Koito have won the Kanto Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry Director’s Grand Prize for their development of the world’s thinnest and lightest polycarbonate headlamp lens.
Koito are promoting manufacturing that is kind to people and the planet, to reduce environmental impact throughout their products’ lifecycles, pursuant to the realization of a decarbonized society.
Headlamps have been growing more multifunctional and larger, leading to an increase in assembly weight. The lens accounts for a large proportion of a headlamp’s weight, so Koito have been working on thinner, lighter-weight lenses. They developed a new high-temperature moldable material, which they call Light Green® PC and a manufacturing method that improves the fluidity of the resin and the mould cooling performance, and prevents defects such as deformation due to rapid cooling, while maintaining cycle time. This resulted in the world’s thinnest and lightest headlamp lens.
Because this lens can use existing moulding machines, it has been deployed in five regions worldwide and is used in all vehicles that began mass production in fiscal year 2022 and later.
Thinning and lightening the lens brings a 20-per-cent reduction in mass and reduces CO2 output by 3 kg per unit (thereby totalling up to 48,000 tonnes, as estimated for vehicles adopted in 2023). These thinner, lighter lenses reduce by 40 per cent the damage to the thigh of a pedestrian struck by the headlamp of a vehicle.
