H11 LED bulb replacement illegal?

Hey all,

Not sure if this has been discussed before but can anyone explain why this disclaimer pops up when I tried to purchase these Marimoto H11 2stroke V4? Does this mean all non-OEMs are essentially illegal if used on cars? These are for my low beams.

 

LEDs in a reflector-halogen assembly do not split properly, sometimes putting out blinding levels of light to oncoming drivers.

The problem is bad enough that some places may ban the use.

Replace factory H11 with Phillips H9 halogen ... just remove the green insert.

Read the first post in this: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-hid-vs-led-vs-halogen-h11-projector-headlights.589465/

 

Plug n play led bulbs designed to replace halogens come with this “offroad use only” warning because they aren’t safe for use on public roads.
Have you noticed how some LED headlights from oncoming traffic are obnoxiously bright while others just have a blue color to them but don’t burn your retinas?
The ones that piss you off are almost certainly LEDs installed in headlights designed for halogen bulbs and illegal because they suck for everyone but the driver of the vehicle. The ones you don’t even notice are full LED headlight assemblies that are street legal because they don’t suck ass, and the reflectors in them are actually designed for the LED light source.
LED bulbs are usually inexpensive (compared to full housings) and abundant.
LED housings are expensive ($1k+ for a set) and not usually available locally, but perform many many times better than bulbs.

 

Those V4 have been tested and I think the results were that they perform worse than stock....or at least very BAD. The V3 are a MUCH MUCH better option if you can find them. You can find info in the thread linked above.

 

@crashnburn80 has done extensive research on this, in the attached thread.

 

sit down, grab a drink!

instead of reading a massive thread that goes over all the info slowly, i can summarize slightly. yes, you see the scroll bar. this diarrhea of words is summarized. lol.

DOT Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard, section 108 covers all automotive lighting for all vehicles, and copy-pasted out of their 2007 amendment revision:
"The initial version of FMVSS No. 108 was adopted almost 40 years ago to increase motor vehicle safety by establishing minimum requirements for vehicle lighting, reflective devices, and associated equipment. In developing the standard, NHTSA incorporated requirements from a number of industry consensus standards, in particular SAE standards.
At that time, motor vehicle technologies were relatively simple, as compared to today's designs. For example, motor vehicle headlighting systems were limited to ones consisting of either two 7-inch or four 5 3/4 -inch round sealed beam units. During the ensuing years, a number of rectangular sealed beam units, replaceable bulb headlamps, and integral beam headlamps were developed, and FMVSS No. 108 was amended to permit the use of these new technologies. Later, the standard was further amended to add requirements for high-mounted stop lamps, side marker lamps, and side reflex reflectors, to allow for daytime running lamps, and to address the conspicuity needs of large vehicles."

every single light, reflector, and bulb on the exterior of any vehicle needs to comply with this standard in order to be legally allowed to drive on USA roads.

the way FMVSS 108 is written, the original bulb type and complete reflector housing is certified as a complete assembly. if you were to look at any exterior lamp on any vehicle, there will be printing somewhere on the light stating the bulb type used, and that it complies with DOT standards.

the first rule here is that bulbs must be changed with the exact same bulb type to maintain their certification. installing an led bulb in a housing that used to have a filament bulb, officially, means that the entire housing is now non-compliant to the letter of the law, and cannot be used on any public USA roads. officially, as a government document governing road use, this rule is as iron-clad as walking into an occupied school with a loaded shotgun.

enforcement is an entirely different discussion of the topic, but it really comes down to how 'large of a fish' each individual is to justify the time and effort to bring the person/group to prosecution.

morimoto has the pop-up there to absolve themselves of legal ramifications for selling the product (which is a whole other debate), and to notify the end-user that it's not their problem what happens after the product is purchased and arrives at the end user, sort of like buying modded vape pens...

to your final question:

yes, and no. sylvania offers bulbs under their 'silverstar' branding that are legally compliant, and offer boosted output at the cost of a reduced bulb lifespan.

there are also multiple avenues for non-toyota-brand bulbs, as the bulb specifications are globally published, and well known. so running an 'Amazon' filament bulb is entirely legally compliant.

of note, the specification of FMVSS ties the bulb type/output to the housing it's installed into. it does not tie the bulb/housing to any specific vehicle. so the guys that upgrade to the later-model toyota-sourced led headlights are entirely legal.

what is not allowed to the law is to alter the bulb type installed in any housing-- changing any filament bulb to hid, or led. for that to be legal, an already upgraded housing needs to be purchased from a vendor that went through the certification process for the type of lights you'd like-- it would also be listed with that bulb/illumination type on the lens of the housing.

welcome to america. home of the rulebook!