I sort of remember them being called that about 5 decades ago. 🙂
Do not ever recall any phrase replacing headlights.
For many decades, automobile headlights were round and may have best fit for the term headlights being turned on.
In the mid 70's, vehicle headlights began moving to square & rectangle shapes.
I would guess at that point, the phrase "headlights" lost it's identity and association with being turned on.