I am starting my own DIY LED Prius headlight project because I keep seeing modern cars with factory lighting that looks alive, and I want that same kind of personality on the Prius. Not just a bulb swap. I want custom LED behavior, a cleaner startup animation, and blinkers that look intentional instead of basic.
The plan for the custom LED Prius headlights
The idea is to build a set of Toyota Prius headlights with an ESP32 controller and WS2812 LED strips. I want the controller to handle the fun stuff: startup animations, parking light effects, sequential turn signals, and maybe a few different modes I can change later without rebuilding the whole headlight.
For the blinker, I do not want it stuck doing only one thing. I want the option to run a smooth breathing effect where the light slowly glows on and fades off, or a trailing dot style where the signal moves across the strip like a modern sequential turn signal. If I put the LEDs behind 3D printed translucent plastic, the individual hot spots should blend together more like an OEM Lexus-style light pipe instead of a bare LED strip.
The 3D printed part is the piece that makes this interesting. I can shape the diffuser around the headlight design instead of forcing a universal strip into the housing. That gives me room to test different patterns, different diffusion thicknesses, and how much glow I can get before it starts looking cheap or uneven.
What I still need to figure out
This is still the beginning of the project, so I am not pretending it is finished. I still need to test brightness, heat, waterproofing, wiring, power behavior, and how the ESP32 will handle the signals from the car. I also need to make sure whatever I build is reliable enough to live inside a headlight housing, not just work on a bench for a video.
That is what this post is really about: the start of the custom LED Prius headlight build. ESP32 control, WS2812 LEDs, 3D printed translucent diffusers, startup animations, parking lights, and blinkers that can breathe or chase depending on the look I want.
