I'm w/George on this one man.

There are laws against the bulbs that are used, housings that are used...etc
Do you think it's legal to put in a 100watt bulb in the headlight housing? NO.
Cops around here can ticket vehicles that have blue-ish lights. They check with a piece of paper. Something if the paper has blue light on it, then you get a ticket and if there is no blue then it's considered HID and you won't get ticketed???? Not sure eactly how it works, but thats a general synapse.
Cops aren't going to know what to look for as far as vehcile specific bulbs but I PROMISE within a few years to come....Most states will have bulb checks for inspection. Like they have over in Europe. HERE shows the video of the headlight machine.
Bulb checks use light alignment machine's to guage the glare and light pattern from the bulbs. This will allow retro-fitters to pass inspection as the machine measures everything rather than the law saying that only OEM vehicles that come fitted from the factory would pass.

As far as the 2001-03 Lexus LS430 had reflector-based HIDs...That is because they were Specifically designed for that purpose. They are projector style housings. They also use a special Reflector style HID bulb that has black coloring on one side to reduce light as the reflector was meant to distribute that light evenly. Completely diferent than a Halogen reflector headlamp where the bulb just produes through the back.

Just my thoughts on the issue, but it IS ILLEGAL to put HID bulbs in halogen housings...That law is for all of North America not just the US.

 

They prolly just wanna mess with you, cops get bored after a while. I mean one time when I was about 13 or 14 a cop stopped me on my bike at about 4 in the afternoon and told me to go home because I needed a headlight on my bike to ride at that time!

 

dirtydog -

Show me a law that says any of that. Show me a law that specifies the color temperature of a headlight bulb. Cops don't get to make up tests; there are firm specifics for everything.

Show me a law that specifies the wattage for headlight bulbs. What about HIR bulbs that produce double the light output while consuming the same wattage?

I'd bet all states have their laws online. Find me any one of them that mentions HID retrofits or anything similar. It is against the law to blind oncoming traffic and if a poorly-made retrofit does that they deserve the ticket.

BTW, the halogen projectors on my Subaru are some of the most HID-friendly housings made. You wouldn't know it didn't come with HIDs if you didn't know Subaru model specifics.

 

Google is your friend. Search hid dot nhtsa. Feel free to come back and admit you were wrong. There have been countless threads on numerous forums dealing with this issue. I've seen the links multiple times. Ignorance (or in your case, obstinance) of the law is no excuse.

 

Its legal in Louisiana, per my state trooper workout buddy. Louisiana law actually states that the headlight must emit a white light, also the license plate illumination.

So technically, 5000K HIDs are more "legal" than halogens, and my white LED license plate bulbs are also. And dog, he also told me about the paper test. A HID lookalike halogen puts out a blue tint.

Foglights are illegal unless on high beam here too. But from the dealership they only work with low beam? What I'm saying is the DOT cannot restrict this or that without banning HIDs all together, there are too many variances (older navigators and escalades have HIDs in the regular housing I think)

But having sex without the intent to get pregnant is illegal here also, along with **** and oral sex. Napoleonic law isn't outdated is it?

 

i got pulled over for having my inside led dome lights on does that count?

 

I do believe he got ya on this one. A big fat "I was wrong was" is in order. Sometime we should do a little research before we blab our mouth like a child.

 

Why were you driving with your cab lights on.

 

couldnt find my cup holder!!! but I flipped them on as i passed a cop and he thought I was trying to hide something?

 

Thats bs. Dont know if its legal or not but personally I think its a stupid if it isn't. Although it may not be safe to drive with them on due to it being so bright.