2017 Ford Edge SEL xenon headlight upgrade

[Cem ozyurt]

My Ford Edge’s (2017 SEL 3.5 liters V6 engine) original headlights are very weak and not suitable for seeing well at night. I want to upgrade to xenon headlights, what brand bulbs do you recommend?
Did anybody have their lights upgraded?

 

[Beachbum37]

Mine is a 2016 SEL that shares your headlight problem. Maybe the access issue got fixed in 2017? I doubt it. So I just spent four hours attempting an upgrade to Fahren LED replacements for the H-11 and 9005 bulbs (low and high beams). I did a lot of reading before trying this upgrade that was advertised as "plug-and-play" and ended up reinstalling my original candle-light halogens. First, the installation of the passenger-side bulb is a serious access problem. I removed the top attachment screws as recommended in several YouTube videos and that let me tip the headlight unit up and forward a tiny bit but still not enough to get my hands in there. I did manage to get the LED bulb installed eventually, and that's when the car's electric system said NO WAY! After installing the bulb I turned on the lights and they stayed on for about 5 seconds and then shut off, I tired it with the engine running, same results. Evidently the car's very complicated and sensitive computer-controlled system detected the lower power draw and just interpreted that as a failure of some sort. No warning lights, no codes set.

Not wanting to further frustrate this electrical system and further I just painfully replaced the bulb with the original and for now at least, will avoid driving at night. The bulbs are probably original so are 10 years old now, so when the bruises on my hand from fighting the non-access issue, I'll just replace them with best-quality OEM replacements. I've only owned this gorgeous car for a month and my first night-driving surprise was a few days ago, so I can only hope that new OEM replacements will make night-driving safe again. The OEM halogens on my 2004 Ranger seem to fine, so the halogens are really not the big problem here. Another small detail worth noting here is that with the LEDs comes a notice that they are not legal in a states and are often troublesome for oncoming rivers to the point of being dangerous. Accurate aiming is essential, although no instructions for doing that are possible for most of these bulbs. My take is that for safety, they may just be a bad return on the investment, especially if we consider the effects of our better visibility affects other drivers. Maybe those obnoxious ultra-bright lights that annoy us on the road are just folks who installed these LEDs without "properly aiming" them?

Bottom line for replacing with LEDs; Don't expect this to be plug-and-play, If you're comfortable with installing the optional resistors and/or other electronic "fixes" if your particular Edge requires them, give it a try. Maybe pull the dust cover off of the low-beam (outer) passenger side alignment assembly and try getting your hand in there far enough to not only remove and replace the bulb, but to manage gaining the correct orientation of the new and much bigger LED light to it's socket. If you're able to pull it off, go for it!

I'm not comfortable to mess with the electrical system in something as essential as my headlight!)

But I'd love to hear some feedback on these thoughts!