsten then interacts with halogen gas contained within the light's glass capsule to create light.

About 80% of the cars on the road today have halogen headlights. They're inexpensive, reliable, and widely available.

Xenon headlights

Also known as high-intensity discharge (HID) headlights, xenon headlights use tungsten electrodes mounted at the top and bottom of a quartz housing to ionize and heat xenon gas and produce light.

HID headlights are most common in newer vehicles and high-end vehicles. They offer a premium look and excellent energy efficiency, which contributes to a much longer lifespan than halogen headlights. HID headlight bulbs typically last about 2,000–2,500 hours, compared to about 400–1,000 hours for halogen headlights.

LED headlights

LED headlights create illumination by applying electrical current to a semiconductor, which lights up the diodes. While long-lasting and efficient, they are extremely bright — and that creates problems.

"There's no real federal guidelines for LED headlights," Alan notes in discussing LED vs. halogen headlights. "The retrofitting kits that are available in the United States replace halogen bulbs with the LED, which is not legal." 

LED headlights are bright enough to cause problems for oncoming drivers, which creates safety hazards. Because of this, and because of their dubious legality, they aren't recommended. 

Factors to consider when selecting headlight bulbs

When choosing replacement headlight bulbs, optimizing safety and visibility should be your primary goal. To do that, consider these factors:

Your vehicle's headlight technology

If your car was designed for halogen headlights, you'll have to buy halogen replacement bulbs and vice-versa for xenon. Crossing over from one to the other is only possible with a specialized aftermarket headlight conversion kit.

As Alan puts it: "Your car either comes with HID or it doesn't. And if you have halogen, you have halogen." Aftermarket conversion kits are riddled with performance inconsistencies and experts generally do not recommend them. "You have to buy a whole lighting assembly," Alan explains. "Some are good and some aren't, but in my experience, they very rarely work properly."

Driving conditions

Next, consider where you do most of your driving — especially at night. If you frequent dark rural roads, it's a good idea to get the brightest NTSA-approved lights you can. You should also choose a product that shines a long way down the road.

"If you're driving on a rural road, you're worried about deer, possums, and all the other things that can jump out of the shadows," says Alan. "I live in the North Carolina countryside, and I buy the brightest lights I can get."

High-quality headlights that shine far down the road burn hotter, which means they're likely to burn out faster. Even so, they're worth the extra investment and replacement costs. "I don't want to run into an animal I couldn't see coming or wreck into a tree," Alan says.

Alan contrasts his driving experiences in rural North Carolina with his earlier life in the city. "I lived in Detroit before I came to NC," Alan reveals. "In Detroit, I didn't necessarily need the brightest bulb. Instead, I went for the widest bulb — something that looks chic and cool."

Warranty coverage

Because of NTSA requirements and other regulatory considerations, manufacturers are limited in how much they can innovate in terms of headlight design and performance. "It's hard for manufacturers to come up with something different because everything has to be approved," explains Alan.

However, there is one area where some headlight manufacturers dramatically outperform others: warranty coverage. Multiple premium PEAK Auto headlights, including our Power Vision Gold and Power Vision Xenon lines, come with an unlimited lifetime warranty. If they fail while you still own your vehicle, you can activate your warranty coverage to get a replacement set at no cost.

Power Vision Silver headlights have a limited lifetime warranty, which spans seven years or the vehicle's lifetime, whichever is shorter. PEAK Auto's standard Power Vision headlights come with a five-year limited warranty.

"The average car on the road is about 11 years old," Alan says. "By buying Power Vision Gold or Power Vision Xenon headlights, you could end up getting five or six pairs of lights for the price of one."

Why you should buy replacement bulbs in pairs

As a final piece of advice, Alan explains why drivers should always buy replacement bulbs in pairs. "Selling headlights in pairs isn't a gimmick to get you to buy an extra bulb," Alan says in commenting on a common misconception. "Both OE bulbs went into your car at the same time. If one burns out, chances are the other one is about to burn out."

Alan also stresses the safety benefits of replacing your headlight bulbs in pairs. "After five years, your bulb is only about 80% as bright as it was when it was new," Alan explains. "If you replace only one bulb, the new bulb is going to be 20% brighter than the other one."

As Alan notes, uneven headlight brightness doesn't just make your car look strange to oncoming drivers. It can also pose safety hazards. "When one headlight is brighter than the other, you're going to have much better visibility on one side," Alan says. "As you're driving, you might not realize that you aren't seeing as well on the right or left side. That isn't very safe." 

The verdict

From a purely neutral standpoint, there's a good case to be made for HID headlights being better than halogen headlights. HID headlights generate brighter, whiter light, and they also last quite a bit longer.

That said, it's best to stick with halogen headlights if they're what your car already uses. Conversion kits are hit and miss, and they run the risk of creating potentially difficult wiring and electrical issues with your car.

No matter if your car has halogen headlights or HIDs, there are brighter, better options on the market. When replacement time comes, consider an upgrade for superior visibility, deeper down-road coverage, and higher performance.

Browse PEAK Auto's premium line of high-performance headlights

PEAK Auto's excellent lineup of automotive lighting products includes everything from premium halogen headlights to crisp, bright HID headlights with outstanding down-road coverage. Whether you need the brightest, whitest light you can get for dark rural roads or a stylish look for the city, we've got you covered.

You can also count on PEAK Auto for helpful DIY and how-to info for drivers, including tips for adjusting your headlights, a primer on changing headlight bulbs, and more.