Yup!
In fact, the upcoming 2022 Tucson uses several thin strips on each side of the car for its headlights. This is not a luxury vehicle, so the trend of ever-increasing headlight cost replacement may be unavoidable in the future. 
Those headlights will likely be LEDs, and will last until after the original owner is placed in the ground.
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LEDs can last a very long time if not overdriven/overheated and gradually lose brightness instead of failing abruptly.
However, drive circuitry can fail more often than the LEDs themselves.
What happened to cheap 4 bulb halogen setups which worked fine when designed right . Had a 85 Lebaron quad bulb setup and you could literally see a 1/4 mile down the road with high beams on . A lot better than some of these costly projector setups they think are so great now until the shutter systems breaks and costs $500 to replace . The engineering today is pretty bad in lighting today . I spent an hour today replacing a front side marker light on our minivan because it is impossible to get your hands in there to remove and replace the $3 bulb. Finally got my son to reach in there as his hands are smaller . No reason for this on $30000 plus vehicles .
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Yeah I used to like those too, but then I got HID, and it was like driving in daylight. Really helpful when you’ve got about 20 deer per mile.
I agree. If replacing a headlight bulb costs more than $20, or replacing a headlight module costs more than $200, that’s not a vehicle I want to own. The standard halogen bulbs usually cost less than $20 for a pack of two online, and a set of two aftermarket headlight assemblies can usually be had for $100 or so.
I think as time goes on there will be fewer and fewer vehicles that you will want to own. Even on a plain 12 year old Chevy Equinox replacing the headlamp bulbs requires pulling part of the grille/fascia. Cars are just getting more complicated and expensive as the OEMs have to continually deal with improved aerodynamics, safety requirements, customer expectations, etc. And it goes much further than headlamp maintenance.
For ever and ever conventional wisdom dictated that when we opened up an A/C system for service or repairs we replaced the drier. Not anymore. Cars just aren’t built for that anymore. This week I had a '14 Silverado with a leaky high side hose. Labor to replace the hose, $68. Labor to replace the drier, $478. Fortunately for the customer the truck uses R134. This season we bought equipment to service the newer R1234yf systems. That refrigerant sells for $104 per pound. A lot of shops are pricing it per ounce instead of per pound just as a marketing gimmick, but the price is the same in the end.
I need to use a scan tool to do an alignment on a modern day car. Replacing a power window switch can require programming. A crack in your windshield can disable your cruise control. Technology is moving forward. We can move with it or be left behind.
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I’ve got a couple Silverstars hanging on my pegboard that cost me $50 for the pair. Seeing costs money. But yeah, I replace them in pairs because the bumper cover has to come loose and a pain in the neck to put them in.
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I hit a deer in 2019 with my 2018 Mazda 6 GTR. Insurance paid for the damage. The one headlight assembly was $2,500. It is an LED assembly with adaptive lighting (self leveling and swivels with the steering wheel to illuminate curves at night). I own several Mazda’s from a 2014 6 with 167,000 miles to the 2018 Mazda 6 just mentioned, with a couple of 2016 Mazda 3’s in between. All have HID or LED headlights. I have not had a single headlight fail yet. In fact, I have not replaced any lightbulbs on any of my Mazda’s yet. It’s actually kind of weird.
I’ll say lighting design has not improved in cars.
In my 26 year old daily driven chevy with 280k miles, I have only replaced the sealed beam halogen headlights 1 time in 26 years. Cost was $18.00 for the pair. Most of the marker bulbs and turn signals have only been replaced 1 time also. I’ve only replaced 2 bulbs in the dashboard recently, the rest are original. My headlights are very bright, I highly doubt a modern light would be much of an improvement.
I have yet to see a sealed beam halogen that can top a properly set up factory HID or LED for light output.
That’s not a big deal if you do all your driving in a well-lit city. But if you live in deer country, the less light you have, the more upset you get.
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Well the guy above me has $5,000 LED headlights and he still hit a deer. I have $18.00 headlight assemblies and I’ve never hit one…lol
Luck of the draw. I average about one hit per 200,000 miles, so I’ve hit a few. Nephew had one of those big cattle guards on the front of his tractor and hit a deer. Cost him $2500 to replace the cattle guard but think the head light survived.
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I’m always vigilant at night looking for deer. High beams on when possible. If I see 1 deer cross the road, I know there might be 4 more behind him, so I slow way down. Of course there’s no way to avoid it sometimes.
+1, but that bears correction.
If you see 1 deer crossing the road, there might be 4 more behind HER.
The bucks almost always travel in solitary, while the does tend to travel in groups.
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Not HID, but here is me putting headlights in my wife’s car, or it could be one of those later model GMC trucks with the enormous front grille area…
Anyway, a headlight that costs $1,000 to fix is just plain stupid. I could see people junking an older car just because the headlight is out. I don’t care if it’s a little brighter, it’s not worth the cost. Hopefully these LEDs have the claimed lifespan.
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Congratulations on avoiding hitting one of these critters. Driving 30-50,000 miles a year though requires lots of windshield time. Slowing down sufficiently at night (or even daytime) like 40 mph is unrealistic unless you never want to be home for supper. Lots of people avoid animals because they rarely drive out of the big city. I’ve had two encounters just a couple blocks from my house but missed them both. Little different on the open road, especially with high corn fields on the side. I guess that’s why they are called “acts of God”, like lightening strikes.
I only drive 15-20,000 miles a year. I’ve lived in wooded suburbs and now a rural area. Lots of deer even in the suburbs. I’ve only hit 2 animals in my life that I know of. A possum and a squirrel. I still feel bad about it. I’ll slow down to a stop if I see an animal, don’t care what it is. Just the other day I skidded 20 feet avoiding a cat.
Many years ago the power limit for headlight was set at 65 watts to keep us from blinding other motorists.
During the last two decades vehicle manufactures have developed brighter, expensive headlights that use the allowable amount of power in order to satisfy our desire to blind each other.
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