New laws on LED bulbs in halogen headlights since 01 Jan
 

I am gutted to learn that the law has changed and that my car will fail the next MOT if I leave my expensive LEDs in my headlamp units. I can barely see with the halogen bulbs in my car, time for a new car I think.

The MOT test was amended when the UK left the European Union on 1 January 2021. T

The section for testers around bulbs now reads: “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.”

Previously, the MOT tester would check that the car fitted with LED bulbs had a self-levelling or headlight cleaning system. If these systems weren’t working, the car would fail. If the car didn’t have these systems, it would pass. There was no other mention of aftermarket bulbs so as long as the beam was the right pattern and the correct colour, the car wouldn’t fail on its headlights.

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...mp-conversions

Cars pre 1 April 1986 may not automatically fail. All post 1986 will fail.

Laney
Rather than a "replacement" car it May be worth looking at Replacement New headlight units with reflectors that Do.

I know when i had my 940 i considered the headlights With halogens to be worse than a Naffi candle down a coal mine,, (they really really ARE shocking )

Mind you when i got my current V50 the headlights were As bad on halogen bulbs,, burnt out and degraded reflectors,, these took replacement projector + reflector units to be "aha there IS a road in front of me".

id Never Ever suggest you would/could contemplate the "swap bulbs" route for tests,,(tho it is simples on the 940s....)


and yes the EU inspired law is utter madness

Sadly Far too many idiots (id usually use stronger words) have in the past fitted HID and LED bulbs into headlights and caused Glare issues due to Wrong hid type/wrong lense design / too high an output HID unit, and with the likes of BMW/AUDI etc now fitting LED light units to there cars that DO dazzle and cause glare the "innit" lot have been retro fitting Those into Totally unsuitable and Badly setup headlights "cos innit" (etc)

madness and Utterly stupid when Saftey is taken into accout
BUT take into account the AIM is to get ALL older (petrol or diesel) cars OFF the roads forcing us to use "milk floats" ,, totally understandable

Cheers Andy. I wonder if there are whole complete new LED units I could have put in, might cost a few bob but would be worth it.

I wonder where I stand legally with mine now. My MOT was last October so they passed, but next October they will fail. Does that mean the Police can stop me before October and make me change them back I wonder?

I would say it's a possibility. A MOT certificate only proves the the car was roadworthy at the date and time of the test. Under the new rules you would be technically contravening the lighting regulations. I daresay if you drive around like a Good Little Laney you will be left alone unless you give Plod a reason to pull you over, then they start sniffing around. As a matter of interest did you inform your insurance about the changes to the lighting? Just thinking of a worse case scenario.

If you can find units that fit, yes fit LEDs. It's only fitting the led bulbs into halogen units that's illegal. Up dating the whole deal is perfectly okay.

I was under the impression that it was illegal to put LED/HID in any headlight unit designed for Halogen bulbs. Cars manufactured prior to the edition of the Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations that specified filament bulbs may be exempt from this requirement, and this may be the reason for this change in the MOT test allowing them in older vehicles.

So if you had LEDs in your OEM headlight units at your last MOT, then they were illegal and you only passed the test because the MOT requirements at the time did not specifically test for them. You could have been pulled over by the police driving home from the MOT test and they would have been just as illegal then as they are now.


Personally I'm delighted that the MOT test is going to stop some of these bad LED/HID conversions. I have an eye condition (Krukenberg Spindle) where glare causes vision problems and discomfort, and a lot of these boy-racer headlight conversions really annoy me (as do badly adjusted halogen lamps, and people driving with LED DRLs on after dusk.)

So if you want to 'upgrade' your headlights, then please do it properly. Don't just stick in something brighter, and swap them back just to be 'legal' for the MOT.

I used to update my bulbs back in the day. NORMAL white bulbs, not stupid boy racer blue ones 🤣.

I found them to be much better!

pop in the correct bulbs for the MOT......then well....not for me to suggest that you.......:-)

That’s actually extremly valid. The whole premis of an MOT is ‘time of test’ so I would think that is actually perfectly acceptable.