Of course, an insurer would never use such a determination for wriggle room, right?!!
Ah, the cynic in me is strong tonight!
LED/HID bulb conversion now MOT failure.
- Thread starter widu13
- Start date
Ah, the cynic in me is strong tonight!
Not an expert, but I am an experienced practitioner of 23yrs.
There are a handful of threads on the same subject; person wants LEDs, lights are not compliant with regulations, person tries to justify using LEDs.
Just use them and face the consequences, it may be an MOT failure or it maybe an investigation and a reduction in an insurance payout.
Just use them and face the consequences, it may be an MOT failure or it maybe an investigation and a reduction in an insurance payout.
An MOT fail doesn't automatically mean you commit an offence, e.g. your vehicle has rusty sills and would fail the MOT on that basis, luckily your MOT is due next week, you go out driving and unluckily you're involved in an accident, tragically somebody is killed, a pedestrian.
Will there be a forensic examination of your vehicle? You bet there will!
Will the rust that is so serious as to be an MOT fail be noted? Of course!
But.... Is it relevant to the accident, i.e. was it in any way a contributing factor? No, and you won't be prosecuted for any offence relating to the rust, even though the MOT tester would deem the vehicle unroadworthy.
Very different if you blind an oncoming driver with non-compliant headlights and he / she crashes. Then a whole world of trouble is heading your way!!!
Will there be a forensic examination of your vehicle? You bet there will!
Will the rust that is so serious as to be an MOT fail be noted? Of course!
But.... Is it relevant to the accident, i.e. was it in any way a contributing factor? No, and you won't be prosecuted for any offence relating to the rust, even though the MOT tester would deem the vehicle unroadworthy.
Very different if you blind an oncoming driver with non-compliant headlights and he / she crashes. Then a whole world of trouble is heading your way!!!
I don't know how it works it UK, in Spain a technical inspection failure (post-accident forensic investigation, usually carried out by the insurance companies) invalidates your insurance. Since valid insurance is a legal requirement to put your vehicle on the road, insurance invalidation means you can be hit head-on by a drunk driver going the wrong way down a one way street, and you will be judged to be at fault because you had no right to be there in the first place. Insurance companies love this.
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As a normal man on the Clapham omnibus I consider it would be dangerous to blind people
Technically speaking, yes, SWMBO could be on dodgy ground...It’s a bit like driving if your arm was in a cast!Jeez what next, you can’t drive safely your finger nails are too long to allow adequate control of the steering wheel?
BTW I am talking about SWMBO
Offence code for unauthorised lamps to be found in a Conditional Offer of Fixed Penalty ticket book.
The Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989
Offence code for unauthorised lamps to be found in a Conditional Offer of Fixed Penalty ticket book.
The Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989
www.legislation.gov.uk
Yes there are workarounds/ways & means, another is "unroadworthy" under con & use but still no specific offence for LED.
I'm only getting the juices flowing, I've still got 130% halogen candles fitted.
I reckon it's all down to the tester. Hoping for the best.
I would love to put LED in but how do you know they don’t Dazzle?
The MOT test checks the beam pattern. I checked and aligned mine on the garage door before my last MOT. I also did a comparison with a couple of mates in cars with factory LEDs where we drove towards each other. The consensus was that my aftermarket H4 LEDs didn't dazzle but the brand new A6's lights were horrendously dazzling, almost as if they were LHD (they weren't).
Edit: Or did you mean before you buy them? Dumb luck on my part.
I’m not being awkward but I’m not clever enough to check the beam pattern. What if you going up or down hill or round a corner. I also think the H4 are not only useless but dangerous in this day and age of Motoring. ACC (Automatic cruise control) while still putting in h4 Technology. They are having a laugh!
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And also mention weather it’s been certified safe some how (in writing) or the MOTer knew about it but waved through?
Any garage will check the alignment and whether they dazzle for you. But you’re right, halogen lights are hopeless, LED lights should be standard equipment on all new vehicles and probably will be in a couple of years.
The brand of bulb I got disappeared off eBay long ago, but there are no legal LED lamps or HIDs and no MOT tester is going to certify illegal lamps as being safe or admit they knew they were illegal but waved them through. For them to be legal will take a change in UK law.
