HID Headlights Can Be Illegal (What You Need To Know)

By David Ostiguy

You either already have HID Headlights installed to your vehicle, or have been planning on installing them to help improve the look of your vehicle and to help see better at nighttime. Maybe you've already shopped around and know what kind of HID Headlights you want to install or you could be trying to figure it out. What you do need to know though is HID Headlights can be illegal to have them added to your vehicle. You may have heard stories about people being ticketed for having HID Lights on their vehicle, but how do you know that you're going to be safe from being pulled over by the Police?

If you look on the box of HID Headlights, usually they say things such as: "DOT Approved." Just to let you know, the DOT has never approved HID Headlights and has no plans of giving them the OK anytime in the future. Do if you get pulled over by the Police and you tell them that your bulbs are DOT approved, there's a good chance that it won't matter.

But how is it that HID Headlights are illegal when everybody has them on their vehicles? Car manufacturers have taken notice on HID Lights and began installing them to their newer vehicles. These bulbs are OK by the Police and there's no need to worry about them. The problem is if you installed the HID Headlights yourselves, then you may have a problem.

What can you do to avoid getting into trouble with the law? For starters, be sure not to buy "knock off" versions of the HID Bulbs. If you get pulled over with fake bulbs, you will probably get into deeper trouble when it comes to being ticketed. The reason why is because the fake bulbs are regular Halogen Bulbs that have a blue tint installed to the lens of the vehicle. Because of this, the Police could see this as impersonating an officer. These colors are reserved for the Police Department and other Emergency employees. The way Police check to see if your bulbs are fake is they take a white sheet of paper and hold it up to the bulb. If the paper turns blue, you have fake bulbs. If it turns out white, you're in the clear.

Other reasons why vehicles are pulled over for HID Headlights is because the bulbs have been improperly installed and blinds other drivers. Be sure that your bulbs are properly placed and not blinding other people.

Also if your lights are bouncing off of traffic signs and glaring, you will get pulled over. Be sure to stick with 6000k-8000k headlights in order to prevent getting pulled over. - 21393

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Learn more about HID Headlights, and visit www.clearlights.org to find the best advice on HID Bulbs.