LED replacement head lamp bulbs

[hurricane36]

Hi if I have understood it correctly LED bulbs used place of HI/H4 halogen bulbs (headlamps) became illegal from 11th Jan 2021 and will be a MOT failure and subject to police and or a VOSA official action if found on a vehicle inspection. Could anyone confirm this?

[Rutty]

They have always been illegal but have only just been added to the MOT checks on the 11th of Jan.

Fitting an LED bulb to any exterior light on you car that is not originally designed to take an LED bulb is illegal. So that includes indicators, brakes, etc. The chances of being pulled up for having LED bulbs fitted in you brake lights is very slim and they are not tested on the MOT Yet! But a switched on insurance company might try to use it against you in an accident?

Mark

 

[thescrapman]

I am sure there is no issue with LED bulbs in our cars (apart from very late cars) as the lamp units are not E-marked so do not need to comply. Is in the various Construction and Use regulations.

The LED headlight bulb rulings seem to override the C&U regulations in applying retrospectively. There must have been a perceived issue and a sledgehammer was applied to crack a nut.

They can be fitted into a light unit that had them as an option on modern cars, so I thunk that means projector headlights that had HID as an option.

 

[DVD3500]

Here in Germany where everything has to be documented 3-fold aftermarket LED headlights ARE available from Osram but only for H7 sockets and only for cars listed on teh packaging: Mostly late 90's early 00's cars at the moment..

The difference is amazing. Much brighter and from a color standpoint not jarring.

One possible downside is they don't heat up like a headlight normally does so driving in cold rain/snow might might freeze on the lense.

Then again few Triumph drivers are out in that kind of weather....

My hope is Osram is going to do the H4 socket at some time but I don't think it is high on their list right now. The other problem is unless the lenses are all standardized they will have to list every single car on the papers and that is not really feasible.

I know in US there were only really 2 kinds of headlights and the lenses were the same. No clue if that was the case here in Europe...

[Hogie]

Hi Folks,

this has been doing the rounds of all the forums.

The lighting regulations have not changed just the listing for the MOT.

Many cars that have 'E' marks etc and where the manufacturer got their approval using filament bulbs need to stick with what they have - unless the manufacturer updates its approval.

Our old TRiumph cars  (not the acclaim and probably not the TR7) are beyond that control and basically we can do what ever we want as long as it passes the light characteristics for dip beam etc.

 

Roger

 

 

[Ian Perry]

All useful to know!

The Spitz has halogen conversion reflector/lens units (can't recall if they are even E-marked, TBH, they aren't prominently 'branded' - they aren't obviously HELLA or Wipac for example), and I've just put in relays in any case to reduce the load on the switchgear, but have wondered about fitting LEDs.

I have heard that aftermarket LED 'bulbs' are unsatisfactory as the light source is bigger than the filament in a halogen bulb, so the reflector and lens simply don't work properly and you get an awful beam pattern.

I've seen 7" aftermarket complete units for sale - aimed principally at the Land Rover market, I guess - which would probably fit the car... albeit they might look a bit odd. Curious to know whether they are any good, though?