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Is it legal to replace Halogen bulbs with LED bulbs?
I recently replaced the high and low beam bulbs with Philips Racingvisoon (Halogen) and noticed a definite improvement. I have always thought that LED bulb replacements would not be road legal in the UK but have now seen adverts for OSRAM Le driving Hl Easy H7/H18 LED bulbs suggesting that they are not only plug and play but also legal. Is this correct ? Any inherent problems in swapping LED for Halogen ?
Asked on 27 January 2024 by RobbyDazz
Answered by
David Ross
The MoT inspection manual was updated in January 2021 with the following: 'Existing halogen headlamp units on vehicles first used on or after 1 April 1986 must 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 for light source and lamp not compatible.'
Although the OSRAM website lists a variety of LED-replacement bulbs as 'street legal', the product information states 'Approved LED light source - only applies to the respective countries in which there is approval or to which an equivalent approval applies and the vehicle models and light functions currently listed in the compatibility list.' At present the UK is not listed on this information page as offering compatibility with these bulbs, so we would expect these to result in an MoT failure.
Although the OSRAM website lists a variety of LED-replacement bulbs as 'street legal', the product information states 'Approved LED light source - only applies to the respective countries in which there is approval or to which an equivalent approval applies and the vehicle models and light functions currently listed in the compatibility list.' At present the UK is not listed on this information page as offering compatibility with these bulbs, so we would expect these to result in an MoT failure.
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