I know this subject has come up in the past but it now looks like the UK authorities have now made the fitment

of aftermarket HID (and LED) bulbs into exisisting Halogen lamps an MOT failure. The change made to the latest

MOT inspection manual (11th January 2021) now reads:

Section 4.1.4 Compliance with requirements

“Existing halogen headlamp units should not be converted to be used with high intensity discharge (HID) or light

emitting diode (LED) bulbs. If such a conversion has been done, you must fail the headlamp.”

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles/4-lamps-reflectors-and-electrical-equipment

 

We all need to have a friendly tester.

Strange ruling because if the alignment, beam pattern is within the parameters and they’re not purple, why should it matter ?

Call me names but I want to be able to see the road ahead.

Yeh,

Standard bulbs suck, when i drove my zed at night after i purchased it; it was a scary as hell experience.

They’re perfectly fine if done with projector lenses and aligned properly I always thought. Not so good when done on non-projector headlights though.


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I’d like to know how an MOT tester would be able to differentiate between normal Z headlights and 99 spec xenons without the model specific knowledge.

 

As a personal guess, cars fitted with projector lenses would be fine.... however I suspect the age of our vehicles will be used as the evidence to show they’re not standard.

 

but as andy says... I have my friendly MOT tester, so I’m sure it’ll be fine

At a guess, seeing a ballast cable tied to frame would be a giveaway lol. 

But if done properly - ballast is fitted beneath the headlight as per the 99 spec OEM units, wiring as neat and as OEM looking as possible then you'd probably get away with it. 

The problem comes if he says "you'll fail with HIDs" 

"But they're 99 spec OEM units, honest Guv" 

And then he does a 30 second Google image search and instantly spots your lack of inner light shell housing. 

For the 5 mins it takes to change between HIDs and H3c I think I'll just keep a pair of bulbs in the glove box. Not that mine is going to be MOT ready anytime soon! 

Well, my Zed just passed it's MOT last week with aftermarket HIDs fitted. 

I think that as ever, it's down to the person that tests the car on the day and their knowledge and understanding of the regulations.

Correct me if I am wrong, but my understanding was for dipped and full beam only. Indicators, fog light, side lights, tail lights, etc are all fine. It is, I believe, to do with many cheap HIDS and LED kits don't have a proper beam pattern that is made worse by being badly fitted and/or bad reflectors resulting in blinding oncoming traffic. My personal feeling is that they are not as bad as the new BMW/Ford/Merc/"insert new car here" coming towards you because that is like having the sun and a nuclear explosion directly into your pupil....

My Z passed MOT in January 2021 

I have after market HIDs

Arthur 

Like anything else MOT related, it's only if they can see it.

 

If it's hidden then are not allowed to move anything to check, so a neat tidy install and most won't bother.

I’ve actually removed my HIDs, for the amount of time I drive the thing and the even lower amount of time that that is at a time where head lights are required I can’t be bothered with the are they aren’t they road legal nonsense.  

On 31/01/2021 at 08:48, nickz32 said:

..............but as andy says... I have my friendly MOT tester, so I’m sure it’ll be fine

I am going to rely on this too - as I know he'll tell me in advance to swap them out..... If he actually realises they're aftermarket.

We're fortunate in some ways, with the Z32 being so rare, that many garages just don't know what's standard and what's not.

On 01/02/2021 at 08:48, TheRealNips said:

Correct me if I am wrong, but my understanding was for dipped and full beam only. Indicators, fog light, side lights, tail lights, etc are all fine. It is, I believe, to do with many cheap HIDS and LED kits don't have a proper beam pattern that is made worse by being badly fitted and/or bad reflectors resulting in blinding oncoming traffic. My personal feeling is that they are not as bad as the new BMW/Ford/Merc/"insert new car here" coming towards you because that is like having the sun and a nuclear explosion directly into your pupil....

Yup this is true - even worse in SUVs as the headlamps are mounted higher up.

Although even in my little Z4, the LEDs illuminate the country lanes around here like daylight on just dipped beam. But on full beam I get blinded myself, with the reflection from road signs!!