Hi Guys
,
No we are not spammers, just haven't had time to visit this thread for a while.
Now the area concerning the legality of
HID's has been around for a while, and it is good they have been raised as clarification is required.
While the issues raised by the DVLA have value they are still sitting on the fence as to enforcing.
The first thing we need to understand and look at is the notion of enforcement.
Now within MOT Stations nationwide there are no checks on Retro fitted
HID kit's, as they are not required to. All they are required to check as part of the MOT and passing the car as "Legal" to be on the road is the beam and spray pattern of the headlights. New car's manufactured with
HID's MUST comply with all of the above that the DVLA have stated. Now begs the question, Is something which is NOT enforced Illegal?..... The DVLA do not want to back the fitting of retro
HID kits and in essence ensure that nobody would pay silly amounts of money for factory fitted kits, however they also are sitting on the fence as to enforcing it....
However we feel that saying "HID is banned in the after market" would not be reasonable. Instead we should make analogies with new vehicles. It would be reasonable to require HID in the after market to meet the same safety standards as on new vehicles. The same level of safety should apply.
The above statement is a contradiction in itself. At first they say they cannot type approve used vehicles and therefore cannot apply the same rules and regs set out for new vehicles manufactured, yet they then state that retro fitted kits should follow the new vehicles regulations... This is the main reason why They CANNOT enforce this rule.
Now comes the reason why they are illegal and the only issue that is and can be enforced:
the reason for this is that the existing lens and reflector are designed around a Halogen filament bulb, working to very precise tolerances. If one places a HID "burner" (bulb) in the headlamp, the beam pattern will not be correct, there will be glare in some places and not enough light in other places within the beam pattern.
As above, the only reason they are "Illegal" is due to the notion that the beam and spray pattern will be incorrect. Now if a
hid kit is fitted and the spray and beam pattern is perfect according to the "Law" then is it "Illegal"? as the above statement is proven false at the first hurdle, thus nullifying the rest of the statement and regulation....
As I said from the start these Issues have been around for a long time and they will be. There will be consumers who still believe the "hype" and will only upgrade to
HID from the manufacturer, however there will also be consumers who understand the law and refuse to be ripped off by manufacturers and upgrade via retro fitting. Other consumers have no choice as the manufacturer did not offer it for their vehicle. We are not really here to debate on what is "legal" and what is not, yet we are here to offer the members of this forum a Great price for some Awesome equipment. This offer is still open and for anyone who wishes to discuss anything with regards to these issues or any other please do not hesitate to contact us on the details below:
Tel: 087 123 00 456
Email:
Amir@visionperformance.co.uk
myself and my colleagues will do our utmost to answer any enquiries posted on here, however if we cannot answer in a quick enough time period you are welcome to contact myself or anyone of my colleagues direct.
Amir
Vision Performance