Ford OEM Headlight Disappointment

We have a 2000 P71 Crown Vic. For a few years, I ran the StarrHID headlights, until they began acting up (and lenses were already beginning to cloud). I finally dumped those, cleaned up the original lights as best I could and stuck them back in with good bulbs. I ordered new OEM Genuine Ford headlights and installed and aimed them.

After three months and 300 miles of driving (six vehicles, I'm retired, we keep a schedule to ensure each vehicle gets a few miles each week), car parked outside in western Washington weather, I see degradation of the reflective plating - mostly on bottom and sides of housing, but beginning to affect actual reflector in one headlight and definitely losing reflector on one park/signal light. There are small metal clips of some sort where the bottom of the lens meets the plastic housing. They have rusted. I have seen condensation in these lights, though not as bad as the originals (who knows what extra holes they drilled and bulbs they installed when it was a cop car).

The above is what I'd expect from Chinese knockoffs, but not from genuine FoMoCo parts. I'm pleased Ford still supports the 1998-2011 Crown Vic body, but very displeased with the quality of these lights. I wonder if Ford has farmed them out to a cheap overseas manufacturer. I'm not sure where to turn next. Maybe live with poor headlights and count on my supplementary lights to make up the difference.

Remember that Ford was the primary driving force behind the stupid 9004, 9007, and 9008/H13 systems that place more of an emphasis on low price and long life, the hell with everything else, including actual performance.

Ford might even be the worst company in terms of OEM headlights. They also designed the 90s Lincoln headlights with performance so awful that even the 9005 or HID low beam was inferior.

It's possible that Ford used better headlights in the panthers they exported to the middle east. Unfortunately, PartSouq doesn't sell Ford parts.

The OE supplier is just that, a supplier. But they're made to Ford's specs, not the supplier's.

Honestly, a good OEM domestic Ford headlight would be more surprising than a terrible one. The Mk1 Focus headlights aren't too bad since they were an SAE/ECE H4/9003 system, one of the first such designs once it became possible to meet both standards simultaneously.

haha1234 said:

It's possible that Ford used better headlights in the panthers they exported to the middle east

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No, they did not. Same headlamps over there as over here.

The Mk1 Focus headlights aren't too bad since they were an SAE/ECE H4/9003 system, one of the first such designs once it became possible to meet both standards simultaneously.

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That is not correct. The US-spec gen1 Focus headlamps are not the same as the ECE-spec gen1 headlamps. Even though they use similar/interchangeable light sources (H4 in the ECE lamp; HB2 in the US lamp), the US lamp does not meet ECE photometric requirements, and the ECE lamp does not meet US requirements.

Hamilton Felix said:

I ordered new OEM Genuine Ford headlights

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Question: Did the parts you ordered have a "CP" suffix? Like 4W7Z-13008-BCP? That means "Crash Parts" or "Collision Parts" and is a low-price parts program through Ford to try to peel off some sales from the off-brand aftermarket sector. They don't just mark down the good parts to a lower price...! (It's not just the -CP parts that exhibit lower-than-original quality; often newer/superceding part numbers are cheaper and nastier than the original part numbers)

After three months and 300 miles of driving (six vehicles, I'm retired, we keep a schedule to ensure each vehicle gets a few miles each week), car parked outside in western Washington weather, I see degradation of the reflective plating - mostly on bottom and sides of housing, but beginning to affect actual reflector in one headlight and definitely losing reflector on one park/signal light. There are small metal clips of some sort where the bottom of the lens meets the plastic housing. They have rusted. I have seen condensation in these lights

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Yuck!

what I'd expect from Chinese knockoffs

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Yeah, seriously, right?

I'm not sure where to turn next.

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I'd say hold your nose, swear and cuss, and try for better luck with a pair of the not-completely-hopeless aftermarket lights, which probably means the Depo "UC" units, left and right.

Maybe live with poor headlights and count on my supplementary lights to make up the difference.

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There is no such thing as supplementary lights making up for bad headlamps.

There is no such thing as supplementary lights making up for bad headlamps.

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I know what you mean. I did finally get around to mounting my 5-3/4" curved lens Cibie H-1 headlights in Grote buckets, so I do have a high beam that reaches out, but those were engineered to work with a 5-3/4" Cibie H-4 not a Crown Vic lamp. After trying various lights, I've come to the conclusion that fogs are less useful than auxiliary low beams. We hardly ever have "pea soup" fog, and I seldom take the car offroad with a need to see to the sides. But we have moderate or intermittent fog and sometimes snow. Just aim the aux lows very carefully. And they still aren't the same as a really good headlight on low beam.

I just dug up the order from Jim Vreeland Ford:
I don't see a CP suffix. But the low price should have been a red flag. I paid more for real Toyota headlights, but the lights on both 2007 Corollas are good.

I've never understood why left and right have different prices. Maybe one side gets smashed more often and creates more demand for replacements.

Hey, I still have a set of unused Sylvania X-1010 low beams. Maybe that car is a good place to try them. 🙄

Thanks for the links to the Depo headlights.