Newbi

Just got my 13 ML350 BT few days ago.
One noticed question needed help:
On the official website and brochure, the LED headlights are definitely "white".
How come they are "orange" now?
Not try to be picky, but believe "white" would be nicer.
Thanks, guys.

Attached are the photos of mine and one from web.

27T

USA headlights get amber. Maybe per DOT. I'm in the minority and prefer it that way aesthetically and for safety.

Newbi

I guess Canada is same here.
Is there any way to modify or replace the bulbs?

dougiebear

Thats a fiber optic bar Im told
No cornerlights for you either I see

GregW / Oregon

Well, they're LEDs (solid state chips), not bulbs. I'm guessing if you're willing to disassemble the light housings and source the proper white LEDs it's possible, but not practical.

Newbi

doable?
I will ask my dealer next week for sure.
Thanks for all the replies.

GregW / Oregon

Save you breath - dealer will have no clue. Easiest but not cheapest way would be to source euro lamp units, but I'm guessing those will cost ~$2k. However you could likely resell yours.

xxGenericSNxx

Orange due to North American "safety" standards. ROW is white.

Easiest way will be to source the Euro lamps as mentioned above.

nosnoop

Not really. North American safety standard only requires a side orange reflector in the front. The eye-brow LED color does not need to be amber at all - no other manufacturers have amber LEDs in the headlight.

Just like using red LEDs for turning signal instead of amber, this is just a marketing or aesthetic decision by Mercedes USA.

Benz Werd

I don't understand why the US allows red lamps for rear turning signals, I found it quite dangerous when driving at night during our visit earlier this year. For example, if there's a car parked in the emergency lane on a highway, or worse stopped in one of the traffic lanes because it's broken down, with it's hazard lights flashing (red lamps) it appeared to me that it was still moving but the driver was just pushing the brake pedal in & out. Why is this still quite normal on brand new cars in the USA? You guys are strict about having amber lamps on the front end as mentioned above but the rear having red lamps as turning signals seems to be a little backwards to me ... just sayin'

nosnoop

Exactly, I totally agree.
It was mainly due to the resistance by US manufacturers, and their usual claim was that there was no evidence that amber turn signal was any safer. But National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) had a study in 2009 and concluded that amber turn signal did indeed reduce crash. There were some noises about possibly mandatory amber turn signal, but that went nowhere.

What's more puzzling was all the German car manufacturers (Mercedes, BMW, Audi etc) using red turn signal when their original designs use amber! To save a few bucks? They have to go out of their way to switch the turn signal to red just for the North American market when amber signal is also perfectly legal in US. And I thought that safety was supposed to be high on their priorities - definitely not in this case.

another_geek

Actually, my jag has an amber v-shaped strip in the headlights that is clear/white on european models.

katiesdad7

I don't understand what the big deal is. After all, we don't use turn signals in the USA! :-)

Unless of course you are over 70. Then you never turn it off. :-)

xxGenericSNxx

I believe not only we need an amber reflector, but it also has to light up orange. That's why we have those idiotic amber reflectors in the bumper that light up for the cars with the reflector there. For cars with the reflector in the headlight the corner will also light up amber. I think this is why the ML lights up amber because that reflector in the corner doesn't light up at all.

As you can see from my signature what I think about the whole situation. That orange light/ reflector drives me nuts and it such an eyesore.

YYZ-E55

Incorrect. There must be an amber light and amber reflector (not necessarily together) at the front on either side of the vehicle to meet US regulations. And the last-generation 5-Series had a similar approach to the ML in this regard.



As for the rear turn signals, there are specific requirements with respect to bulb intensity, surface area, etc. US regulations require a brighter bulb and a larger surface area for the rear turn signal than does the EU. In many cases, this is why manufacturers use red instead. Audi is an excellent example - they do this on most of their vehicles and they often flash both the brake light and the signal light to achieve the minimum surface area requirement in USA.

So, for once, don't blame MBUSA. Blame FMVSS-108.

Edit: Current Gen 5-Series - note the 3 amber LEDs (enough to comply):

nosnoop

After checking some sources, it looks like it if it classified as "side marker light", then it has to be amber. If not, then it can be white.

But certainly not for BMW and most Mercedes. All the BMWs and the ML uses the identical location (and surface area) for turn signal, just substituting the amber LEDs with red ones.

I am not so sure, I see no reason to use red LEDs for the rear turn signal for the ML.

Newbi

We all know Q5 has amber reflector and white lights, so I don't think it's becasue of any regulation. This decision should be made by MBUSA/Canada.

jtorrebl

They should have done it like this. My non xenon headlights have the amber reflector and bulb in the same place. The US xenons have the same reflector in the same place I'm sure there was space to put the amber light I get too instead of messing up the whole look with these huge amber eyelids. Why'd they do this to the top of the line SL too. If we complain maybe they'll change it like they changed the hockey stick front low LEDs on the e clAss. My dealer said complaints made Mercedes change to the straight leds

YYZ-E55

There is a light behind the amber reflector so that it glows amber, thus compliant.

For the ML, the torch could have been white in US/Canada, but they would have had to add another amber light source to the headlight (similar to what I showed above with the 2013 5-Series). It is cheaper and simpler to have one headlight design and simply modify the bulb color to comply globally.

dougiebear

Those Audi LEDs are yellow when on

jtorrebl

The reflector has a yellow light behind it but the drl LEDs are white not yellow.

dougiebear

Are you refering to the hockey stick on the 2012s????
In Canada I have only seen yellow.........Q5 was my first pick till I knew ML was changing.
We need to special order active option on the bixenons for Q5 too. $200

jtorrebl

Hid headlights have the white drl above the headlight

dougiebear

My. Birthday last week memory fading LOL