LED headlamp bulbs

Stolen from another forum.

The upgrading of existing halogen headlamps with HID bulbs has been a MOT fail for a few years now. However upgrading with LED bulbs was OK.
From 11 January 2021 the MOT rules have been updated to make the fitment of LED bulbs ( in existing halogen units) a fail.

From the revised requirements. .

4. Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment

4.1.4 Headlamps - Compliance with requirements - Changed sentence from 'Existing halogen headlamp units should not be converted to be used with HID bulbs. If such a conversion has been done, you must fail the headlamp.' to 'Existing halogen headlamp units should not be converted to be used with high intensity discharge (HID) or light emitting diode (LED) bulbs. If such a conversion has been done, you must fail the headlamp.'

Link to Govt website:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-insp...#section-4-1-4

Interesting to hear that they explicitly mention specific technologies as a reason for a fail. If someone puts another different light source in there the rules need to change again.
On the other hand, probably it's just my limited knowledge related to MOT testing :)

it all came about after HID bulbs (specifically H4) landed on the aftermarket, people fitted them, thought they were amazingly bright, which they were, and promptly dazzled all oncoming traffic!

as a result, eventually, HID were outlawed as a retrofit in halogen lenses.....

then a load of LEDs arrived on the market, and i suspect through various limitations of LED design meaning beam patterns were less than ideal, it seems these have now been added to the list. in the NSX it's not so much of an issue, as they are projector lenses with an internal shield on the dipped side, but as with most things, others are collateral victims of blanket bans!

oh, well, something to swap out for the MOT....

This is so typical, I bought the HID kit a while ago, so I guess I won't be fitting that now!! and I then thought about LED bulbs, but I guess that won;t be happening now either ! oh well, standard bulbs it is then.!

Jim

Regulation for the retrofitting of HID came into effect in 2018. The exact wording changed for this year.
LED is new for this year.

For HID, depending on the parts and how you installed it, JDM owners 'may' be able to pass the MOT as the HID became the standard equipment for the later pop-up models and all face lifted ones.

Kaz

I was told my car was too old for the 2018 regs to apply.

Let's see what happens this year...

This was the info I found from DVLA:

Attachment 14162
Hope this helps.

if it was originally a halogen bulb, it has to be a halogen for the MOT, technically the optics are wrong for anything else.

same for HID and LED, if that's what they came with originally then that's ok.

if you change the entire bulb/reflector/housing , like a modern projector retrofit, then that is ok, as the optics match the bulb.

I also believe it's only for the dipped beam (as that's the pattern that's tested) .... everyone expects to be dazzled by the main beam...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by britlude

if you change the entire bulb/reflector/housing , like a modern projector retrofit, then that is ok, as the optics match the bulb.

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So if, for example, someone was to find a later-model set of JDM headlamps, they would be legal?

exactly what we did with Sarah's nissan cube, got the OEM HID set up, that was an option, and worked that into the car. as the optics are designed for the HID bulbs (and as a bonus all OEM) there is no issue.

if you can find some OEM HID pop up light units, then you are good to go! same as swapping in later fixed light front end, as they were designed to take HID, all the optics are suitable....

in the meantime, i've just swapped the normal bulbs back in the dipped beam for MOT time....

On a side note, it's an interesting discussion from a German point of view. Here the use of a Xenon system (starting at a certain amount of lumen) requires automatic levelling plus cleaning system and an official registration (of course).
Simply adapting the RHD JDM OEM Xenon system to LHD and using it wouldn't be road legal due to multiple reasons. Had to remove my OEM Xenon for these reasons.

pretty sure uk supplied cars had washers and leveling on them as standard.... it's also dependant on what was supplied OEM....

the biggest problem may have been the beam pattern from RHD vs LHD... mine are flat beam pattern, but not sure if the verge kick up is on LHD... Germany is blessed with the TUV inspection, we are not quite as strict, fortunately!

I thought the NSX didn't have a leveller and that was why our bubbles didn't have xenons but the Japanese did.

I suppose it'd been too much effort to rob the levellers from the S2000s on the other transfer line & fit them on...

Mita lists jdm pop up HIDs

https://www.mitamotorsports.com/1st-gen/flip-headlight

Tho not sure if they come with bulbs, ignitors, etc.... For the price above conventional, they should do!!!

It's worse than that - you don't just need the unit and the ignitor, you need a new wiring harness as well.

If I recall correctly, at least a couple of years ago there was a member here (might even have been Heineken) that still had the old HID units that were taken off their car to satisfy TUV certification on import to Germany . . .