History of KOITO

In the auto industry in Japan after the war, only the production of trucks was allowed under the command of GHQ (General Headquarters of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers). Due to the difficulty of procuring materials, parts and machines, the production volume was small and the prospects for the automotive industry were bleak.
Amid such circumstances, in 1946 KOITO received orders for headlamps from the Yoshiwara Plant of Nissan Motor and signal lamps for Datsun trucks and started to produce them at the Shizuoka Plant. This was KOITO's first post-war production of automotive lighting equipment. Subsequently, KOITO started supplying its products to Toyota Motor Company (current Toyota Motor Corporation) and to Toyo Kogyo Co., Ltd. (current Mazda Motor Corporation), and the products were highly acclaimed by these automakers.

In May 1946, Empress Dowager Teimei visited the Shizuoka Plant and observed the manufacturing processes and all facilities employed immediately after the transition to civilian industry. The Empress Dowager made encouraging remarks to all the workers who were doing their best to rebuild the defeated nation.

After the war, the brightness of all-glass sealed beam headlamps mounted on U.S.-made Jeeps was so innovative that KOITO anticipated its widespread use and developed a semi-sealed beam headlamp in August 1950, as the first step.

Cleaning dirt on headlamps is crucial for ensuring safety, and relevant regulations were started to drawn up in Europe. KOITO has developed jet-type headlamp washers, and its installation to export vehicles began in August 1975.

Following the enactment of a regulation on four-lamp rectangular sealed beam (RSB) headlamps in United States in 1973, KOITO developed its first prototype in 1974, obtained U.S. certification in 1976, and began mass-production in November 1977 ahead of its competitors. Mass-production of two-lamp RSB headlamps started in 1978.

As halogen light bulbs with high luminous flux and excellent antiglare performance can contribute to reduce traffic accidents, they were standardized in Europe in 1971 and in the U.S. in 1978. KOITO has started producing halogen headlamps by incorporating halogen light sources (originally imported products) into SB and SSB headlamps in July 1978.