In Illinois are Hid lights legal, and if not what are the penalties for using them?
Legality of HID lights
- Thread starter Dewalt03Cobra
- Start date
i dont know but i doubt it since they come standard on some "high end" cars/suvs
I agree. If they come standard on vehicles..they have to meet DOT specs. I've got them on my SVTF.
I'm pretty sure that they are only legal as OEM equipment on vehicles with the option from the factory. Any and all non OEM retrofits are illegal, and most are dangerous as they do not have the proper beam pattern and temporally blind oncoming drivers. This is especially true with the high color temperature blue/purple units. I wish those people would all be pulled over and their cars towed and crushed.
WraithCobra said:
The majority of the time the cars that blind other cars because of the lights are the people that steal the HID's off of the factory cars and then dont take the time to get them aligned correctly. I have HID's on my truck, i have had them now about 2 months and when i drive by other cars, they dont flash their high beams at me. Because i bought them from a shop and all it is, is plug and play. Because you have the right size bulb for your car. You dont have do some crazy rig to get them to fit. But to answer the question that began this thread, im pretty sure if they're not from factory they are illegal.
Any light that is blinding or dazzling is illegal in NY. I don't care if they are factory installed or not... if they are interfering with other drivers ability to see... the V&T says that are illegal. Do I write a lot of tickets for that... no but I do stop plenty of them. The ones I always write are the people who have installed aftermarket lights and failed to align them properly.
I noticed on our trip to Florida several cars had HID lights and none were blinding in my mirrors when I passed, or when I came upon them head on. Not only that, they appeared dimmer from the driver seat. But, the road was lite up two to three times farther then my head lights (Halogens) and it war FAR brighter. They appeared to be much more focused to the road, less to other drivers.
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All of the aftermarket HIDs are illegal. The OEM HIDs are self leveling so they do not blind on-coming drivers. -Mat-
sixt5 said:
High end like the SVT Focus. lol, sorry I could not resist. My HIDs on the SVTF are stock, and are supposed to be auto leveling. As far as I know most of the aftermarket ones are not, and thier for need to be installed / aimed properly.
And if you ever get pulled over and ticketed in teh same state where you bought your brand new car, that was not leagle to drive on the road, I'd take thier ass to court! No dealership or auto company should be able to get away with shit like that.
Trooper4985 said:
next time, I'm near you remind me to buy you a beer or 12. but for now have an e-beer. :beer: Missaligned headlights are one of my petpeeves.
"Maude, I can't see at night"
"Thats because your headlights are shining on the trees and not the road!"
HalfTime said:
It is not the car dealers responsibility to make sure your car complies with the V&T laws... it is the drivers responsibility. I get that arguement so many times when I write kids for tint and their fartcannon. "But... I bought it that way" Sorry... you're responsible for it... not the car dealer. It's the same thing with all the illegal equiment (mufflers, lights, etc) that I write... "but if it's illegal... why do they sell it at the local rice shop"? Companies are in business to make money no insure you don't get tickets.
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Trooper4985 said:
Right, I'm not arguing that point on used cars, I was talking about BRAND spanking new cars. They should be state leagle correct? How can a delership sell a car not street legal, and the license and register that? The would lose their lesence to sell right? If Ford manufactured a car and said it was 50 state legal, but it did not pass California Smog tests, they could not sell it, and Ford would have to change something. Am I not right? Why should it be different with any other OEM part of the car? But yea, a used car from Mom n Pop used delership is your responsiblitity.
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