The headlight shade does not reflect inside???

You are lucky. I still have one of those lying around. Here is one of them removed from the flat.

That cup cover is a dark matte gray on the inside and shiny chrome on the outside.

Wow, luckily he’s right. You have saved me from curiosity.

When I shine a flashlight there, the sides look black and the bottom (the bottom, the octagon) looks a pale white. But I can believe it is a uniform dark gray and the view I report here is due to the limitations of my eyesight and flashlight.

The purpose of this thing is not to reflect light back. It is to prevent the light from going straight ahead. The bulb should not be completely inserted into the cup. Only the top should lie on it.

The light from the bulb should go sideways into the reflector and be prevented from going forward. The reflector will redirect the light in a pattern to illuminate the road, but not so high as to blind other drivers. If that cup wasn’t there, the light would also go forward unfocused and essentially be a forward-facing flood light.

Here is a diagram.

Of course, it is understood in not sending the light directly forward.

But what I think I have is not like what is shown in that diagram. In that diagram, yes, the cap covers the top, and I wasn’t going to ask here if that’s what I thought I had.

What I think I have seems to cover almost the entire bulb (which is mostly at the bottom),

[trying and failing to insert a photo of the standard H1 bulb (dimensionally the same as the ones I now have in there) – as seen here https://www.rallylights.com/hella-h1-long-life-bulb-each.html ]

so nothing comes out the side either, any light bounces back before being reflected forward.

I think this is clear from my picture, and I think it’s all normal – nothing is damaged, but I think I had wondered if it was supposed to have a glossy surface that became a matte black that absorbs light after 20 years. So if they are going to do this, why not make the inside of the lid (the shelter as I called it earlier) fully reflective as the outside, and get a 3x increase in light output?

At this point, your picture of the dark gray matte inside convinces me that I have what Subaru intended me to have and I don’t want to make a research project out of it. But I’m still curious why not just make it glow from within.

Has anyone noticed this and sprayed it with chrome paint or applied aluminum HVAC tape to increase the reflectivity of the inside of the hood?

As for Hellas, no, they are not 100% brighter. Halogen for halogen, 55 watts is 55 watts. The power used is directly proportional to the light output with these. The only thing that makes Hellas different from a regular halogen is that they are colored blue. The slightly bluer light may seem brighter than a regular 3500K halogen, but they don’t actually emit much more light than a regular bulb.

Here is a test of various halogen bulbs followed by some cheap LEDs. See the light output measurements for yourself.

If you really want brighter headlights with a better beam pattern, you need projectors and then LEDs. Here are some photos of the custom headlights I made for myself.

Pattern of beacons and beams and light production.

Thanks for all the great information. I’m not really looking for an upgrade here (beyond paying the extra $5 for the bulbs, – RockAuto has Hella H1’s for $1.xx each, even the long life ones). I haven’t thought too much about that investment and they look good. I kept the old ones in the glove box though, in case their advertised short lifespan is true.

Another question:
When the headlights are off, and daytime running lights (which use these low beam bulbs) turn on automatically, is there any difference in brightness? If so, how much and how do they do it? I know on some cars they will use the high beams and put both sides in series so that each gets half the system voltage (12-14V), so 1/4 the power. But I have noticed with these, this is not the case, as one can be unplugged and the other still works.
Here, my concern is not about the brightness of the DRLs, I hope they are dimmed so that the bulbs last longer.