BMW 3-Series Gets All-Round Sporty Package from HELLA

Lighting and electronics specialist HELLA is reportedly supplying the BMW 3-Series with optional dynamic LED headlamps, interior lighting, LED rear combination lamps and various safety-enhancing and energy-efficient electronic components.

The German company has developed three headlamp variations for the sixth generation of the sports sedan’s 40^th anniversary. Here, halogen headlamps featuring LED daytime running lights come as standard equipment, along with two options with full LED headlamps. In the models with LED equipment, all functional lights work on LED technology. The headlamps emit bright light and consume a significantly low amount of energy.

Another bonus of HELLA’s state-of-the-art LED headlamps are the corona rings which supply both daytime running lights and position lights. Featuring a sporty look combined with the signature BMW design, these lights ensure that the car has a high recognition value both day and night.

The most high-end version of the BMW lighting package features adaptive, light-based driver assistance systems. Currently offered only in Europe, HELLA’s adaptive bend lighting provides variable town-and-highway light distribution as well as a glare-free high-beam assistant that offers optimal visibility without blinding other drivers. The system identifies other vehicles with precision and masks them from the BMW’s high-beam light distribution. The lighting range stretches over 400 meters and ensures timely recognition of road threats and also offers enhanced lane guidance.

Another thing that makes HELLA’s headlamps stand out from the crowd is the first-time use of sheet-metal cooling elements, which weigh significantly less than aluminum cooling elements that have been used up to now. The use of sheet-metal elements contributes to CO2 emissions reduction. To attain the exact setting for light distribution during the production process, HELLA has come up with a fully automated process that monitors light distribution throughout the production process with a camera, and if needed, readjusts it using LED position data.

The company also supplies LED rear combination lamps on the 3-Series that are positioned on the outer edges of the vehicle. Turn indicators come with a flat light guide that creates the illusion of a light curtain. The tail-light boasts a three-dimensional glowing body design in a distinctive L shape. Meanwhile, the LED technology in the brake lights, located behind the tail lights, deliver outstandingly quick response, thus improving the safety factor.

In the interior, HELLA offers reading lamps for both front and rear passengers along with door-mirror lighting and optional ambient lighting. The light guide that encircles the center console is specifically striking and displays cold white light or an orange tone, depending on the vehicle decor.

HELLA also offers its electronics expertise in the BMW 3-Series with many other features, including its radar sensors. The company’s proven 24 gigahertz radar technology is a vital component of the vehicle’s lane-charge warning system, which tracks vehicles located in the driver’s blind spot. The driver gets a warning from a flashing symbol in the side mirror combined with a slight vibration of the steering wheel.

Moreover, HELLA supplies standard rain/light sensors that automatically activate the car’s headlights and windshield wipers at the onset of rain. The company also supplies components tailor-made for fuel- saving vehicle functions, such as an intelligent battery sensor, to round off its electronics package.