LED headlight bulb experiences

[Deleted member 126251]

................
I've heard a lot of good things about Osram Nightbreakers and if I had an older car with halogen lights, and I needed more light, then these are what I would use.

I put them in my wife's B Class. They are a big improvement.

 

[Larkone]

Any after market LED bulb fitted to a headlamp designed for halogens/filaments will invalidate your insurance as they are not type approved - is it worth the risk?

 

[slade1]

Have you ever driven on country roads at night ?

Yes I have, use to do around 35K milers a year and never had problem with standard lights.

 

[markjay]

...I think Philips failure to get approval for their aftermarket LED lamps is interesting. I suspect they are actually safe but the authorities knowing that they have to some degree already lost control of vehicle lighting are probably reluctant to grant approval in case it creates an avalanche of cheap copies.

Official Philips video.... :

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[Deleted member 126251]

Yes I have, use to do around 35K milers a year and never had problem with standard lights.

But you queried why people would need bright lights in a densely populated country.

I'd rather be able to see as well as I possibly (legally) can at night - especially on country roads that are not densley populated!

LED lights are so much clearer - the difference between my wife's car and mine is like night and day.

 

[markjay]

But you queried why people would need bright lights in a densely populated country.

I'd rather be able to see as well as I possibly (legally) can at night - especially on country roads that are not densley populated!

LED lights are so much clearer - the difference between my wife's car and mine is like night and day.

Mrs. MJ's car has LED headlamps and they are very good. I would have loved to have LED headlamps on my W204 but sadly there does not seem to be any legal way of achieving this.

 

[markjay]

...I did contact my insurer and asked whether they had an issue with me replacing the halogen bulb with LED. The girl I spoke to said they didn't have any problem with me doing so. That did confuse me a bit as I understand it might be illegal in the EU??

To clarify, there is no after-market H7 to LED conversion kit that is legal in the EU.

The insurer may have said that they have no issue with this modification, but even so it is still your responsibility to ensure that any modification fitted to the car is legal.

(As an example, from the insurer's perspective, you might be retrofitting original MB LED lights - or there may be a manufacturer that did manage to get their LED conversion kit approved - etc).

So the fact that the insurer did not object to you fitting LED headlamps in principle does not mean that they will not have a get-out-of-jail clause in the event that they find-out that the modification fitted is illegal.

 

[Pondi]

Thanks for all your replies. I don't want to do anything legal, nor do I want to fit anything that could cause other road users problems. Must say that user who suggested spending money on an eye test rather than better headlamps seems a little immature. Better vision is appreciated by most people and I'm sure that's why manufactures are adopting this improved technology. Thanks to everyone else for your input.