Ohio Bans Colored Headlights

[hermans]

Ohio law bans colored lights

Andy Ouriel

Sandusky

Apr 21, 2014

Almost any car dealership selling vehicles, new or used, offer rides painted in colors spanning the rainbow.

But just make sure the headlights flash one hue.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich recently approved Senate Bill 161, a law banning colored car headlights.

“The headlights on any motor vehicle shall display a white light” said Sgt. Vincent Shirey, an Ohio State Highway Patrol spokesman. “No other colors should be used”

Any bright light on a motor vehicle, including trucks and tractor trailers, that’s not white now breaks state law. Violators could be found guilty of a minor misdemeanor. It’s not known exactly when law enforcement agencies will begin seeking out violators and writing tickets. A majority of state representatives — including Terry Boose, R-Norwalk; Rex Damschroder, R-Fremont; and Chris Redfern, D-Catawba Island — supported the legislation.

Ohio’s law now jibes with federal regulations banning all headlights from emitting light in any other color but white.

 

 

 

 

http://www.sanduskyregister.com/article/5545591

[vangonebuy]

Technically, This could mean all pre halogen headlights are now outlawed.

 

Are they measured in color temperature?

[acdii]

Federal DOT already bans the use of non specific lights. This Ohio law just gives local law the means to ticket those who use "show" lights on their cars that should not be on the road. This pertains specifically to HID bulbs. You can get them in a range of Kelvin from bright blue, to deep purple. The Federal law requires the Kelvin to be in a specific range. I believe somewhere around 4300k, but haven't found documentation to confirm it. I have found some other interesting information. HID conversion kits have been deemed to not be correct, and has been determined that there is no such thing as an HID conversion kit that can legally be sold.

 

http://www.sema.org/files/attachments/Government-Affairs-2009-09-eNews-May07-Lighting-HID-Conversion-Kits.pdf?__utma=95790915.1643965750.1398172086.1398172086.1398172086.1&__utmb=95790915.0.10.1398172086&__utmc=95790915&__utmx=-&__utmz=95790915.1398172086.1.1.utmcsr=google|utmccn=(organic)|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=(not%20provided)&__utmv=-&__utmk=232133719

 

http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/rulings/glare.html

 

http://blogs.findlaw.com/law_and_life/2012/06/are-blue-xenon-hid-headlights-legal.html

 

Federal regulations state that the headlight color is to be white. 4000-6000K is the white they are referring to. 6000K is actually too bright for safe driving as it causes extreme glare to oncoming drivers.

[James Sentman]

I always thought the bans on colored lights were so that ordinary people couldn’t pretend to be an emergency vehicle or a police officer. The glare from HID “conversions” is what happens you put a point source light into a reflector meant for a regular bulb. They just dont focus and glare all over the place. People associate that daylight 600k blue with glare, but it’s entirely possible to have a properly built and focused beam with that color that creates no glare at all. That doesn’t mean though that the law would recognize that yours are perfectly fine and working without glaring. It’s hard to measure that while it’s easy for the police to just ticket you based on color.

[Nick Golden]

so many of the replacement bulbs have a blue tint to them. Wonder if those will be allowed.

[acdii]

Pretty sure they will have a spectrum card to compare against. Poser lights are already illegal in just about every state, so this law is not related to that. One thing people don't realize is that a bright white light actually makes the road darker when its wet and or raining. The wet road reflects the light back so it appears darker. This is why you saw a lot of yellow "fog" lights. Incandescent and Halogen bulbs have a yellow cast to them, which is why most OEM HID are in the 4300K range. Go hotter, up to 6000K and while they light up the road better when dry, they are horrible when its wet out.

 

I have seen many cars with HID conversions using green, purple and dark blue lamps. I dont know how the hell they can see at night. The light output is low due to the colors. Also did you know that lights above 5000K can hurt your eyes at night when shined at you? Our eyes are really sensitive to blue, and above 5000K they tend to the blue spectrum, which is why a lot of HID produce more glare to oncoming traffic than standard Halogens.

 

If law enforcement ever got a really big bug up their butt, they could really nail someone who installed HID conversions. NHTSA has determined there is no such thing, and any changes made to a vehicle that change its designed functions, such as head lights and tail lights are illegal. IOW, catch a cop on a really bad day with your tail lights darkened, and he can make your day miserable. You can spend hours reading through all these regulations on cars, it will confuse the hell out of you on what you can and can't do legally to a car. Even more mind boggling is how many get away with it, cops have better things to do.

 

If the Feds ever wanted to have a cash cow though, imagine the hell they can rain with a department of motor vehicle enforcement where they nail everyone that has made a modification. What they consider illegal is not if something has DOT stamped on it, but it must conform to certain regulations, such as FMVSS No. 108 for lighting. Tail lights and side markers must meet a certain reflectivity standard, which includes the colors. So replacing factory tail lights which meet those standards with one that I have seen that are LED's with a chrome reflector may not meet those standards. They look cool, but if they don't meet the standards, they are illegal.

[Ted Swing]

Yeah, I was looking into HID lights and learned that conversion kits are all illegal to use. You have to replace the entire headlight if you want to change your car to HID, and I couldn't find anywhere that sold HID replacements for '13 or '14 Ford Fusions.

[acdii]

Thats because they dont exist. The MKZ headlights are a different design and wont work in the Fusion. If Ford comes up with a Fusion HID for the Titanium trim next year, chances are it will fit our cars, but considering they most likely will cost 1K each, would they be worth it.

[SteveB_TX]

Yes, the MKZ has Dynamic LED projector headlights that cost over $1,800 each! :drop: