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LED rear tail lamps?


MJNewton
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Looking through ETIS today I noticed that our Fiesta's spec is listed with 'Tail lamps - LED Rear' but from what I recall they didn't look like they were. Can anyone confirm? Perhaps it just consists of an LED bulb instead of the standard incandescent (in which case, why? I suppose it would save a little bit of power consumption).

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What spec? The titanium has LED Bulbs, they are longer lasting, brighter and they illuminate quicker


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Seen them on eBay for £150 a pair and look smashing, no idea how they are wired up or if there are any other electrical wizardry further around the car to control them.

Be great on the Titanium but not 'sports type' Fiesta's due to the chrome bits.

£150 for the pair: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-Fiesta-MK7-MK7-5-MK8-Rear-LED-lights-/262916525182?hash=item3d370bcc7e:g:RIwAAOSwdGFY3T9T

 

 

s-l1600.jpg

s-l1600 (1).jpg

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Thanks both.

Jon - yes; Titanium spec. I can see the longevity and brightness benefit of the uprated bulbs but the speed response is only really applicable for brake lights.

Ian - I'm not looking to buy a set, it was more that I was just a bit perplexed that if the Titanium touts LED tail lamps as a spec 'upgrade' then it would be more than just different bulbs but rather uprated housing too (like the ones you linked to and, presumably, what are now available on more recent models?) that provided more of the aesthetic benefits of LED technology.

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By LED they mean the LED brake light :)

Only 2016+ have full LED units and even then it's only the taillights that are LED 

 

I fitted the LED units to my 2014 fiesta. They're plug and play. I've then changed all the other bulbs to LED with units from Autobeam :) I used YDET10 for 10% off 

It's on a Zetec S and I haven't noticed any additional "chrome bits"... :S

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40 minutes ago, GingerFlame said:

By LED they mean the LED brake light :)

Are you sure? Surely Ford would know the difference between a brake and a tail light!

I think Jon's suggestion of it referring to an LED bulb in the tail light sound more plausible. If it wasn't such a seeming faff I'd pop out and have a look but it hardly seems worth it removing whatever's necessary just to satisfy my curiosity. That said...

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Thinking about this further, the tail/brake light are I think a combined dual-filament and so if the 'tail' light is LED then presumably the 'brake' light has to be also! That would fit with both what Kieran and Jon have suggested it is referring to and would justify being counted as an upgrade given the £20(?) or so difference in price.

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6 minutes ago, MJNewton said:

Are you sure? Surely Ford would know the difference between a brake and a tail light!

GingerFlame is correct it is referring to the high level brake light. The brake light is just a halogen bulb. About half way through 2015 Ford changed the rear lights to include an LED sidelight rather than using a dual filament brake/sidelight bulb. The brake light in these units are single filament halogens.

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That really doesn't sound right. ETIS and the brochure are quite clear about 'tail lamps' and so they surely haven't got both the name and the number wrong.

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The sales brochure says. "LED night signature to rear lights". I asked about that when I took my car in for service last week and was told they are just normal lights, not LED.

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Having said I'd read about them in my brochure I can't for the life of my find where now! Oh well, it's pretty clear they're not LED as many of you have been suggesting and it certainly doesn't look like they are when they're on.

Thanks everyone for the input.

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I'm going to stick my neck out here and say that for now forget about the high level light and think about the tail light alone. The majority of the bulbs are halogen accept for the 4 vertical stripes on each unit, these are LED and are the 'signature' marking for the fiesta. @MJNewton there would also be a benefit to have them as indicators too, the flash would be crisper and peak sooner. Not by anything noticeable to our eyes though lol.

That's my interpretation of the blurb and the unit itself.


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Might you be thinking of a different model/year Jon? Mine's a 2013 Fiesta (Titanium) and doesn't have any stripes on the lamp housings.

Here's a stock photo of the type I've got:

30754205-0.jpg

I am pretty certain there are no LED Bulbs in it, despite what ETIS might say.

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You're right sorry, I thought you were referring to a 2016+ car. The lights @IanLanc linked to and the comments by @CREED and @karl46 all referred to the 2016+ models/lights. I didn't realise yours is a 2013, apologies.


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No problem at all. For completeness I'm assuming these are the ones you mean:

$_86.JPG

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Spot on, those are the ones. Sorry for the confusion, on Tapatalk you can't see anyone's signature


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That's good to know actually; I'll make sure I avoid any ambiguities in future by including such detail in the post. It arguably helps future proof archives of discussions too as when someone changes their car and updates their profile any old posts might start to make little sense!

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It's not a great setup on Tapatalk for this forum, even if you click on someone's name you dent get to see their bio or any info. Some of the forums have a better setup, you can see people's profile info.


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I have a 2016 festa with the later rear lights with the clear stripes. The Ford main dealer said they are not LED, but only look like they are, The same as the earlier ones were brochured as "LED night signature". but were not LED.

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LED lamps are usually quite easy to spot given them being so much quicker to illuminate and extinguish.

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They 100% are LED strips, if you look at the back of the light you'll see small black and red wires going into the unit. They are not removable, meaning the LED is not replaceable. By the looks of it it's only one or two LEDs lighting up the strips but I could be wrong.

As mentioned above you'll also notice the LEDs illuminate faster(instantly) when switched on which is another giveaway :)

 

The brake light however is not LED. The only LED part is simply the taillight/sidelight itself.

 

This is only on late 2015/2016+ models 

 

I have also fitted LED reverse, brake and Indicators to complete the full LED rear end :) 

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15 hours ago, Jonro2009 said:

I'm going to stick my neck out here and say that for now forget about the high level light and think about the tail light alone. The majority of the bulbs are halogen accept for the 4 vertical stripes on each unit, these are LED and are the 'signature' marking for the fiesta. @MJNewton there would also be a benefit to have them as indicators too, the flash would be crisper and peak sooner. Not by anything noticeable to our eyes though lol.

That's my interpretation of the blurb and the unit itself.


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The difference with the indicators being LED is hugely noticeable! :) 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 05/04/2017 at 1:21 PM, GingerFlame said:

They 100% are LED strips, if you look at the back of the light you'll see small black and red wires going into the unit. They are not removable, meaning the LED is not replaceable. By the looks of it it's only one or two LEDs lighting up the strips but I could be wrong.

As mentioned above you'll also notice the LEDs illuminate faster(instantly) when switched on which is another giveaway :)

 

The brake light however is not LED. The only LED part is simply the taillight/sidelight itself.

 

This is only on late 2015/2016+ models 

 

I have also fitted LED reverse, brake and Indicators to complete the full LED rear end :) 

This is a bit of a relief -- so my 2013 titanium will have a regular bulb for the brake light? 

I suspect my right ones gone. Will save some notes if it's just a regular bulb rather than having to swap the unit like you do with the stock front DRLs...

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Yes your brake bulb will be a standard filament bulb. Although you could do what I've done and replace it with an led unit? 

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