We are approaching a tipping point as more and more models, and even brands, are getting close to an even mix of Hybrids/EVs and traditional gas-powered cars, or, in some cases, selling more hybrids than non-hybrids. The biggest domino to fall is likely Toyota, which makes sense, but it’s not the only automaker seeing its product mix switchover.
Hybrids are surging in popularity in part because they can be made to cost about the same as an ICE and remain roughly as profitable, as we’ve talked about in The Morning Dump before. Batteries are expensive to make and central to the profitability of a vehicle, which is why it’s a big deal that the UAW just unionized an Ultium plant in Tennessee.
Curiously, for all the importance of batteries to EVs, chemistry and production haven’t historicaly been a huge focus for Tesla, who has worked with outside suppliers for battery development. Is this folly? Will this lead BYD to ultimately become the bigger and more profitable company? Someone is making that point.
As hybrids are becoming popular, so are “software-defined vehicles” (SDVs), and there’s an interesting interview with the head of SDV at Stellantis. While he talks a lot about upper-level stack and the need to move away from Tier 1 suppliers, he also talks about the idea of upgrading existing vehicle hardware the same way you upgrade software. This is a unique idea and worth talking about.
Toyota Is At 48% Electrified, CR-V Is At 51% Hybrid
If I bang the “Year of the Hybrid” drum any harder I’m going to drive the mallet straight through it, but I’m not one for subtlety or modesty. Yesterday, I used this space to remark on how well Kia and Hyundai were doing because of hybrid sales. Today, we now have data from Honda and Toyota showing much the same.
Let’s start with Toyota. The overall company reported sales of almost 198,389 vehicles in August, up 1.9% year-over-year when you include Lexus (or a slight drop of 1.3% when you don’t). The drop can partially be ascribed to a stop-sale on the Toyota Grand Highlander/Lexus TX, which negatively impacted sales.
Here’s what’s interesting to me, via Automotive News:
Toyota said its August sales of electrified models rose 49 percent to 94,509, or almost half – 48 percent – of its U.S. deliveries during the month, nearly all of them gasoline-electric hybrids.
While Toyota does sell some bZ4X electric crossovers, the number is almost nominal when compared to all the hybrid RAV4s it sells. The fact that the Sienna and Camry are hybrid-only is a huge deal, and helping to push this number ever upwards. As more Tacoma Hybrids and other hybrid vehicles hit the market I expect Toyota will mostly sell “electrified” vehicles soon.
At Honda, it’s much the same, with the new Honda CR-V hitting its best sales so far this year at 38,527 units, and hybrids accounting for more than half (51%) of total sales for the month (I’m obviously doing my part). Overall, Honda lags behind Toyota with total electrified model penetration at just 28%, though it’s only a matter of time as the Civic and Accord Hybrids roll out. The big question I have is how long it’ll take for Honda to offer a hybrid Odyssey.
I’m anxious to see Ford’s sales report later today as the Maverick is another model that’s got a positive hybrid/non-hybrid split.
UAW Unionizes Ultium Battery Plant
One of the more contentious points in the United Auto Workers strike against GM was the potential unionization of the company’s new battery plants, which are not wholly owned GM companies but part of a joint venture with South Korea’s LG.
The ultimate conclusion to the Ultium conundrum was that Ultium plants could enter into the overall GM agreement if/when a majority of workers at that plant voted to join the UAW.
That’s happened, with the UAW scoring its second victory in the Republican south with members of the Ultium plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee joining up, as the Detroit Free Press reports:
“The UAW members at Ultium and VW are proving that the new jobs of the South will be union jobs,” Tim Smith, director for UAW Region 8, which includes Tennessee, said in a statement provided to the Detroit Free Press. “In the battery plants and EV factories springing up from Georgia to Kentucky to Texas, workers know they deserve the same strong pay and benefits our members have won. And we’re going to make sure they have the support they need to win their unions and win their fair share.”
A fluke or a sign of things to come?
Tesla’s Lack Of Battery Infrastructure Is Either A Blessing Or A Curse
And while we’re on the topic of battery manufacturing… pretty much from the beginning, Tesla as an automaker was great at using traditional cylindrical battery cells (18650 for the Model S) from other companies to power its vehicles. The company has continued to utilize battery production from various sources, including Panasonic and even BYD.
The company has been experimenting with making its own 4680 cells, though, reportedly, that’s hit some snags:
In May, Musk told the team working on the 4680—the nickname for the cylindrical battery, which is 46 millimeters in diameter and 80 millimeters tall—to cut its cost and scale up one of its key innovations by the end of the year, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
And in recent months, Musk has told them he wants to see a solution to a thorny technical problem that can cause the batteries to collapse on themselves while in use, one of those people said.
Is this a big deal? Tesla has done quite well partnering with companies to get its batteries. One analyst/investor on Twitter, Glenn Luk, has a big thread out this morning on why it might be and it’s worth reading.
Luk looked at all the financials from the major EV companies operating in China and saw that most of the profits were going to BYD, Tesla, and battery makers like CATL. The conclusion he’s drawing is that BYD will likely end up more net profitable in the future as it can profit off its batteries in a way Tesla currently cannot:
BYD is extracting value from both car tech/design/distribution and the batteries.
It’s ~24.5% gross margin should be mentally split between the two: ~19.8% gross margin from the car and 4.7% on the batteries. pic.twitter.com/S6A1UqeR2E
— Glenn (@GlennLuk) September 4, 2024
This is a somewhat random person on Twitter/X, so take any analysis with a grain of salt, but it’s an interesting question and, if BYD does surpass Tesla in profits later this year, it’s something we can sort of test.
The French Were Apparently Testing Out Upgradable Hardware
Biographer/historian Robert Caro’s favorite dictum, inherited from a newspaper editor, was to “turn over every page.” I often fail at meeting this standard, but it’s true that sometimes the best information is buried deeply in a long document.
Automotive News has a lengthy interview with Yves Bonnefont, Stellantis Chief Software Officer, on the topic of vehicle software, but it’s a bit about hardware later on in the interview that caught my attention and made me glad I read the whole thing:
Do you foresee any situations where hardware upgrades can be performed in the field?
The idea of upgrading vehicle components, such as headlamps, is continuously debated in the industry. However, one of the main challenges is finding economically viable solutions.In the past, when leading DS, there was an attempt to upgrade headlamps by introducing new LED modules. The design was carefully done to ensure physical compatibility with the previous headlamp design, allowing customers to upgrade if desired.
However, the price tag for upgrading headlamps was not very attractive to customers, resulting in low demand. Despite the significant improvement in the appearance of the vehicle, the cost of the upgrade outweighed its appeal.
Um, what? First of all, it’s an interesting question. While over-the-air updates for cars are becoming more common, and the idea of a tech going to your house/business for a basic upgrade has been floating around for a while, I’m not sure I’ve heard of a tech going to your house to offer a hardware upgrade. Usually you have to drive to a dealership for an upgrade defined in a Technical Service Bulletin or something.
In particular, it sounds like the French subbrand DS (a part of Citroën) was experimenting with offering updated LED headlights that could fit into existing cars. Huh? That’s kinda fascinating and does make some sense. If your specific model didn’t have an improved headlight you’re stuck with what you’ve got or, worse, you have to make some sort of janky aftermarket improvement. An OEM-blessed headlight seems marketable but, it seems, the price is too high.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
My wife and I were talking about Joe Cocker’s lovely “With a little help from my friends” and both of us assumed Cocker had died young, for some reason. It turns out that Cocker lived to be 70, which is 900 in ’60s rock star years. Good for him.
The Big Question
Is there any part of your existing car you’d like an OEM upgrade for? Headlights? Seats? It’s such a strange notion to me.
Top photo: depositphotos.com
Upgradable hardware needs to be more of a thing. If the rest of the chassis is in good order, being able to slot in a plug-and-play upgrade to keep the car on the road would be better for everyone…everyone, that is, with the possible exception of the manufacturers themselves.
If I could find a builder that didn’t want to sell me a new car every four years, but one car and then keep it going for the next 40, I’d be pretty happy with that.
The price premium for a hybrid Toyota or Lexus is pretty minimal. So especially for the larger vehicles, the gas savings can easily pay for the extra price on the sticker.
Probably why Highlander Hybrids are impossible to buy, but gas ones are around (and still sell fast, but slower than a hybrid). That is of course if the dealers don’t ruin the value proposition of the car. I can buy a lot of gas for a $5k dealer markup.
I think the only thing I’d upgrade on my car (assuming it wasn’t way overpriced) would be to get heated/cooled seats. I guess I could add heated seats now, but never did.
My car has a double DIN radio hole still, but for cars that don’t, it’d make sense to be able to upgrade the brains behind the screen.
I’ve looked into it on my car, and I think it was going to cost ~$1k per seat to upgrade to heated/cooled. But it would also include new leather upholstery so I guess it’s not that terrible.
“Is there any part of your existing car you’d like an OEM upgrade for?”
With my C-max Energi, I’d like to see an updated version of the hybrid pack that is either the same size with more storage capacity or the same storage capacity, but physically smaller.
I’d also like a suspension upgrade kit that reduces the side to side sway that happens when hitting uneven bumps.
A few that I’ve actually looked into doing:
All features I would be willing to pay handsomely for (and have by shelling out for higher trims on new vehicles). If there were a factory-authorized way to do some of those to my existing fleet I probably would have.
Regarding the battery topic, I suppose you could look at batteries as the new engines? I realize electric motors are probably a more direct analog, but I think batteries could be a bigger differentiator in the long run so it makes sense to try to develop your own. The big brands are all developing their own ICE engines for the same reason.
I wish Toyota still made the first gen Matrix and it was available as a hybrid. It wasn’t a looker by any means, but it was more attractive than the Corolla Cross.
So many Toyotas and Lexuses are total butterfaces.
Imagine the original xB with a Prius drivetrain.
It’s not even that hard to do; it’s essentially the same engine just with a different valvetrain.
You just described the car I want them to make. And no, the current Prius being a liftback isn’t the same…
If we are saying OEM that would be year accurate there isn’t much I can get. My 2013 FJ is a trail teams so fully loaded essentially, my 92 D250 I guess an upgrade to w250/350 as 4×4 would be nice to have. My 89 Firebird is a formula 350 only thing I would want OEM different would that it had been a GTA or a turbo trans am. But at this point not much is stock left on my Firebird at least drivetrain wise.
I hear Ferrari window motors and AC work reliably nowadays…
OEM quality hardware updates would be great, but I can’t imagine manufacturers selling them at reasonable prices.
I wouldn’t mind the new BRZ’s engine without the torque dip in my old BRZ.
My same question, but also for the Pilot and Ridgeline.
The Ridgeline to compete with the Maverick would be great.
Heads up display.
As a tall guy who enjoys a relatively upright seating position, I hate looking off the road just to check speed.
Even worse with some vehicles that have extended dashtop covers. Those are meant to shade the instruments, but end up just covering the damn things up when I look down at them.
I do a lot of long distance work driving. I adore my Amazon GPS based HUD module that plugs into the OBD2 port, particularly for night driving. I also see how far off my speedometer is reading the true speed from satellite – my ticket avoider.
Have upgraded oldest car with hard mounted backup camera as well.
What’s your opinion on the trend of newer cars that have ‘naked’ screens, from the perspective of a tall guy with a high seating position?
I’ve found that there’s generally 3 types of these dashes:
– A small screen in a pod on or behind the steering wheel, like in the VW ID.4 or new Prius
– A larger 12″ screen panel that’s placed in the traditional gauge cluster position, but without being recessed or covered. Examples would be the ’24 Hyundai Santa Fe, Ioniq 5/6 or the new’ 25 Chevy Equinox
– A screen placed very far back in the dash and close to the windshield, and is often part of a full width screen, like in the latest Lincoln Nautilus and some Chinese cars.
My guess is that the pod design might work for you depending on the implementation; the Prius’s is not very well placed for the average person, but your positioning is likely high enough where it’s not blocked by the wheel. The regular 12″ panel design will probably cause similar problems to what you’ve described, while the pushed back full width dash design would be almost guaranteed to work since it’s almost a HUD in placement.
1. Stalk mounted instrument clusters – these are fine, as long as the stalk elevates high enough to match my arms/shoulder angle.
2. Large screen in lieu of driver’s cluster – Haven’t driven any of those yet. I assume they shouldn’t be an issue, as long as they have decent oblong viewing angles. Notable exceptions are cars that have the speedometer on the center console. Nearly bought a Tesla Model Y, test drove it, couldn’t stand looking down AND away to check speed.
3. Very far forward mounted screens – these are effectively the same as a HUD for me. The relative sightline from the screen to the road is much better than something up close and at the wrong angle. Interesting observation that this is a more common feature in Chinese cars. The new Lincoln Nautilus is also an import from China.
Also, manufacturers can screw up HUD implementation. Test drove a Lexus TX, and could not use any of the steering wheel mounted buttons, because all commands are contextual and displayed on the HUD… except the HUD is mounted too low for me to see. Absolutely brilliant.
Seats. Ventilated seats.
To me the upgrade will be a more standardized maintenance program from OEM regulating more prices and parts to replace on a package. You want an updated brake system? You need pads, rotors, etc at this price. You buy it online, schedule the upgrade with whatever dealer around you, done. Its really scary how prices from dealerships change between regions or whatever they want to charge you with no visibility ahead of time, having to pay diagnostic fees, etc.
Having that visibility of prices helps you budget ahead of time and not wait until last minute when your braking system is shot. Similar concept to other consumables like seats, carpet, buttons, radios. It will help with resale value too having OEM parts and upgrades instead of knockoff parts.
“Is there any part of your existing car you’d like an OEM upgrade for?”
Yes. PHEV. And at a very cost effective price.
I’d like a range extended EV factory upgrade for my 96 Jeep, but I’m guessing it would cost more than the original MSRP.
I mean I upgraded the yellowed out headlights on my Ranger with some $50 ones from Amazon, bulbs included, so….sure why not.
I’ve mentioned this before, but for modern connected vehicles, one component that ABSOLUTELY MUST be upgradable is the cellular modem. I’ve now owned 3 different cars whose functionality were negatively impacted by cellular system retirements. A BMW and a Nissan were both impacted by 2G shutdown, and another BMW by 3G shutdown. With 5G becoming the standard, it’s only a matter of time before the wireless providers start eyeing the end of 4G LTE and there will be hundreds of thousands of vehicles (and other devices) impacted. How are the OEMs designing their products to make the mobile modem upgradable? At least Nissan was kind enough to offer a 3G upgrade for $200. BMW did not offer anything.
Extremely important!
It’s surprising manufacturers aren’t doing this already. If they really think the future is subscription based options, they’re gonna lose that revenue stream every time there’s an upgrade to cell signal.
Maybe they are starting to? I would advocate for car reviewers to SPECIFICALLY ask manufacturers about how future-ready vehicles are, particularly around connectivity. That should be part of how the vehicle is evaluated, imo. I’ve never seen a car review mention this issue.
BMW offered nothing because BMW only cares about the car until the lease is over. then it becomes the property of someone who thinks expensive, broken features give a car character.
Volvo (at least in the Nordics) shut down the VOC for previous platform cars when the 3G was starting to get replaced. The lost functionality? Basically just locking the car remotely, timing the auxiliary heater (”webasto”), perhaps some pointless misc. crap as well. Those functions apparently required soo much bandwidth, that 2G could not possibly cope? Really? And… then they introduced some sort of sms-based functionality for starting the aux heater remotely… because unhappy customers in the arctic. And those were customers paying for the (pretty basic) service!
Headlight upgrades are a great example. I think part of what makes it tricky (expensive) is you’ve already paid for your existing headlights once, and now you have to pay for the entire new set of headlights on top of that – leaving you with a spare set of old, inferior lights to… sell to a junkyard? If there was a core exchange discount offered by the OEM, that might help. New headlights are expensive!
I’d love to upgrade the rusty rocker panels on my F-150. Does that count?
To answer the question, a radio would’ve been nice, Chrysler did it for years for a bunch of other products, but I don’t think they have one anymore for my Compass.
Any who, I actually sold one of my friends onto an AWD Corolla Hybrid. He drives a lot (100,000 miles in 2 years on his now second-to-last car, a ’20 Compass), so he wanted better fuel economy. He originally traded in that Compass for a Mirage, and when he decided to get another new car, I told him his best bet would be the Corolla. On the drive home alone, he averaged like 60mpg and now he drives like a rookie ecomodder: He keeps trying his hardest to drive as efficiently as possible.
Kinda want one a bit more now!
since new cars are a computer, I want OEM CPU and RAM upgrades.
93 octane tunes from the factory.
Tired of living with lower power and fuel economy because OEMs need to cater to those who can’t get better than 91 swill (looking at you California).
Power I understand, but do the 93 octane tunes really improve fuel enconomy enough to account for the price difference?
Not sure what you mean by price difference:
The gas choices I have available here are 87, 89, and 93. So there is no difference in the cost per gallon, I just get 93 for the same price others pay for 91 or 92.
If you mean the presumed cost of the factory retune, the purpose would mostly be for power, but if it could get another 1 mpg or something I wouldn’t turn it down. It’s not something I’d be looking for a payback period on though.
Huh, here, St. Louis, there’s usually a 20¢ per gallon difference between 87 and 93.
I’m not explaining what I mean very well.
I’m talking about cars that already require premium gas. These are tuned for 91 octane from the factory, because some states don’t offer anything higher.
What I’d like for my cars is a 93 octane tune instead of a 91 octane tune, because where I live, 93 octane is standard for premium.
Have you come in a time machine from 2003? Here (Michigan) it’s at least $1.00
Looking right back at you Smoggy.
And for the record I can get better than 93 octane. I can get 94, 96, 98 even 101 octane right here in California:
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/sunol-super-gasoline-sunol?select=ziNCMDkhZzvd627D8v-iOQ
Every gas station I’ve been to in California has 91 octane as standard premium.
The existence of a few places that sell race gas doesn’t invalidate the larger point. In fact, it should make you more inclined to support my proposal.
Clearly you aren’t shopping at the right stations. Here, this should help:
https://find93.com/
Plenty of 93 stations for the vanishingly few cars that need it.
No cars require 93 from the factory, not even Bugattis, which is my entire point.
OEMs tune cars conservatively because some places only have 91. As someone who lives in a land of plentiful 93, I’d rather the automakers offered me an engine tune to take advantage of it.
So who does take advantage of it? Someone other than a few racers must, otherwise why would it be so common east of the Mississippi and not THAT uncommon west of it?
The only beneficiaries are corn farmers, whom we subsidize to mix their 113 octane ethanol into our fuel supply.
Pure gas (sold in some places for boats and offroad equipment) is invariably 91 octane, even here.
Umless the red marks around the “Supreme” button mean something I can’t see, the grade names and pricing on that pump seem a little odd. Shouldn’t the price and octane tiers rise from “Supreme” to “Extra Supreme” to “Ultra Supreme” to the highest tier of “That’s Miss Ross to you‽”
When I had my 2018 Golf Wagon S 4Motion, I despised the OEM headlights. The stock Halogen units were terrible, poor throw, big glare, and ugly. The OEM GTI/R/SEL LED headlights were SUPER compelling, but because of the programming of the units, a direct OEM swap was not easily done without serious modification. What I did instead was source an aftermarket replica of the OEM higher trim Mk7.5 headlights that were plug an play, albeit with ballasts that needed ziptied to load level the LEDs.
OEM look and fitment, new nearly 1k, although I found used for ~450, and I would ABSOLUTELY do on any lower-trim Mk7/7.5. If VW made the headlights a direct swap, I would have paid the premium for OEM for reliability concerns. Even better about the aftermarket units was the turn signals swept like they do in Europe, instead of being a solid flash like the USDM ones, which was just a nice touch.
I have a 2014 Sportwagen TDI and the standard halogens sucked. I did a ton of research around HIDs since I didn’t want to be “that guy” with the blinding lights, and finally found a company that specifically designs their HIDs to work with halogen reflectors so as not to blind people. And I was on a budget at the time. They look great, and I’ve checked out the lights in the dark. They’re bright, but no brighter than lighting that comes standard on many cars these days. A huge improvement over stock, though at some point I might go the same route as you and replace the headlight units altogether.
Yep, the advantage of the replica units for the Mk7/7.5 are that they’re a direct copy of the reflector design of the OEM units, so they work as good as stock for LEDs, the only asterisk being I did a poor job aiming mine so they were a touch high, but otherwise performed amazing. I do find it absurd VW has completely different programming for their different trim headlights. I get somewhat different electronics internally for different bulbs, but the fact that it’s not feasible for most enthusiasts to upgrade with OEM parts is frustrating.
I did get some good use out of my OBDEleven for fun coding things. Remote window open and close from the key fob was absolutely killer in the summer.
I love the remote window up/down option, I’ve enabled it on my car, and every VW owned by friends and family. I’ve never heard of that tool before though, I’ve always used VCDS. It paid for itself within a couple months of buying it.
If you have access to VCDS, the OBDEleven isn’t really worthwhile, its effectively a VAG specific OBD2 dongle that can do a good chunk of VCDS functions like the window coding, needle sweeps, and other random stuff. It was a nice tool when I had my mk7.5, but I sold it after I sold the car since it doesn’t work well as an OBD2 scanner for non-VAG cars for some reason.
I forgot about needle sweeps, I think I tried that in VCDS but it didn’t work on my car. I’ve made so many tweaks that I can’t remember them all! Another favorite is having the emergency flashers come on if you have to do a panic stop, something I’ve fortunately only had happen once. VCDS works pretty well as a generic OBD2 scanner, it was nice not having to get a separate tool since my fiancee doesn’t drive a VW.
Isn’t OEM upgrading just a type of hot rodding? My car came with a 5.3, so I’m putting in a 6.0? I have a 4L60e, but I want a 6L80?
Wranglers actually have OEM headlight upgrades. Top models get those lozenge shaped LED headlights you can swap in.
Really though, OEM is of zero importance to me. Headlight upgrade? Take them apart and install some Mishimoto’s. Upgraded seats? Find seats I want and modify the bases to bolt to my car.
Is there any part of your existing car you’d like an OEM upgrade for?
I’d like to see some solution to stereo/hvac/central-interface unit. Used to be you could upgrade your stereo, but with how integrated everything is, that is pretty much unfeasible What happens in 10 years when the unit fails and you need a replacement? If you can find the part in the second hand market, great, but if it is a unit with a high failure rate, you are stuck with a vehicle with limited functionality. Maybe Kenwood, Pioneer or Alpine will come out with a solution, but there is so much DMR and proprietary engineering to overcome.
I would live a headlight upgrade for the Pacifica. The year we got ours (2018), everything other than the highest trim got crappy headlights. Great work Chrysler: way to cheap out on an otherwise nice van.
Could I upgrade this myself? Maybe, but to be honest I find headlight replacements to be one of the most co fusing things in the world. There are two many options, and I have no idea what’s worth it vs not.
In fact, I would love a guide to upgrading headlights – not from crap to halogen or led or laser beam or anything, just a basic if you put in these bulbs maybe you’ll be able to see further than 15 feet at night…
Every vehicle that I’ve had in the past 10 years has had a bulb upgrade. As long as the bulb is a standardized size, you can do it. Exception is on some basic reflector (non-projector) housing, the unfocused light output can be too much for other drivers.
Ok, so next dumb question: is any bulb an upgrade? Other than it fitting, how do I choose? According to forums they’re all terrible/amazing.
A quick search seems to indicate that your 2018 Pacifica has 2 diff types of headlights, projector and non-projector. Projector uses H11 (low beam) and 9005 (highs) and the plain reflector (non-projector) uses 9005 for both. Since I don’t know your trim level, those are general guesses on the bulbs used.
Housings are generally either ‘reflective’ (old school), projector (those have the lenses that look like reflections from an eye at night) or specifically designed housings for proprietary LED installs.
There are generally 3 types of bulb tech in use. Halogen/incandescent (old school), HID (think of arc welding light) and LEDs. LEDs are the future and probably the best solution. HIDs should NOT be used in anything other than projector housing.
H11 and 9005 are standardized designs (sizes) that come in all three bulb techs. I would look into some quality LED bulbs in the proper size. Even the Amazon sourced LED bulbs will probably be better than halogen. I recommend doing some research and picking from a reputable brand. Xeon Depot has been my choice. The price will be higher, but performance and quality will be very good. The housings will probably still suck, but at least you will have more light to start with from the LED bulbs.
Important: If you only have reflector housings, your best bet is a higher output halogen or lower output LED because the light from bulb isn’t contained and directed as well. Blinding oncoming traffic is bad mojo. The Sylvania SilverStar Ultra is a bright bulb, but they burn out with some regularity. Good, but short life.
Not much reason to go with HIDs. They produce a lot more heat and equipment installation is harder with the additional parts.
This is amazing, thanks!
The IIHS started testing headlight performance sometime in the later 2010s, which lead to automakers to actually start trying, though they often only equipped those better units on top trims. The IIHS later started testing all trims’, and rated the model for Top Safety Pick eligibility based on the worst performing headlights, starting sometime around 2020. For better or worse, this often led to manufacturers including their highest end headlights in the base trims, potentially increasing their prices.
There’s a chance you could find good OEM units from a newer model year of the same generation, and they’ll probably be an upgrade if they were rated well by the IIHS.