Aftermarket full LED headlights: legal?
- Thread starter Mickhar
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- aftermarket headlamps law
They are road legal.
I specifically asked THQ to confirm the situation (for the T6.1 full LED headlights).
This is a cut and paste of their response:
Hi Ian,
These headlights are fully e marked and road legal in the UK.
Kind regards,
Charlie Lewis
Transporter HQ
0116 2478156 | transporterhq.co.uk
Unit 12, Bruntingthorpe Industrial Estate, Upper Bruntingthorpe, LE17 5QZ
I specifically asked THQ to confirm the situation (for the T6.1 full LED headlights).
This is a cut and paste of their response:
Hi Ian,
These headlights are fully e marked and road legal in the UK.
Kind regards,
Charlie Lewis
Transporter HQ
0116 2478156 | transporterhq.co.uk
Unit 12, Bruntingthorpe Industrial Estate, Upper Bruntingthorpe, LE17 5QZ
they dont go for much, personally I have kept mine in the box the THQ ones came in JUST IN CASE the Government crack down on aftermarket LED units even the complete sets as there are constant rumours that they will. Then the value will be crazy and demand will require buying from VW. LOL
After market or OEM LED Head lamps may be road legal in UK for vehicles that qualify by having all the requirements. Such as lamp levelling power wash blar blar that may be possibly only for vehicles that have had LED or XENON fitted originally by the manufacturer. Fitting them to a vehicle that does not comply is not legal. Up until recently and possibly even now, all Legal LED Headlamps are sealed units and do not have replaceable bulbs/ the whole light unit has to be replaced. Leda after market bulbs are not legal in the UK contrary to what some sellers might testify to.
In the EU some LED bulbs have been granted legal status, only for particular cars and have legal documentation. So LED bulb A might not have legal certification for one exact car but not for another. The EU has accepted only LED bulbs that have passed very stringent tests and only for a relevant car cars. GB has not caught up. Hopefully things might change, do not hold you breath, GB is very very slow on such things. the EU is superior in many technical aspects. If something is proven to work safely under stringent examination and certificated to an accepted EU standard the one may progress. I guess the receiving vehicle must however still comply with all the other requirements, self levelling and washers ect.
Many may get away with illegal fitment because of lax MOT examination or the all covering "Did not specify looking deeper into the matter. However the UK DEPT of Transport has sent out demands the MOT testing stations do look for illegal fitments. this can be seen on their notifications which are published under UKGOVblar, blar. So people can expect increasing levels of inspection over time . No doubt some stations may still turn a blind eye or be too lazy to read and enforce regulations.
I am not passing opinion of my own but what I have read and my interpretations. Is seeing better than not seeing, is blinding some one as acceptable as not blinding some one and so on? I am happy to accept if I am incorrect. I read somewhere that all of this applies only to vehicles from a certain date. I can not remember what that was but it is going back a little while.
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Hi Kind of blue thank you for the information as your message says it’s still a bit of a grey area . I did ask my local mot test centre a while back ( I’ve used them for 9 years) the tester told me providing it’s a sealed headlight unit with no replaceable bulbs and was correctly aligned so as not to dazzle oncoming traffic it would pass mot .
MOT inspection manual: cars and passenger vehicles - 4. Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment - Guidance - GOV.UK
Headlamp, position lamps, daytime running lamps, stop lamps, indicators, hazard warning lamps, fog lamps, reversing lamps, lighting ‘tell-tales’, trailer electrical socket, electrical wiring and battery rules and inspection for car and passenger vehicle MOT tests.
No need for self leveling or cleaning devices. However, as the van will have a levelling switch, that would need to work
however if the switch is taped over or removed for purposes of a test it isnt a fail. Mine work quite nicely on the leveller from the Audi style THQ and I think I might have only been flashed once in 10k of driving when I was loaded and forgot to adjust from unloaded postion.MOT inspection manual: cars and passenger vehicles - 4. Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment - Guidance - GOV.UK
Headlamp, position lamps, daytime running lamps, stop lamps, indicators, hazard warning lamps, fog lamps, reversing lamps, lighting ‘tell-tales’, trailer electrical socket, electrical wiring and battery rules and inspection for car and passenger vehicle MOT tests.www.gov.uk
No need for self leveling or cleaning devices. However, as the van will have a levelling switch, that would need to work
Hello Archersam thanks for your message i agree with your comments I do think that the people who complain about led headlights being too bright are actually being dazzled by badly aligned lights rather than it being just because they are led . Anyway I am looking forward to fitting my THQ full led headlights as soon as weather permits so I can work out on my driveway.
A lot of new vehicles don’t have auto level or washers, the T6.1 included.MOT inspection manual: cars and passenger vehicles - 4. Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment - Guidance - GOV.UK
Headlamp, position lamps, daytime running lamps, stop lamps, indicators, hazard warning lamps, fog lamps, reversing lamps, lighting ‘tell-tales’, trailer electrical socket, electrical wiring and battery rules and inspection for car and passenger vehicle MOT tests.
No need for self leveling or cleaning devices. However, as the van will have a levelling switch, that would need to work
It was only on xenon that the washers and self level was compulsory.
OK,
I can see from the weight of supported information, from official government sources, that my deductions where incorrect. I was beginning to see the light casting self uncertainty on my assertions. It did not fully click in until I read the "Rslad" post above, with reference to particular vehicles, including the VW T6.1 that it finally went into my rather dull and aged brain. I thank the previous posters for their patience in putting me strait. I apologise for the incorrect assertion that LED fully compliant after-market LED headlamps might not be legal unless the receiving vehicle conformed by having auto levelling and power headlamp washer.
I had recently in the last few week read, what I recall was a Government statement like those above pointing to those points in my earlier post. I did have a slight unsteady feeling at the time of my posting, that I aught to have highlighted with direct quote to the official post to which I referred, which would have been the correct thing to have done. Instead I rather lazily tried to recall the publications just assuming that they were definitive and easily found for people to scrutinise. I should try to find those GOV publications to reassess what exactly they said together with its publication date.
I think that as I recall, I followed a post in the Manchester Guardian concerning some specially manufactured after-market LED BULBS becoming legal in Ireland. Due to new efforts by the manufacturing bulb industry to attain higher accuracy during production and that those bulbs would be able to be fitted only to particular cars. Knowing that Ireland is in the EU I ascertained that this was an EU wide proclamation and then looked for sites selling bulbs with that particular licencing accreditation. Sure enough, they do exist for those in the EU together with the relevant paperwork proof. In the EU one can look for their particular car on a list or a bulb type including headlamp bulbs and see if that particular bulb type be it H1 or anything else be licenced for their particular car and then fit it safe in the knowledge that it would be legal. Where as formally in the EU and now the UK putting LED replacements for halogen bulbs was not legal.
I can see from the weight of supported information, from official government sources, that my deductions where incorrect. I was beginning to see the light casting self uncertainty on my assertions. It did not fully click in until I read the "Rslad" post above, with reference to particular vehicles, including the VW T6.1 that it finally went into my rather dull and aged brain. I thank the previous posters for their patience in putting me strait. I apologise for the incorrect assertion that LED fully compliant after-market LED headlamps might not be legal unless the receiving vehicle conformed by having auto levelling and power headlamp washer.
I had recently in the last few week read, what I recall was a Government statement like those above pointing to those points in my earlier post. I did have a slight unsteady feeling at the time of my posting, that I aught to have highlighted with direct quote to the official post to which I referred, which would have been the correct thing to have done. Instead I rather lazily tried to recall the publications just assuming that they were definitive and easily found for people to scrutinise. I should try to find those GOV publications to reassess what exactly they said together with its publication date.
I think that as I recall, I followed a post in the Manchester Guardian concerning some specially manufactured after-market LED BULBS becoming legal in Ireland. Due to new efforts by the manufacturing bulb industry to attain higher accuracy during production and that those bulbs would be able to be fitted only to particular cars. Knowing that Ireland is in the EU I ascertained that this was an EU wide proclamation and then looked for sites selling bulbs with that particular licencing accreditation. Sure enough, they do exist for those in the EU together with the relevant paperwork proof. In the EU one can look for their particular car on a list or a bulb type including headlamp bulbs and see if that particular bulb type be it H1 or anything else be licenced for their particular car and then fit it safe in the knowledge that it would be legal. Where as formally in the EU and now the UK putting LED replacements for halogen bulbs was not legal.
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