Jully
Active member
What year was this? Could the policy have changed?
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Night Driving in Ski country - LED headlights
- Thread starter gmcunni
- Start date
What year was this? Could the policy have changed?
Brewbeer
Member
Failed in Longmeadow in March 2015, and in Springfield in March 2016. Since the re-inspection is free, I just put the old halogens (which were so dim they were truly dangerous) back in temporarily to get through the inspection. Actually, the guy who inspected the car in 2015 and failed it for the aftermarket lights told me to put the LEDs back in after he was done with the re-inspection.
Jully
Active member
Okay, so definitely not a policy change since then. I wonder what the difference was. That's a pretty easy workaround though!
bdfreetuna
New member
You just have to make sure your aftermarket bulbs (and ballasts) are marked DOT/SAE , which a lot of them aren't but some are.
Unfortunately there's a lot of room for interpretation when it comes to headlight inspection-- although there shouldn't be. It's common to get lazy and half accurate explanations for a fail.
I know I'm in for a fail this upcoming year even though I was passed once with the amber plastic cleared over the directional bulbs in my headlight housing, they said fix it before next year. They didn't seem to care about the Xenon kit or Angel Eyes LED ring or that my headlight housings are blacked out in the back where it was previously reflector stuff. But gotta get that amber plastic back in there even though I have amber directional bulbs.
Come to think of it I might be getting cut some slack on the Xenon because I have OEM projectors so no retrofit necessary and type of bulb really makes no difference.
Not looking forward to this little project but at least I can get away with most of it.
Unfortunately there's a lot of room for interpretation when it comes to headlight inspection-- although there shouldn't be. It's common to get lazy and half accurate explanations for a fail.
I know I'm in for a fail this upcoming year even though I was passed once with the amber plastic cleared over the directional bulbs in my headlight housing, they said fix it before next year. They didn't seem to care about the Xenon kit or Angel Eyes LED ring or that my headlight housings are blacked out in the back where it was previously reflector stuff. But gotta get that amber plastic back in there even though I have amber directional bulbs.
Come to think of it I might be getting cut some slack on the Xenon because I have OEM projectors so no retrofit necessary and type of bulb really makes no difference.
Not looking forward to this little project but at least I can get away with most of it.
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Brewbeer
Member
They weren't cheap (about $150/pair two years ago when I bought them), and they weren't eBay (purchased from Autoanything.com after doing much research on bright halogens, HIDs and LEDs). I could have continued to use much brighter (than OEM) halogens but the bright halogens have a very short lifespan (they were burning out in less then 2 years). Went with LEDs due to lower power demand than HIDs. I bought these manufactured by Putco: http://www.autoanything.com/lights/putco-universal-led-headlight-bulbs
Brewbeer
Member
The problem is that the inspection station more or less has total control over how to interpret the rules, and thus whether your car passes or fails. Once you have that rejection sticker, it's like a target for the police, especially for my car (97 Accord). It's just not a big enough issue to make a stink about it (it is not that hard to swap the bulbs but it is a PITA). The lights themselves are great, I've never been pulled over for them, and never get beamed by oncoming traffic for having too bright or poorly aimed headlights (unlike some in this thread).
mbedle
Well-known member
What???
mbedle
Well-known member
I stand corrected - wow, that is amazing.
Yup...the NJ inspection is purely emissions now (based mostly on your OBD not showing any active error codes). Been like that for a few years.
bdfreetuna
New member
The people must rise up and demand this everywhere.
There's actually a lot of states mainly in the west that only do emissions. Colorado was just emissions every two years. My county in California didn't even require emissions at all. Its a east coast thing and honestly its kind of annoying.
NJ started doing it as a cost saving measure if I remember correctly. I believe a secondary goal was to reduce wait times for inspections too and reduce the lines. There actually was a number of people complaining that we were going to all of a sudden have all these unsafe cars on the road as a result of the change.
Hawkshot99
Active member
I am so happy to hear of places actually failing you and others for this.
Your headlights were not designed to use a led bulb. While the bulbs may put off more light, it is not done in a way for your reflectors to properly send the light down the road. You are blinding everybody driving at you!
ThinkSnow
Member
Haven't been on this site for a while, and this thread reinforces why I have not.
What a bunch of douche-bags.
What a bunch of douche-bags.
Brewbeer
Member
You must have experience with my specific bulbs and reflectors. Please tell us more.
freeski
New member
Another light issue I have with other motorists are those who enter the interstate without using their turn signal. A friend once said "what does it matter? You know where they're going." WRONG, the flashing single gets the attention of everyone and it's the law. If a driver has his directional on I'll bend over backwards to let them on. No directional, you'll end up in the woods. What does it take to use your signal? Drive with courtesy, that's the New Hampshire way.
Jully
Active member
If I'm ever passing a line of cars, I'm always terrified someone is going to pop out into my lane without checking their blindspot or using their turn signal and slam into me. When I was in drivers ed, turn signals were absolutely drilled into us. I've been laughed at by friends and family before because we were on some neglected side road or parking lot and I've used a turn signal. It's just automatic.
freeski
New member
How many fender benders would be avoided by using turn signals in parking lots? I use them to say "this car will be moving shortly. Also in parking lots, when you're walking back to your car look around and see if anyone, kids, are around your car. Load your groceries and check again before getting in.
bigbog
Active member
Would like to hear people, EVERYWHERE, while driving around parking lots...looking for parking spaces...to use their horns not in an aggressive way...ie "get outta my way" but to warn people, who are trying to back out. Can be a PITA trying to see around much larger vehicles parked beside you and not get clipped by vehicles accellerating up & down parking lanes, OR maybe the law should should now state that drivers have to yield to vehicles exiting parking spaces.
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