LED's legal?

[ajw1100]

Browsing Auto Express while the boss did the shopping this week, I noticed in the readers questions one regarding replacing incandescent bulbs with LED's. AE stated it was illegal to do this, incandescent bulbs must be replaced with incandescent bulbs on the outside of the car. I assume you can swap interior bulbs legally but not exterior bulbs.

 

[Huskoda]

That is correct. UK vehicle lighting regulations prohibit exchanging external filament bulbs for any other type (which is why HIDs are illegal).

 

Interior bulbs are unregulated and may be changed as you wish.

Edited 14 March, 2017 by Huskoda

[johnrowley]

yes i believe that to be correct. fitted some bright LEDs to my sisters old discovery to replace the ineffective standard ones. at its MOT the tester noted verbally that technically they were not legal but kindly overlooked it

[James@RRG_Skoda_Rochdale]

Whilst the vastly outdated lighting regulations act from nearly 30 years ago might say that filament bulbs must only be changed for filament bulbs the MOT testing rules do not grant a RfR based on their fitment alone, the same goes for HiD bulbs (which are also filamentless).

 

providing they meet the criteria for a pass the most a tester can do is write them as an advisory item. 

 

They should also be 'E' marked which a lot of aftermarket equipment is not.

 

its all a case of ifs and buts and the outcome depends on who is assessing the vehicle. 

[Llanigraham]

James, 

Whilst you might think the Vehicle Lighting Regulations are out of date, you might also notice that there have been subsequent modifications and additions to the original Regulations, bringing them into line with current and modern innovations.

[James@RRG_Skoda_Rochdale]

I see lots of additional information and amendments scattered here and there but it all seems to be if's, but's and maybe's again.

 

maybe the Gov could spend some time consolidating all the information into a user friendly and readable data hub. 

[langers2k]

Regardless of the MOT, using HRDIK (halogen replacement drop in HID/LED kits/bulbs) for exterior lighting is not road legal.

- The Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989 do not permit any HID/LED lighting.

- The ECE regs do permit the use of HID/LED.

- The ECE regs supersede the RVL regs, it is legal to use HID/LED in the UK. This only applies where the luminaire has been designed, tested and marked for use with that lighting technology.

 

Currently, no HRDIK have been shown to satisfy the ECE regs and therefore are not road legal.

 

This is why despite companies such as Philips creating various HRDIKs, none are marketed in the UK, only countries where they meet the legal requirements.

[James@RRG_Skoda_Rochdale]

That's what I'm getting at. 

 

The ridiculous thing is despite them being illegal they are still not an MOT failure based on their presence alone. 

[JCP]

19 minutes ago, James@Pentagon_Seat said:

That's what I'm getting at. 

 

The ridiculous thing is despite them being illegal they are still not an MOT failure based on their presence alone. 

The MOT is a functional safety examination and not the same as a type approval audit-be careful what you wish for as that way leads to a vastly expensive and oppressive system-when did you check the e-marking on your wiper blades or tyre valve caps and would you want to pay someone to do so or have your fully functional and safe car put off the road?

[Breezy_Pete]

On the other hand, crappy trendy lighting causes a lot of problems for those in nearby vehicles.

Edited 15 March, 2017 by Wino

[P6bJOHN]

My friends and I have converted our classic cars to led sides/brake/indicators as they are a damn sight more visible and reliable than the stuff Lucas fitted back 40-50yrs ago. None of us have had any MOT problems in the last two years.

[WillM82]

I presume though that rear numberplate lights (if canbus'd and VCDSd so they actually work) would be a blind eye, so long as the plate was adequately illuminated?

 

3 hours ago, Wino said:

On the other hand, crappy trendy lighting causes a lot of problems for those in nearby vehicles.

 

Had some sort of crossover thing following me the other night whose headlights seemed to alternate between a blue, white and amber tint - every time I looked in the mirror it looked like they were indicating or I thought I'd caught an emergency vehicle approaching.

[MoggyTech]

A good old Lucas, the lord of darkness

[KenONeill]

2 hours ago, WillM82 said:

Had some sort of crossover thing following me the other night whose headlights seemed to alternate between a blue, white and amber tint - every time I looked in the mirror it looked like they were indicating or I thought I'd caught an emergency vehicle approaching.

That seems to apply to certain types of headlight reflector designs, irrespective of the type of luminaire fitted. I've seen it happen with hire cars which definitely had quartz-iodine bulbs.

[nige8021]

There was a similar article in Practical Car Mechanics last year, and what they said was if the lamp unit/reflector is designed for LED's then you are "legal" but fitting them into a regular "filament" lamp unit/reflector, this would put it out of the lighting regulations & construction & use so making it "Illegal"

[WillM82]

I thought LEDs needed to be self levelling, my octy has a levelling dial

[amwphotos]

2 hours ago, WillM82 said:

 

Had some sort of crossover thing following me the other night whose headlights seemed to alternate between a blue, white and amber tint - every time I looked in the mirror it looked like they were indicating or I thought I'd caught an emergency vehicle approaching.

 

Possibly xenon hid projector lights, at the edges of the light beam you can get chromatic aberration, where different wavelengths are focused slightly differently, hence the change in colour as the light edge clips you mirrors. It's most often associated with photography and high contrast edges.

[KenONeill]

1 hour ago, amwphotos said:

 

Possibly xenon hid projector lights, at the edges of the light beam you can get chromatic aberration, where different wavelengths are focused slightly differently, hence the change in colour as the light edge clips you mirrors. It's most often associated with photography and high contrast edges.

The physics does make sense, but as above I've seen it happen with QI bulbs on certain models (eg circa 2002 FIAT Points).

[ajw1100]

I did not realise LED's were illegal until I saw that article. I bought some reversing light LED's as recommended by aki78 purchased from Ali express. They are certainly an improvement on the originals and rear visibility is much improved. I had thought about changing more but will now not do so.