My car was refused a wof at the AA due to having had the normal incandescent bulbs replaced with led lights. LTSA have added a new policy to their Wof standards. You cannot replace any external incandescent bulbs with led unless your car had led installed at manufacture. No reason given, just not allowed. This is why all led's sold at the auto parts stores must have a notice saying for off road use only. So be aware if your wanting to upgrade to led its not going to pass a Wof.
sw20,
Aug 5, 8:34am
'Upgrade'
mrfxit,
Aug 5, 8:37am
Would be correct for cars with clear lenses, but those with colored lenses, they can't tell the difference. Had the same sort of grumble thrown at me a few years ago when asking about putting colored bulbs in behind faded colored lenses & got told in no uncertain terms that at that stage, only cars with factory clear lenses could have colored bulbs. So . did it anyway & they couldn't tell the difference
thejazzpianoma,
Aug 5, 8:39am
I have a good repair method for faded lenses if you ever do get stuck.
stevo2,
Aug 5, 8:41am
I had the same problem back in the mid 2000's with my 96 Hiace and the red lenses had faded. Testing Station turned me down for a WoF and told me to put some red bulbs in for an easy pass. Problem sorted.
mrfxit,
Aug 5, 8:48am
Detest those clear lenses, the blimin sun glare off them hides the flashing bulb
bitsy_boffin,
Aug 5, 8:49am
The reason is that the light assembly, the reflectors, lens, beam pattern and angles etc are designed for an essentially spherical incandescent light source, an led die is a unidirectional point light source with a very tight and uneven spread a collection of them is at best a cylinder and is very different to what all the above was designed for and this can affect the lighting in detrimental ways, for you and/or for oncoming traffic, it might be fine in some particular case with some particular led in some particular car but a simple WoF check is not sufficient to determine that sufficiently, therefore it is better to just make it not permitted.
And if it's stop or indicators, add colour into the mix as well
It is not to my knowledge a "new" rule.
vnjsling,
Aug 5, 8:53am
Im only talking about parking lights and indicator and brake/tail lights, not headlights. Yes it is a new rule bought out this year apparently.
bitsy_boffin,
Aug 5, 8:59am
Do the led brake and indicator lights have the same or better range of viewing angles and distances under the same range of lighting conditions as the originals in your vehicle, maybe, but again, not for the WoF man to be able to test that.
bitsy_boffin,
Aug 5, 9:34am
With that said.
I don't see a clarified rejection for LEDs in stop lamps etc in the VIRM, only head lamps, which had a clarification added this year to explicitly reject them.
This is the only type of lamp which had the clarification about LEDs added (on the 1st of June)
headcat,
Aug 5, 10:09am
This is what it's come down to. Sad when the only allowable modification is to change light bulbs. and now even that is gone.
dublo,
Aug 5, 10:22am
Well, a year or two ago I fitted modern tail/stop/indicator lamps from ripco or sca to our 1998-built trailer to replace the original, small ones. They take less current than the old lamps so don't affect the flasher units on our old English cars so much and give a brighter light. No problems at WoF time.
slarty45,
Aug 5, 11:04am
Reflectors designed for "normal incandescent" halogen bulbs have the light source originating from dead center
LED diodes are placed around a center tube that is about 14 mm wide, so the reflector does not work as designed. Light is scattered all over the shitshow
vnjsling,
Aug 5, 11:47am
Could be the reason but the inspector couldn't tell me why it was a fail, just that led's were not allowed.
slarty45,
Aug 5, 12:11pm
I tried some as fog light bulb replacements. Fog lights with standard halogen filament bulb mainly lit up the road down low close to the car. With the LED they lit up the house across the road and much more. I removed them.
While the diodes could last a very long time, the little fan cooling the LED driver I expect would have a short life going on the noise it made when new.
supern0va,
Aug 5, 12:37pm
I have LED lights ( halo tail lights ) and LEDs up front similar to later Audis and I sail through every WOF. ( On a Vette )
ianab,
Aug 5, 12:40pm
That's legal because the whole fitting was replaced, and it's designed for LEDs, and has some sort of standard moulded in the plastic.
Manufacturer has certified that it's not too dull / too bright / throwing light in the wrong direction etc.
If you just plug a random LED into the old fittings, no one can guarantee what the results are.
nice_lady,
Aug 5, 1:01pm
I dunno whether it's because of incorrectly retro fitted LED lights or what but of late I've been pretty much blinded by these on occasion. They're either too bloody bright or else perhaps wrongly angled or both. I did flash one guy thinking they were running on high beam but they flashed back to show they hadn't been. ouch. To me their low beam lights were pretty much like high beam and bad for oncoming traffic.
trogedon,
Aug 5, 1:16pm
I put an 8 ball gear lever knob on the gear lever. Will be interesting to see if that passes the WOF.
saxman99,
Aug 5, 1:36pm
What about the extra 350bhp that generates? You inconsiderate MANIAC! Someone could DIE!
rob_man,
Aug 5, 1:45pm
My Colorado has a flatdeck fitted, it has aftermarket LED tail lamps. Is this legal? there are a shitload of them around.
flack88,
Aug 5, 2:01pm
yeah it should be if common sense prevails,they are brighter,dont blow out like bulbs do and don't usually leak and get dusty inside.all flatdecks made round here got LEDs
ianab,
Aug 5, 2:22pm
If the whole fitting is certified with the LEDs, then it's fine. You can buy the whole tail light assemblies at Repco etc for your trailer / flatdeck etc
LEDs themselves aren't banned, lots of new cars come with them standard, even for headlights now. It's fitting dodgy LEDs into the old incandescent fittings that's a no-no.
Replacement Bulbs The New Zealand lighting rules state that all certified legal lamps (headlamps or tail lamps) must be fitted with an approved light source to remain legal, if the light source is replaced.
Most HELLA bulbs will be marked with an ‘E mark’ to show compliance. Some bulbs, to suit older vehicles or imports not originally destined for our market, may have different standards such as JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard). HELLA shows compliant bulbs under the category column in the bulb section
LED Replacement Bulbs LED replacement bulbs are generally illegal for use in marker, signal and headlights as they do not come with a compliance marking.
To avoid failing a Warrant/Certificate of Fitness inspection, all lighting equipment must comply with the law and meet approved standards.
tshop,
Aug 5, 3:56pm
No Leds in the park or reverse, plate light ok because no light is projected outward. Its been that way since day one, the reason being Leds are too Bright, put them in the reverse lights and that will confuse a driver because it would look like a car's headlights.
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