HID headlights & the law

[Monkey Boy 1]

Was thinking of getting some for my Gen6 but am a bit wary now after reading this.

What do you lot think?

------------Information Sheet------------ May 2010

Aftermarket HID Headlamps

Statement

This document provides general guidance and advice on the legislative requirements in Great Britain relating to aftermarket HID headlamps. Every effort has been made to ensure that it is factually correct but recipients should check with the producers of this document if they have reason to believe any part is not correct or is now out of date.

General requirements

In the Department for Transport's (DfT) view it is not legal to sell or use after market HID lighting kits, for converting conventional Halogen headlamps to HID Xenon. If a customer wants to convert his vehicle to Xenon HID he must purchase completely new Xenon HID headlamps. The reason for this is that the existing lens and reflector are designed around a Halogen filament bulb, working to very precise tolerances. If one places a HID "burner" (bulb) in the headlamp, the beam pattern will not be correct, there will be glare in some places and not enough light in other places within the beam pattern.

The following is the legal rationale:

The Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations 1989 regulate the situation in the UK.

Under these Regulations, HID/Gas Discharge/Xenon headlamps are not mentioned and therefore they are not permitted according to the strict letter of the law.

However new vehicles have HID headlamps. This is because they comply with European type approval regulations. The UK cannot refuse to register a vehicle with a European type approval. These approvals relate to ECE Regulation 98 (for the HID headlamps which are tested on a rig in a laboratory) and ECE Regulation 48 (lighting installation on the vehicle).

For the aftermarket, a used vehicle cannot obtain type approval because this only applies to new vehicles. However DfT does not think it reasonable simply to ban HID in the aftermarket. Instead the Department makes analogies with new vehicles. It seems reasonable to require HID in the aftermarket to meet the same safety standards as those for new vehicles. The same level of safety should apply.

Therefore a HID headlamp unit sold in the aftermarket should:

1. 
   

be type approved to ECE Regulation 98 as a component;

when fitted to the vehicle should enable ECE Regulation 48 to be complied with (although no government inspection will take place); and

comply with RVLR as far as "use" is concerned.

In practice this means:

1. 
   

The headlamp unit (outer lens, reflector, bulb) shall be type approved to ECE 98 and be "e-marked" to demonstrate this. That can only be done by the headlamp supplier - Hella, Valeo etc. - who must test the headlamp in an independent laboratory.

Once fitted to the vehicle it must have headlamp cleaning and self-levelling (which can be for the headlamp or can be in the vehicle suspension - some expensive estate cars have "self-levelling suspension" and that is adequate). Also the dipped beam must stay on with the main beam.

The headlamp must be maintained in good working order, kept clean, and aligned/adjusted correctly in the same way as any other headlamp.

Under the Road Traffic Act 1988 it is an offence to supply, fit or use vehicle parts which are not legal.

In summary: it is not permitted to convert an existing halogen headlamp unit for use with HID bulbs. The entire headlamp unit must be replaced with one designed and approved for use with HID bulbs and it must be installed in accordance with the rules stated above.

Further information

A note on legislation for vehicle lighting is annexed to this information sheet.

If you require any further information regarding the content of this information sheet, please contact the DfT at the address below:

International Vehicle Standards

Department for Transport

Zone 1/33

Great Minster House

33 Horseferry Road

London

SW1P 4DR

Telephone: 020 7944 2091

Fax: 020 7944 2196

Email: TTS.enquiries@dft.gsi.gov.uk

NOTE: The information in this document is a summary of DfT’s understanding of what the law requires. However, ultimately the interpretation of the law is a matter for the courts based on individual facts of any particular case. You are therefore advised to consult the relevant legislation and, if necessary, seek independent advice

Edited February 22, 2013 by Monkey Boy 1

[HiluxSurf]

How are they seriously going to Police this one?

OK you might have to change to normal Bulbs for your MOT but come on how many cars are now running HID's and how many police do we have on the Roads not.

I recently put them into My Gen 6 and tbh pointed at the garage door there was hardly any diffrence in the pattern compaired to normal bulbs. I have them in my Surf as well and yes i have to admit that a 6" lift on the beast does put them directly at any ar thats been lowered.

[Guest MR JDM]

Meh it's dangerous to have HID's according to this law but it helps see where you're going just dazzles other drivers.

Apparently you need headlight washers / auto levelling.

I've been told this by a MOT tester when I asked him and his exact reply was the auto levelling units are tiny and put in a daft place. There's not likely to be a single police officer who will take the time to look for it and even if he does they'll never find it purely because they don't know what they're looking for

As long as you don't have stupidly blue bulbs etc it's not likely to cause any issues although you'll need to get them swapped for MOT time

[keef-b]

If they are fitted in reflector housings they are a bloody nuisance to other road users - you can get reflector housing specific HID bulbs but IMO these still give off glare in most applications.

If you are fitting them to projectors then most of the time the light output is controlled enough not to be a nuisance but some cheap aftermarket replacements can be terrible too.

If I had reflector headlamp units in my car I wouldn't ever consider fitting HIDs.

Edit - I couldn't care less about the law as its only at MOT time it'd really be relevant, it's annoying other road users I'm concerned about because I know it bugs the life outa me when another inconsiderate cnut is going the other way or comes up behind you with these blue blazing balls on the front of their cars obliterating your vision of anything that may be important.

There, rant over lol

Edited February 22, 2013 by keef-b

[geraintthomas]

If fitted in reflector (Gen 6), the beam pattern usually goes haywire as the bulbs are larger, and the housing relies on the shape of the bulb to reflect the correct pattern - it'll cause glare. If fitted in a projector (Gen 7) then there's a cut off inside the lens, so it's impossible to cause glare.

The law (at the moment) is that if your car has headlamp washers and auto-levellers, then they must work. If not, then it's not a requirement.

MYK asked VOSA about this very issue, and this was their reply:

Note from VOSA regarding HID legality

(Thanks to 'MYK' for supplying this info)

"Dear Sir or Madam,

Thank you for your email inquiry dated 6th January 2012, concerning the

above.

On the basis of the information you have provided, it would appear that

there would be no problem with the vehicle passing its MOT in 2012. Please

note that as we cannot see the vehicle, we can only advise in general

terms.

Section 1.7 of the Private Passenger and Light Commercial Vehicle

inspection manual gives the general requirements for headlights (eg similar

output from the lights, colours, etc) and states that where washers or

self-leveling systems are fitted on HID lamps they must work.

HID lamps that have an output of less than 2000 Lumens do not need headlamp

leveling or washing.

It is also not possible for an MOT tester to determine whether or not a

particular lamp is more than 2000 Lumens or not. The MOT test therefore

uses the lowest criteria that can realistically be applied; so if a

particular vehicle is fitted with a headlamp leveling or washing system,

then we consider it logical to assume that it requires it by law and

therefore it must work."

- VOSA

There's a bit more info on my HID thread, have a look here.

Edited February 22, 2013 by geraintthomas

[Cravo]

Passed my MOT 2 weeks ago with HID's in but mine are projector headlights.

[geraintthomas]

Yeah - if fitted, they won't fail because they're HID's, they'd fail due to the colour or beam pattern.

Getting 8000k or higher will fail as they're blue, and putting them in reflectors will usually fail as the beam pattern will be a mess.

The best choices would be 4300k, 5000k or 6000k to look as OEM as possible (4300k being OEM), then putting them in projectors - you won't have a single problem then

[harv_j]

Reflector headlamps & HID's are bad news. If you want HID's i agree, i think you should get some projection headlamps. Complete crap about the washers though, i dont understand the purpose of those ... who has a dirty car?!

[Cravo]

lol Harv

Problem is for the gen 6 boys and girls projectors are a small fortune for what they are!

[Akuma77]

i had 6000k on my old v6 but that also had projector headlamps and yes it was a brilliant mod but tbh the lights that toyota did fit are very good im finding and very unlike candle like so for now i wont be fitting hids but i also know you can get HID type replacement bulbs .

Edited February 22, 2013 by celica1977

[geraintthomas]

HID type bulbs? :/

[harv_j]

lol Harv

Problem is for the gen 6 boys and girls projectors are a small fortune for what they are!

Oh yeah, i know they are mega expensive for what they are ... but tough shit, if you want HID's to a car that was built before projection headlamps were even invented then you need to spend the cash.

HID type bulbs? :/

Think he's on about the MTEC style ones that are much brighter than a standard bulb. Good alternative the the HIDs.

[Akuma77]

yep thats the ones

[geraintthomas]

Oh yeah, i know they are mega expensive for what they are ... but tough shit, if you want HID's to a car that was built before projection headlamps were even invented then you need to spend the cash.

They were actually used by Audi in the 80's

But yeah, you'll need to buy projector headlamps for the Gen 6. I'm sure there are a set of OEM projectors available for the 6, but they're rarer than rocking horse shit.

MTEC are alright. Their 'super white' have a nice white light but the light output is average. Not bad, just average. The MTEC's have a blue coated bulb which doesn't give out a blue light, but cancels out the yellow colour to give a white light. But because of this coating, the light output suffers.

Osram Nightbreakers are the best halogens you could put in the car. They're not tinted, but they're very bight and well worth the money.

MTEC - best for looks.

Nightbreakers - best for visibility

HID 5000k - best of both.

[Monkey Boy 1]

I have the Osram Nightbreakers and to be honest, there isn't too much difference between the bulbs I took out & the Osrams.They seemed better to start with, but after a couple of months it seemed like the normal candles were back. It may just be me getting used to them.The High beam is fine, just the low is pretty poor. It may be the fact that the reflective part of the headlamp is degrading as the car is now 17 years old

[geraintthomas]

Ahh I see.

100W bulbs are classed as illegal, but what I did a few years back was buy 100W MTEC Super whites. Now even though they're 100W, because they have that blue coating to make them white, that dies down the brightness anyway - so the 100W versions of them just punch through the coating a bit better. They don't glare, the beam pattern's the same, and they're nice and bright.

Obviously getting 100W non-coated bulbs would be ridiculously bright, and could cause glare. I'd read up on using 100w's though as some cars have been known to have melted contacts.

[HiluxSurf]

Well as stated above i have HID's in both my cars now and well unless someone makes me take them out i will be leaving them in. As for the beam scatter the new cars with the official OEM HID's are just as damn blinding as the ones with Reflectors. Was minding my own buisness the other day and the F**king great Merc came stonking out of know where with his DRL's on his HID;s on and could i see where i was going Could I FK.

HID's are here to stay unless they make them illegal me thinks.

Also i dont have them fro hooning around in the dark that is way to bad, i just like the pure white light that they give off, looks far better than the yellow that you get from normal bulbs.

Edited February 22, 2013 by HiluxSurf

[Cravo]

Thing is there is a very good counter argument for keeping them legal as well, they improve visibility vastly, that can only be a good thing really.

But.......

This reminds me.

Mk4 Golf near me with reflector lights and what look like 10000k HID's. He comes past the house most evenings and me and our lass were watching the snow out the window the other week and he drove past. SIDE ON and upstairs he somehow blinded me so god knows what thats like driving towards him.

[geraintthomas]

If HID's are causing glare (be it from a new Merc, etc) then it's either due to fitting in reflectors or that the levelling is off, and they're shining right into your eyes. OEM HID's in projectors should never blind due to the cut-off.

But yeah, I've seen some tw**s drive around with 8000k's or 10000k's in their reflectors, and it boils my blood.

[HiluxSurf]

Well its a great debate to have and i think it makes people appreciate both sides of the argument.

On the 4x4 i have wound the lights down as i am going to be fitting a set of 4 lights on the Roof for the winter so only need the front HIDs for normal driving.