NHTSA has taken enforcement action against Diode Dynamics for selling non-compliant LED headlight bulbs. At the same time NHTSA ignores the 2 largest sellers of illegal LED headlight bulbs: eBay and Amazon. And US Customs and Border Protection ignores all the illegal LED headlight bulbs entering the country from China.
NHTSA Targets Diode Dynamics LED Bulbs
- Thread starter SubLGT
- Start date
On the VW boards, there is a company always pushing LED bulbs. I like to question them why they do not mention that the bulbs are not DOT rated and are for "off-road" use only. They claim the bulbs are non-glare, cutoff, blah, blah, blah and say they have the warnings posted about not street legal - I've looked at their site - any language to that effect is very, very hidden and not on the actual product page.
I'd like the US DOT to approve better headlights like Europe has, but I'd also like some enforcement on all the crappy retrofit jobs that people do. Go after the companies and the consumers.
Luckily I don't drive at night often. Crappy, glare-y, headlights are so annoying (and dangerous).
I'd like the US DOT to approve better headlights like Europe has, but I'd also like some enforcement on all the crappy retrofit jobs that people do. Go after the companies and the consumers.
Luckily I don't drive at night often. Crappy, glare-y, headlights are so annoying (and dangerous).
It makes sense to go after the manufacturers rather than the sellers. Of course, eBay and Amazon can pull any remaining listings of these illegal bulbs.
There would be no way for Amazon or any other site (or even a store) to know they're not compliant. They see it says DOT on them, and they wouldn't know otherwise.
There would be no way for Amazon or any other site (or even a store) to know they're not compliant. They see it says DOT on them, and they wouldn't know otherwise.
I walk my dog a lot at night along a road, elevated in portions, and get to subjectively judge the quality of vehicle headlights from a glare and from well above looking down perspective.
The most glare always comes from the retrofit bulbs, and when they pass below me I can see the area of light on the road ahead is amazingly poor on 95% of these glare machines, but the trees along the sides of the road above the horizontal are well lit.
I've seen one vehicle on more than one night that has LEDs that are trying to mimic halogen color, but the glare is insane and the light pattern on the road ahead is extremely poor. and this vehicle, despite there apparently being no more speed limits anywhere since the pandemic hit, is never speeding, likely as they can't see more than 45 feet in front off their vehicle.
How anyone can convince themselves led retrofits are an improvement in ability to see, is extremely revealing as to the mentality of the average driver today.
The amount of these illegal retrofits installed in new and old cars alike, speaks to the extreme ignorance and self importance of our 'culture'
White light is not brighter, and does not mean one can see better, but 99% will be like OMG I love it!!
Driving the interstates at night, some of the worst offenders seem to be the big rigs, then the bro trucks.
I wish there was a good defense against glare, as obviously this trend is going to continue, and likely accelerate, along with the logic free ignorance and self importance of the population who have convinced themselves they have it all figured out and everyone else is the problem.
The most glare always comes from the retrofit bulbs, and when they pass below me I can see the area of light on the road ahead is amazingly poor on 95% of these glare machines, but the trees along the sides of the road above the horizontal are well lit.
I've seen one vehicle on more than one night that has LEDs that are trying to mimic halogen color, but the glare is insane and the light pattern on the road ahead is extremely poor. and this vehicle, despite there apparently being no more speed limits anywhere since the pandemic hit, is never speeding, likely as they can't see more than 45 feet in front off their vehicle.
How anyone can convince themselves led retrofits are an improvement in ability to see, is extremely revealing as to the mentality of the average driver today.
The amount of these illegal retrofits installed in new and old cars alike, speaks to the extreme ignorance and self importance of our 'culture'
White light is not brighter, and does not mean one can see better, but 99% will be like OMG I love it!!
Driving the interstates at night, some of the worst offenders seem to be the big rigs, then the bro trucks.
I wish there was a good defense against glare, as obviously this trend is going to continue, and likely accelerate, along with the logic free ignorance and self importance of the population who have convinced themselves they have it all figured out and everyone else is the problem.
DeAutoKey/DeAutoLED are just shady people, ever since they started from selling from the back of a car at a local car club.
They are quick to point out for instance... Osram Cool Blue Boost not having ECE approval, then pushing their crap products.
And their pictures are misleading, as they take pictures of beam pattern too close to a wall to claim "no glare". When you do have actual beam patterns pictures, when you clearly see glare, they still claim "no glare".
If DeAutoLED catches wind of this, then they will go out and claim that their products are superior as it causes no glare and NHTSA hasn't targeted them... well no one has ratted them out yet.
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Why Most LED Headlight Upgrades Don't Really Work: An Expert Explains
I got a stern talking-to from an actual lighting expert about LED retrofits.
jalopnik.com
a tiny excerpt:
The difference is, DD is an American company that doesn't just sell them, they design and manufacture them. Amazon and Ebay are huge marketplaces - even if they were to clamp down on sales of these bulbs, they would simply pop up again under some other name since they're being cranked out by the millions by any number of factories in China.
DD is a much easier target for NHTSA.
We're not allowed to use the 'i' word any more man, please use 'undocumented' instead.
MolaKule
Staff member
Just my personal opinion but light outputs of any Luminary (in Lumens) needs to be limited by the NHTSA for vehicles.
Furthermore, the equivalent color temperature of those lights needs to be brought down to be no more than 2750K to 3500K.
I mean, how much light output do you actually need for in-city and highway driving at night?
And the extreme glare due to those poorly aimed high power headlights (which are not re-aimed after installation) seems more of a safety hazard than for providing any increased visibility.
Furthermore, the equivalent color temperature of those lights needs to be brought down to be no more than 2750K to 3500K.
I mean, how much light output do you actually need for in-city and highway driving at night?
And the extreme glare due to those poorly aimed high power headlights (which are not re-aimed after installation) seems more of a safety hazard than for providing any increased visibility.
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What is aggravating is all these jacked up pickups that put the LED lightbars on their bumper or intake opening. They are about the same height as my rear view mirror in my econobox. Talk about being blinded. I have seen quite a few of them pulled over recently, not sure if it's because of their lights or the driving habits of the idiots that use them 24/7. These are probably the same moron's that used to roll coal before being pulled over and having to fork over thousands of dollars to rebuild their discarded emission systems to satisfy the Fix-It tickets they received.
Never seen any vehicle pulled over for any sort of lighting violation. I think it's because the cops all figure that the annual safety inspection (which is a joke) means they don't need to worry about it. In *ONE* day around here I saw a jacked-up pickup with blue and red flashing lights in the wheel wells and a Toyota Camry with red foglights in the front. It's getting downright ridiculous.
I think that's the only answer, but what would it look like and at what cost?
I do a lot of driving in the dark and can't stand the glare from OEM and aftermarket LED headlamps.
There are in fact lumens limits for the bulbs in replaceable bulb headlamps. For example, in the U.S. an H7 bulb's legal lumens range is 1188-1512 lumens at 12.8V.
The performance of the headlamp as a whole must still be compliant with the FMVSS 108 photometric requirements.
Diode Dynamics actually has a pretty good video explaining how headlamp performance is measured for compliance:
Source/cites on LEDs being bad for eyes?
Looks like they will now have to have their LED bulbs manufactured overseas if they want to continue selling them. Imported non-compliant LED headlight bulbs are not on NHTSA's or US Custom's radar.
US Customs seems to be very focused on counterfeits. They recently seized a shipment of counterfeit LED "musical light bulbs". A google search did not turn up any reports of illegal LED automotive bulbs being seized.
Counterfeit light bulbs seized by CBP
A rail container containing counterfeit LED musical light bulbs was seized in International Falls Oct. 3 by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers.
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I dumped the cheap aftermarket LEDs in my Silverado that were in it when I got it. In addition to causing interference with my radio and backup camera, I couldn’t see at all to drive on a wet road at night. The color was around 6000k and was fine in most conditions but provided very poor visibility in wet conditions. The cheap LED fog lights it had would throw light in all direction, even lighting up the trees above the road. I went back to halogen in the highs and lows and paid a pretty hefty premium for Sylvania LED Fog lights. They have a great cutoff and are much brighter than the stock halogen bulb. They throw light out the the sides of the vehicle, which is what I wanted more than a fog light. These trucks have terrible headlights, I can barely tell where I’m turning into at night without the fog lights on.
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DD has to offer a replacement. They can't force those that purchased these to take them up on this "offer". Anyone who went out of their way (or is foolish enough) to spend $150 on bulbs is going to think twice about making this swap !
I'll bet that police have no way to measure it.