HID kits will be banned starting 8/15/03

[Eddie]

Read this first before responding to this thread.

I kinda don't blame the NHTSA for this move. There's a very small niche in the aftermarket HID lighting industry that actually have a clue about properly designed systems,the remaining 99.999 percent can give a rats arse and just peddle their wares on ebay,online stores,and accessory places. I see the garbage these people sell almost daily,driving around in their much brighter headlights but with no concern about blinding everyone else,because they were sucked in by the peddler's advertising of "factory BMW results" and other BS.

Oh well,at least now I won't have to talk about glare,beam pattern,and kelvin temps anymore since these kits won't be available any more. Time to work on my factory HID projector conversion again...

[DevinSixtySeven]

really good information to keep in mind, particularly if we're needing spare parts after august.

ehh...i got flashed more often with my stock heads & fogs than i ever have with my hid...now i just get comments from people who find out/see i have hid: "aren't those *new* lights dangerous?" it's already like saying the word "nuclear" at a rainbow gathering. seems like my oems were more "dangerous", if driver reactions are any indication...while the nhtsa has a legit case here (and something needs to be done about bad retrofits, for example quite possibly mine ...but i will stick with other driver reactions for the moment), i really do wonder as someone on that forum suggests how many of the complaints stemmed from one motorist in the main lobe of another motorist's higher-up headlights, since 5 years ago is also when we started seeing more suvs--higher headlights, not necessarily brighter headlights. after driving around a rental car a month or two ago, i noticed that every single truck and/or suv put out relatively bright headlights compared to the output from the cars...not more light, just me being in the main lobe of a normal headlight. hid? no...just a regular headlight. while the nhtsa will eventually make a legitimate case, i suspect the complaints stem from "haves" and "have-nots", people who are uncomfortable with tinted headlights (uh-oh, gangstas tryin' to be "kewl"...), people with older (and dimmer...if you have hid, try driving a friend's 10yr old civic sedan for a headlight comparison, i felt like i was blind) headlight systems used to less light output, and the more probable and understandable issue of winding up in the path of a normal headlight beam. just last night i couldve sworn the guy behind me had his brights on...turns out when i hit my exit and he passed by, he was just towing a heavy trailer and the rear of his truck was sitting low. i also doubt these complaints are coming from people who own a truck or suv, or a "recently" manufactured vehicle...

at the very least, something good will come of it, so long as the nhtsa doesn't knee-jerk. pity they probably won't peer down the hatch of the factory hid systems, as it sounds from that thread there are a few "elegant" (sarcasm, btw) solutions on the road these days...the oem version of the ricer who wants bright blue lamps.

hey ed, how's that conversion coming, anyway?

-sean

[Red Hornet]

The prob as i see it is the "all in one headlight" pop now a daze, has both the high beams & low beams as a single unit. You can't really adjust them correctly for high and low, so if you wanna raise your high beam a tad, your low comes up, and you get flashed, etc. Dual style headlights would/ may remedy this situation to some degree, ***-u-me-ing you adjusted them, butte prob not, so... More laws, More Rulze, More Regs.

Cheers,
-RH