2011 VOSA changes to MOT

withabix

Why wake up a thread that was last alive in NOVEMBER 2010?

mikey72

Well, I didn't notice the date of the first post.
Blinded by redsweeneydog probably.

SCO

Are the illegal HID units not an MOT failure under current laws?

Given the fact they are so bright they must be over 60 watt which is the legal maximum (for halogen anyway) must be similar for HID.

HiTo

movilogo wrote: »

For deactivated passenger airbag, that warning light will be yellow and not red.

Not true, do some research HINT Toyota, Citroen, Peugeot

Weird_Nev

SCO wrote: »

Are the illegal HID units not an MOT failure under current laws?

Given the fact they are so bright they must be over 60 watt which is the legal maximum (for halogen anyway) must be similar for HID.

Err, no.
They must not dazzle. That's about it. Think about new Mercs/Audis/Range rovers - they all have HIDS, most of them are hideously bright.

I put "aftermarket" HIDs into my 200sx. It had self levelling projectors with washers, it's just that they originally had halogen bulbs in not HIDS. It was the single best safety modification I made to that car - hugely improved visibility. The projector lens ensured that the beam was tightly controlled. (and was only on dipped beam anyway).

The problem with HIDS is that some idiots fit them into normal reflector headlights, where the beam scatter is horrible and blinds oncoming drivers. That is what this legislation seeks to dissuade.

Lum

redsweenydog wrote: »

HID lights only burn as bright as daylight most kits fitted are 6000K nearest to daylight. I'd rather drive with safe lights to see hazards and warnings than not be able to see with dull halogen bulbs

6000K is not daylight, it will be bluer than daylight.

Top to bottom: 6700K, 6000K, 5700K, 5000K, 4100K, 3000K




6000K will cause eyestrain on longer nighttime trips (though admittedly not as bad at the chavtastic 7000K and 8000K HID bulbs) and will also make your dodgy retrofit HID kit stand out a mile to any copper coming the other way.

As for DRLs. I personally wish they would go away, in their current form at least, obnoxiously bright tiny little LEDs which drown out their surroundings so that in heavily overcast conditions you can see that something is there but it's harder to tell exactly what it is, or which way it's going. Volvo got DRLs right in the previous century with their dull yellow bulbs that illuminate the entire headlight cluster enough that you can see it's a pair of car headlights without obscuring the rest of the car.

While I'm at it I wish the trend of the last 10 years for sidelights to not have diffusers over them so you just see the bulb would also go away, for pretty much the same reason, along with the trend for indicators to be so close to the headlights that they are very difficult to see, and often on the inside rather than the outside.

Gloomendoom

Lum wrote: »

While I'm at it I wish the trend of the last 10 years for sidelights to not have diffusers over them so you just see the bulb would also go away, for pretty much the same reason, along with the trend for indicators to be so close to the headlights that they are very difficult to see, and often on the inside rather than the outside.

I'll second that. The indicators on my car are part of the headlamp cluster, right above the the (HID) dipped beam and are virtually impossible to see at night. My wife's car is similar but at least there are indicator repeaters incorporated in the front of the door mirrors so it doesn't matter so much.

Lum

My other objection to those is what happens when a headlight goes out.

Back when I was new to driving, I was driving down an unlit urban road late at night, one lane each way, 30 limit, between lanes is a queueing area for traffic coming the other way to wait to turn right, and shortly after that a similar one for traffic in my direction to turn right, which is where I wanted to go.

As a new driver, I never cut through the turning area for people coming the other way, but I was aware that many people did.

Coming the other way was a motorbike signalling left, which then proceeded to veer right across the turning area that I was about to use, at which point it fell within my headlights and was revealed to be a Peugeot 206 with the nearside lights not working.

Had the indicator been on the outside like in a (for the time) normal car, at least I would have mistaken it for a motorbike turning right, and been more cautious.

So many ways that situation could have gone badly wrong, with just minor alterations to timing.

SCO

Weird_Nev wrote: »

Err, no.
They must not dazzle. That's about it. Think about new Mercs/Audis/Range rovers - they all have HIDS, most of them are hideously bright.

I put "aftermarket" HIDs into my 200sx. It had self levelling projectors with washers, it's just that they originally had halogen bulbs in not HIDS. It was the single best safety modification I made to that car - hugely improved visibility. The projector lens ensured that the beam was tightly controlled. (and was only on dipped beam anyway).

The problem with HIDS is that some idiots fit them into normal reflector headlights, where the beam scatter is horrible and blinds oncoming drivers. That is what this legislation seeks to dissuade.

All headlight bulbs must be 'E marked' you will find that the mercs bmw's etc have E approved units as they are factory fitted and will be within a certain brightness.

If you look at halogen bulbs over 60/55 watts you will either see on the box "no road legal" or "for off road use only" as anything above 60/55w is illegal for road use.

I dont know it there is a current law for the hid units (before the 2012 changes) that are too bright. What the drivers of these cars forget (along with the high wattage halogen) it might be safer for them but they blind any oncomming driver making the road unsafe at night if they are comming towards you.

Lum

Be careful with the wattage rating. That measures how much power the bulb consumes, not how much light it puts out. HID units are a lot more energy efficient, putting out more light for less power consumption, similar to how a 21W energy saving bulb puts out more light than a 40W proper bulb.

When that law was written, there was no other type of bulb used in cars, so it made sense to limit it in that way.