I was giving some thought to converting the headlights on my '11 CX-9 Touring to HIDs. Not crazy about the "sharp cut-off" lights (low beams) that are on the vehicle right now. They are OK on a 55 MPH road, but on the high speed freeways I get the feeling I'm over driving them. These are probably good lights for the approaching traffic, but for the driver (who just happens to be a bit on the "mature" end of the life cycle) they are not so great. Had heard that the HIDs were mostly illegal, but seeing more and more of them I was thinking maybe they've "bent" the laws some. While looking into the HIDs I found this article at Candlepower Inc. It reads like this:
HID Kits: What You Need To Know
Candlepower doesn't sell "HID kits". We easily could, and we'd make a lot of money doing it, but we never have and we never will.
That's because they're dangerous and illegal.
Here's why:
A "HID kit" consists of HID ballasts and bulbs for retrofitting into a halogen headlamp. Kits for replacement of standard round or rectangular sealed-beam headlamps usually include a poor-quality replaceable-bulb headlight lens-reflector unit that's not safe or legal even when equipped with the intended (usually H4) halogen bulb. Often, these products are advertised using the name of a reputable lighting company ("Real Philips kit! Real Osram kit! Real Hella kit!") to try to give the potential buyer the illusion of legitimacy. On rare occasions, some of the components in these kits did start out as legitimate HID headlight bulbs made by reputable companies, but they are modified (hacked) by the "HID kit" suppliers, and they aren't being put to their designed or intended use. Reputable companies like Philips, Osram, Hella, etc. never endorse this kind of hacked usage of their products. Nevertheless, it's easy to get "HID kits" from China bearing the (unauthorized, counterfeit) brands of major, reputable companies. See this page for just a few examples of the many packaging options offered by just one Chinese maker of "HID kits".
Halogen headlamps and HID headlamps require very different optics to produce a safe and effectivenot to mention legalbeam pattern. How come? Because of the very different characteristics of the two kinds of light source.
A halogen bulb has a cylindrical light source: the glowing filament. The space immediately surrounding the cylinder of light is completely dark, and so the sharpest contrast between bright and dark is along the edges of the cylinder of light. The ends of the filament cylinder fade from bright to dark. An HID bulb, on the other hand, has a crescent-shaped light source: the arc. It's crescent-shaped because as it passes through the space between the two electrodes, its heat causes it to try to rise. The space immediately surrounding the crescent of light glows in layers...the closer to the crescent of light, the brighter the glow. The ends of the arc crescent are the brightest points, and immediately beyond these points is completely dark, so the sharpest contrast between bright and dark is at the ends of the crescent of light.
These images shows the very different characteristics of the filament versus the arc in terms of overall shape and luminance distribution. You can see that the filament is cylindrical and has a bright center dimming towards the ends, with a sharp light/dark edge formed by the sides of the filament coil and the empty space just outside the filament. The arc, on the other hand, is crescent-shaped. Its got bright ends and a fuzzy light/dark edge formed by the layers of the sides of the arc. Differently-shaped, differently-sized, and with a different distribution of light within it, the two light sources cannot be interchanged without spoiling the intended optical focus.
When designing the optics (lens and/or reflector) for a lamp, the characteristics of the light source are the driving factor around which everything else must be engineered. If you go and change the light source, you've done the equivalent of putting on somebody else's eyeglasses: You can probably make them fit on your face OK, but you won't see properly.
END OF STORY
So, if you put these on your vehicle and are involved in a wreck (at night) you are opening yourself up for a nasty law suit. The claim would be, by the plaintiff, "I was blinded by those illegal headlights". Guess I'll stay with the street legal kind. Anyone replaced the OEMs with something that is a bit better (more illuminating, preferably a whiter light) and LEGAL?
HID Kits: What You Need To Know
Candlepower doesn't sell "HID kits". We easily could, and we'd make a lot of money doing it, but we never have and we never will.
That's because they're dangerous and illegal.
Here's why:
A "HID kit" consists of HID ballasts and bulbs for retrofitting into a halogen headlamp. Kits for replacement of standard round or rectangular sealed-beam headlamps usually include a poor-quality replaceable-bulb headlight lens-reflector unit that's not safe or legal even when equipped with the intended (usually H4) halogen bulb. Often, these products are advertised using the name of a reputable lighting company ("Real Philips kit! Real Osram kit! Real Hella kit!") to try to give the potential buyer the illusion of legitimacy. On rare occasions, some of the components in these kits did start out as legitimate HID headlight bulbs made by reputable companies, but they are modified (hacked) by the "HID kit" suppliers, and they aren't being put to their designed or intended use. Reputable companies like Philips, Osram, Hella, etc. never endorse this kind of hacked usage of their products. Nevertheless, it's easy to get "HID kits" from China bearing the (unauthorized, counterfeit) brands of major, reputable companies. See this page for just a few examples of the many packaging options offered by just one Chinese maker of "HID kits".
Halogen headlamps and HID headlamps require very different optics to produce a safe and effectivenot to mention legalbeam pattern. How come? Because of the very different characteristics of the two kinds of light source.
A halogen bulb has a cylindrical light source: the glowing filament. The space immediately surrounding the cylinder of light is completely dark, and so the sharpest contrast between bright and dark is along the edges of the cylinder of light. The ends of the filament cylinder fade from bright to dark. An HID bulb, on the other hand, has a crescent-shaped light source: the arc. It's crescent-shaped because as it passes through the space between the two electrodes, its heat causes it to try to rise. The space immediately surrounding the crescent of light glows in layers...the closer to the crescent of light, the brighter the glow. The ends of the arc crescent are the brightest points, and immediately beyond these points is completely dark, so the sharpest contrast between bright and dark is at the ends of the crescent of light.
These images shows the very different characteristics of the filament versus the arc in terms of overall shape and luminance distribution. You can see that the filament is cylindrical and has a bright center dimming towards the ends, with a sharp light/dark edge formed by the sides of the filament coil and the empty space just outside the filament. The arc, on the other hand, is crescent-shaped. Its got bright ends and a fuzzy light/dark edge formed by the layers of the sides of the arc. Differently-shaped, differently-sized, and with a different distribution of light within it, the two light sources cannot be interchanged without spoiling the intended optical focus.
When designing the optics (lens and/or reflector) for a lamp, the characteristics of the light source are the driving factor around which everything else must be engineered. If you go and change the light source, you've done the equivalent of putting on somebody else's eyeglasses: You can probably make them fit on your face OK, but you won't see properly.
END OF STORY
So, if you put these on your vehicle and are involved in a wreck (at night) you are opening yourself up for a nasty law suit. The claim would be, by the plaintiff, "I was blinded by those illegal headlights". Guess I'll stay with the street legal kind. Anyone replaced the OEMs with something that is a bit better (more illuminating, preferably a whiter light) and LEGAL?