2011 Lincoln MKX

[hbalek]

That does seem strange that they use different bulbs for the license plate lights, but maybe it has to do with their different positions on the vehicle (liftgate, bumper)?

 

Yeah, I did actually, you didn't see me? LOL It drives me crazy every time I see an MKX's brake lights light up with regular bulbs.....that and the MKZ with the regular HCMSL bulb, but LED taillights. UGH!!

 

I recently observed a BMW 5-series with that same stripes or pipes of red light from LED's like the MKX's light bar. Just like the MKX, the BMW's brake lights behind the stripes were incandescent or non-LED bulbs! I recently noticed that same type of lighting on the new Volvo XC60. The current Cadillac CTS also uses that type of LED bar, instead of the older Cadillac's string of LED's. Look closely at the new CTS and you'll see that the vertical light bar is lit from below by LED's projected through a pipe! http://blogs.edmunds.com/roadtests/2008/08...iped-light.html

Edited March 20, 2009 by hbalek

[Critic]

The current Cadillac CTS also uses that type of LED bar, instead of the older Cadillac's string of LED's. Look closely at the new CTS and you'll see that the vertical light bar is lit from below by LED's projected through a tube! http://blogs.edmunds.com/roadtests/2008/08...iped-light.html

The press kit calls this lighting element a LED "light pipe" for the rear marker lamp. But for me and a few others here, it looks like an incandescent or fluorescent bulb; LEDs are pretty small. The Engineering Editor said that perhaps there are several LEDs distributed throughout, but the illumination seems too uniform for that. And the Director of Vehicle Testing said the pipe reminded him of this thing. In any event, the light pipe looks good and conveys the vertical styling theme of the tail lamps. Another great styling detail on a sharp car.

Well you see the future of rear and front lighting now.. They want to implement this for the higher line/cost cars.. They would pull more people into the mass market if it hit the every-man's pocket book.

Yes, you have light rings around headlamps. .. glowing plates in the door sills. Saturn needs to make a glow in the dark car out of their plastic panels. Or Honda needs to just paint a car fluorescent green glow in the dark.

[spudz64]

Getting back to the MKX redo, just this am it was announced that Mazda would debut a revised 2010 CX-9 at the NY Auto Show next month, with new bumpers, grille, headlights and some interior changes promised, all for production this June.

 

Now, the CX-9 is based on the Edge/MKX and came to market 2 months after them.....it might be a long shot but perhaps this spied MKX really is the 2010 model which enters production 5/25/09!

 

The only thing that throws this off for me is I just recieved my NY Auto Show press schedule yesterday and oddly, there are NO Ford/L-M press conferences scheduled at all....

Edited March 20, 2009 by spudz64

[akirby]

sweet!

 

say it with me... SOFT TOUCH INTERIOR, SOFT TOUCH INTERIOR, SOFT TOUCH INTERIOR!!! :happy feet:

 

I typically go for the Lincoln version of a vehicle but when we looked at both the MKX and Edge side by side I was shocked at how bad the MKX interior was. I actually preferred the Edge interior and that, along with the grille and the $5000 price difference made it a no-brainer. We gave up the cooled seats but that's all we miss. And we had an Aviator which was head and shoulders above the Explorer interior when it debuted.

 

I knew the current MKX was a stop-gap. Sounds like the new one will get the same makeover the MKZ got and that's a great thing.

[rmc523]

I recently observed a BMW 5-series with that same stripes or pipes of red light from LED's like the MKX's light bar. Just like the MKX, the BMW's brake lights behind the stripes were incandescent or non-LED bulbs! I recently noticed that same type of lighting on the new Volvo XC60. The current Cadillac CTS also uses that type of LED bar, instead of the older Cadillac's string of LED's. Look closely at the new CTS and you'll see that the vertical light bar is lit from below by LED's projected through a pipe! http://blogs.edmunds.com/roadtests/2008/08...iped-light.html

 

Yeah, that's the new thing to use on the rear. I too don't like how the BMW's sometimes use regular bulbs behind the LED tubes. The more expensive/higher-end models do use LEDs for the brake lights though.

[NickF1011]

One also has to wonder if some of these incandescent-looking lights are not actually reflected LED's. Recall the 2004 Mustang GT concept car. The tail lights looked very incandescent in their illumination, but they were in fact banks of LEDs that were forward-facing and only reflected rearward, which diffused the light a bit more before leaving the lens. It resulted in a bit of a softer glow, but maintained the instant on/off characteristics of an LED. I wonder if Ford has taken or will be taking that route with its lighting in the future. At press time of the concept launch, Ford indicated that they would start using it selectively as they went forward. I thought it was a unique application at the time.

[rmc523]

One also has to wonder if some of these incandescent-looking lights are not actually reflected LED's. Recall the 2004 Mustang GT concept car. The tail lights looked very incandescent in their illumination, but they were in fact banks of LEDs that were forward-facing and only reflected rearward, which diffused the light a bit more before leaving the lens. It resulted in a bit of a softer glow, but maintained the instant on/off characteristics of an LED. I wonder if Ford has taken or will be taking that route with its lighting in the future. At press time of the concept launch, Ford indicated that they would start using it selectively as they went forward. I thought it was a unique application at the time.

 

Well, certain vehicles in Ford's lineup use this.....the Taurus X (and I belive Taurus maybe) used a single LED bulb for the brake lights, so it retained the instant light-up of LEDs with the "look" of an incandescent....I'd rather have that than a plain incandescent.

 

You can tell, though, if they're incandescent or LEDs.....I can tell you that MKX is NOT LEDs, and I don't believe any of the BMWs are either. But, I do believe Ford will move in that direction, or at least I hope. I'd venture to say all Lincolns will use some form of LEDs for brake lights in the near future.

[Critic]

Edit: I thought, and I might be totally wrong on this, but I thought their was some type of new law / requirement that future lighting was to go to LED's.. maybe I'm just confused about what I had read.

[Critic]

I typically go for the Lincoln version of a vehicle but when we looked at both the MKX and Edge side by side I was shocked at how bad the MKX interior was. I actually preferred the Edge interior and that, along with the grille and the $5000 price difference made it a no-brainer. We gave up the cooled seats but that's all we miss. And we had an Aviator which was head and shoulders above the Explorer interior when it debuted.

It's always funny to watch people justify buying something when it was just the $ that did it.

[jasonj80]

 

Well you see the future of rear and front lighting now.. They want to implement this for the higher line/cost cars.. They would pull more people into the mass market if it hit the every-man's pocket book.

Yes, you have light rings around headlamps. .. glowing plates in the door sills. Saturn needs to make a glow in the dark car out of their plastic panels. Or Honda needs to just paint a car fluorescent green glow in the dark.

 

The new Taurus uses a white LED light pipe on each side of the front near the lower front airdamn.

 

I just hope Ford moves to Tri-Color tail lamps as well, Red for brake, Amber for turn, and White for Reverse. Turn signals repeaters on the mirrors are also very nice, lets the vehicle next to you know you want to change lanes, or are changing lanes.

[rmc523]

The new Taurus uses a white LED light pipe on each side of the front near the lower front airdamn.

 

I just hope Ford moves to Tri-Color tail lamps as well, Red for brake, Amber for turn, and White for Reverse. Turn signals repeaters on the mirrors are also very nice, lets the vehicle next to you know you want to change lanes, or are changing lanes.

 

I agree with the turn signals on the mirrors, or thereabout....I think that should be implemented on all Ford/Lincoln/Mercury models.

[wildosvt]

I agree....I'm up for an updated look too, but I'm thinking it may be more along the lines of Fusion's interior update.

 

A whole new look inside for the Edge. :shades:

[fusion0206]

A whole new look inside for the Edge. :shades:

 

Care to elaborate?? :-)

[rmc523]

A whole new look inside for the Edge. :shades:

 

Glad to hear that....can we expect a Taurus/Flex mixture?

[Critic]

For the record..... I wrote to a Mr. Daniel Stern about switching an incandescent light bulb to LED. Here was the reply, with his permission I submit this as Exhibit A your honor: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/

 

> I have a Lincoln MKX . it has the LED light bar across the

> complete rear end. however on each outer side are conventional filament

> brake/turn bulbs 4157's.

>

> I've seen two style replacements a 3W and a 5W LED called a 3157 style.

 

LED signalling lamps (brake, tail, turn...) are appearing on cars, and

are widely used on trucks, but it really is not a "retrofit" item in the

sense of dropping in an "LED bulb". The brake, tail, parking, and

signal lamps of your car rely on a point source of light (glowing

filament) that radiates more or less equally in all directions -- a

sphere of light -- collecting and distributing that light with optics in

the lens and/or reflector. An LED is a vastly different *kind* of light

source. Unlike a glowing filament, it does not produce light in an even

sphere. Instead, it projects a very narrow beam of light in ONE

direction. That's why these so-called "LED retrofits" consisting of a

1" diameter matrix of LEDs on a bayonet or wedge base are unsafe;

there's no way you can get enough light through a wide enough angle

(horizontally and vertically) to create a safe and legally-compliant

lamp. This applies even to the fancier "LED bulbs" that have side-facing

as well as rear-facing emitters. The problem is not with any marketer's

particular implementation, the problem is with the concept, which does

not (cannot) work.

 

There are other considerations, too -- for any automotive lighting

function, not only is it crucial that the intensity be within the proper

limits through the entire relevant range of vertical and horizontal

angles so as to provide a recognizeable and penetrating signal to

observers at any angle to your vehicle, not only must the intensity

ratio between bright and dim modes be correct (for combination

brake/tail or park/turn lamps), but the effective projected luminous

lens area must not be reduced. EPLLA refers to the amount of lens area

significantly lit up when the lighting device is active. With "LED

bulbs" installed in lamps meant for filament bulbs, you tend to get a

little dot of light with the rest of the lens almost completely unlit.

So not only is the visibly lit area dimmer, it's also smaller. Safety?

Not so much!

 

Look closely at the optics of one of the newer vehicles that has LED

brake/tail lamps. You'll see optics totally different in configuration

compared to those found in bulb-type devices. These special optics are

necessary to coordinate the light from a large number of LEDs (relative

to the overall size of the device) to get everything right in terms of

brightness in both dim and bright mode, uniformity of brightness

throughout the visibility angles required by law, ratio of intensity

between "bright" and "dim" mode, EPLLA, etc. These kinds of optics are

not something you can kludge in your garage, let alone achieve with

these unsafe "LED bulb retrofits".

 

Lighting devices meant to take bulbs need to use bulbs. Do NOT use "LED

bulbs"!

[rmc523]

For the record..... I wrote to a Mr. Daniel Stern about switching an incandescent light bulb to LED. Here was the reply, with his permission I submit this as Exhibit A your honor: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/

 

Here's the Flex's taillight:

 

Sorry about the image size everybody.

[rmc523]

I'd like to see if they have kits to make the reverse lights and front turn signals LEDs for the Flex.

 

I would've liked Ford to have used the LED piping to make the reflector squares around the brake lights the running lights, I think that would've looked good at night.

 

Also, they could've used the square chrome strip/box around the projector headlight as a front running light.

 

Edited March 24, 2009 by rmc523

[blazerdude20]

Also, they could've used the square chrome strip/box around the projector headlight as a front running light.

 

 

isnt that basically what a halo is? an led tube ring?

[rmc523]

isnt that basically what a halo is? an led tube ring?

 

I believe so....it would've been nice had they done that around that box though, at least I think it'd look nice, maybe it wouldn't?