Why not make every light LED??

[MxRacer965]

'19 Max Platinum here and it baffles me why all the lighting isn't LED...license plate lights and reverse lights incandescent...anything else I haven't noticed yet? Banished those bulbs already and I'll keep going until they are all LED. Anything in the front lamp that isn't LED? I honestly haven't looked closely; I travel a lot so in the past 3 months of owning it's only got 1,500 miles put on it, and most of that is because of 2 trips to Chicago for a relative having a heard attack, and then to attend said relatives funeral a week later.

Why does Ford bother to do this? Every other light in the rear lamp is LED already, why not just go the final step and make the reverse light LED too?? Same for the license plate lights. I don't really care if my license plate is visible or not, but if it is going to be lit up it might as well be LED.

 

[Deadman]

saved them millions of dollars at the end of the year across the board!

 

[Pete6114]

Cost.

 

[Regan DeMello]

Puddle lamps as well


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Johhn14]

Puddle lamps are LED from the factory in 2019

 

[Artie]

As addressed, it comes down to cost. The Navigator is 100% LED and this will trickle down in the coming years.

 

[armoredsaint]

i was surprised also by the license plate lights.

 

[MxRacer965]

It’s literally 4 lights. Just ridiculous to me...

 

[GC2019]

Easy fix.

 

[Lou Hamilton]

I know that I could look it up, but right now I'm lazy (still on coffee cup #1).

What are the replacement LED part numbers? And are there really only those 4 lights on the 2019 that are not LED?

Reverse Lights: Part #
Plate Lights: Part #

 

[Dclr]

I know that I could look it up, but right now I'm lazy (still on coffee cup #1).

What are the replacement LED part numbers? And are there really only those 4 lights on the 2019 that are not LED?

Reverse Lights: Part #
Plate Lights: Part #

The reverse lights are part # 3057K (per the 2019 manual)

I bought LED replacements through amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Alla-Lighting-3157-Back-Up-Reverse/dp/B07H6VPWPJ

Installed them this afternoon with basic tools (10mm socket/wrench) and it maybe took 15 minutes.

Anyway, here's an after pic: (a marked difference for $17)

 

[Lou Hamilton]

So, they saved $30 on not providing LEDs for the reverse and license plate. Hmmph!

 

[edizzle]

So, they saved $30 on not providing LEDs for the reverse and license plate. Hmmph!

yep, times 150,000+/- units since 2018. its only 4.5 million dollars!!!!

 

[MxRacer965]

They saved less than that. I only paid $11.98 for mine:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D8DJN30/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And for the license plate lights I bought these for $4.99:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WDBH2DX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s03?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And keep in mind those are retail prices. Ford could do much, much better on pricing at the volumes they do, plus they wouldn't be "traditional" style bulbs. They would be built-in. Put all that together and I bet the price difference would amount to a rounding error on the overall price of a vehicle. Hell, charge me an extra $50 or $100 for the convenience and I wouldn't care. What an extra $100 when you are spending $85K?

 

[Daniel Wilson]

For reverse lights, I like to look up some extra-bright LEDs. Makes for easier backing up in the dark. I've found extra-bright LEDs for the reverse on my 2000 Expedition, 2007 Expedition, and even my wife's mini-van! They're not quite like headlights back there, but they SERIOUSLY make a difference.

So even if Ford provided LEDs ... I'd go for after-market on those items.

 

[Kmdcolo]

I did my license plate bulbs, but the shine weird. I would be tempted to get new led housings to fix it. The puddle lights were easy but they don’t look as bright as the oem units on my F150. I haven’t done my backup lights yet.

My 2018 platinum F150 only had incandescent bulbs in the license plates. I think this may have been intentional due to glare the LEDs cause at night in rear view camera.

 

[Gregg Eshelman]

Same deal on the previous generation. They have five incandescent bulbs in the 3rd brake light but my 98 Mountaineer has an LED 3rd brake light. Makes no sense going back to old tech after they've switched to something new 10 years earlier. What's next? Back to drum brakes?

 

[1970Maverick]

The is no guaranty that replacing incandescent bulbs with LEDs will give you more light, the reflector needs to be shaped for the LED bulb. That's part of the cost to switch to LEDs.
Some of you who have switched the bulb to LED and seem to have more light output may have lucked out in choosing the LED. The LEDs come in various configurations ie; the shape and arrangement of the multiple individual LEDs that make up the finished product.

 

[sjwhiteley]

...
Some of you who have switched the bulb to LED and seem to have more light output may have lucked out in choosing the LED. The LEDs come in various configurations ie; the shape and arrangement of the multiple individual LEDs that make up the finished product.

you are correct, regarding the LEDs. I tried 2 different types for the rear lights before finding a good one. The first set was bright, but only at certain angles. The second had great coverage, but the turn signal was not as bright as the incandescent. The 3rd type was much better - brighter than incandescent with good visibility. I went with switchbacks for the front from the same manufacturer/seller.

Sometimes it needs some experimentation. While LEDs aren’t cheap, if/when you find good ones the price is quite reasonable.

 

[Password]

Annoyed with this as well. It might add what, $20 to the overall cost? It's not like Ford would eat it, it will get passed to the consumer anyway.