PSA: Winter Is Coming for Your LED Headlights, Here's How To Get Ready

Nearly anyone can get behind the steering wheel when the weather is nice, and the roads are dry. But it takes special skills and courage to go out in the open when you know it has been snowing overnight and portions of the road might even be covered in invisible black ice. Extra caution is mandatory.

Most drivers living in places where winter is known for heavily changing the landscape get ready for action by adding an ice scraper, a snow brush, and maybe even some tire chains to their car essentials kit. But there's something else you will need to ensure that visibility won't be affected: a headlight defroster. Fortunately, there's more than one solution to this issue.

As previously mentioned, LEDs are great because they emit light that can cover a larger area and are generally brighter than older implementations. EV manufacturers especially love using the latest LED tech because they do not consume as much energy as a halogen or a xenon bulb. That helps a lot with efficiency.

But in being efficient, LEDs lose one thing that the other two have as a strong advantage: heat generation. LED headlights don't get warm, so they cannot melt snow or prevent ice accumulation, as well as previous solutions did. It's especially bad when the headlight housing design isn't aerodynamic.

Simple fixes for a common issue

That was proven last year by a few Rivian owners who discovered that their EVs required them to stop and clean the headlights because wet snow was covering them. They had to clean them to ensure visibility would not be hindered.

Normally, maintaining a steady airflow when penetrating the air with the vehicle's front end should be enough to keep the headlights working as intended. However, things might not work as expected when the design features a flat surface that must deal with slashing through the air at high speeds.

Sadly, this issue does not affect only big zero-emission pickup trucks or SUVs. So, you should be ready to deal with these nagging pileups that may even become a hazard in some scenarios.

The simplest solution is warm water. Just pour it over the headlights and clean them with a rag or a good napkin. Keep in mind that we're not talking about hot water here. You don't need to boil the liquid.

Even though headlight housings are most often made of some type of polycarbonate known as thermoplastic that has resistance to ever-changing outside environment conditions, you shouldn't test its capabilities. Suddenly going from zero to 200 degrees Fahrenheit can compromise the structure.

More solutions

The next best thing is to have a reasonably sized bottle of water mixed with alcohol in the car or at home. Spray it on the headlights before you leave, when you stop to recharge/refill, or when the situation calls for it. It's simple, cheap, and it works.

Another one is the hot bag, which is nothing more than the common pain relief method many people use worldwide. Have it ready before going to work. Glide it over the headlights. That should do the job.

You can also buy a de-icing product. It lowers the freezing point of water and provides instant relief because it rapidly turns snow or ice into H2O. However, some people worry that these solvents may contribute to global warming.

California, for example, banned low-temperature windshield washer fluid because it contained methanol. That volatile organic compound is known to affect wildlife, including plants.

Still, some people buy the right mix from neighboring states like Nevada. But the Golden State has taken this thing seriously. It applied hefty fines to companies who didn't mind the restrictions.

Keeping it simple until something better comes around

However, people are creative enough to develop improved solutions for common issues. Earlier this year, we told you about a flexible electric film that could help owners of LED-equipped vehicles avoid such winter-specific vision issues. Slush and grime shouldn't have been a worry any longer if Chasm Tek's thin sheet of charged material worked as intended. Sadly, it's still not commonly found or implemented everywhere.

One great of advice I received from my experienced father is to install a protection film on my vehicle's headlights. He told me that would prevent them from scratches when I eventually used a scraper tool. But with so many solutions, I would much rather carry a mix of water and rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle. It's the cheapest and most convenient solution. Moreover, it's not causing any harm to the environment when you use it to clean the headlights or the windshield.

I do hope, however, that automakers will find a solution that mimics Chasm Tek's product. Implementing a heating function for LED headlights that doesn't hinder their lightning capabilities can remove another driver-related worry. Given the constant automotive progress, that should have already been available on some pricier cars. But maybe OEMs need a little more time before bringing such a feature to their renewed offerings.

Until then, it's up to us to take care of our headlights during winter.