I've just heard a presentation by the CTO of company that works with large nationwide companies to produce LED products. In his presentation he said that his company has been working with GM making LED headlights for some '06 models. So I asked him what he projected the advancement of LED vs. filament lights was. He said that in 5 years it would be hard to find filament lights anywhere. LED's has you may or may not know are an amazing light source. Cool to the touch, very durable, and increasingly energy efficient; oh and very bright. So if your thinking about getting those new HID headlights, maybe you should wait to find out.

*EDIT* Oh I forgot to mention, that they can be made to produce any color. They are not painted or tinted, the source inside that makes the light produces the color.

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j/p. sounds cool.

LOL. It will take the DOT at least 15 years to change anything. We'll be using filament lamps for a long time.

LED lighting has been around for a while now. All my flashlights are LEDs.
Many cars are using LEDs for rear brake and parking lights, but they have a ways to go before they will be in widespread use in headlights. The dispersion pattern of current LEDs is nowhere near that of a filament or HID bulb, and it would take a lot of them to equal a conventional headlight in output.
I don't doubt that those limitations are in the process of being overcome and that we will begin to see LED headlights as OEM equipment on some new cars in the near future. But I think that timeframe for filament bulbs becoming obsolete is quite optimistic.

and they would have to get around the maximum number of elements lit law that the DOT has. I think its four at the moment.

Well I think that for purposes of that law, an LED cluster in a single headlight would be considered one element.

But I think that timeframe for filament bulbs becoming obsolete is quite optimistic.
Agreed. Generally, there can be a lot of hype & high expectations associated with new technology, which can cause highly optimistic predictions. This is not to say that the particular technology won't become useful or work as advertised, but from past examples, I'd be a bit skeptical about the projected timeline.

I recall when it was said that fiber optics will be commonplace to replace conventional headlights; making flowing, aesthetic designs more possible. I don't think car manufacturers consider fiber optic-based headlights anymore. There was also the expectation in the 80's that robots will revolutionize the manufacturing industry, and that labor will become obsolete in many areas. 20 years later, I still don't really see that happening. Yes, there are robots, but the projected timeline & prevalence turned out to be overly optimistic.