HID's..a little knowledge

I have seen the subject come up a lot regarding the legality on the use of HID lights in the Forte and Koup and I found the following on an HID Company site in Canada and I thought I would share it as it answered a lot of my questions.

From the site: HID Canada, Illuminating Your World

Our Plea!

Let's face it. We'd love to provide an HID conversion kit for everyone out there, but it's not feasible. No, it's not impossible, just not feasible for safety reasons.

Why, you ask?

We're quite certain that either yourself or someone you know has been in a vehicle where another oncoming or following vehicle temporarily blinded you with their headlights. This is commonly due to one of two causes:

• The other driver accidentally left their high beams on
• The other driver installed an HID conversion kit in a halogen reflector based headlamp system

While we can't really help you with the first issue, we certainly can help prevent the second.

Folks, let's get the legalese out of the way:

Every jurisdiction has its own rules and regulations governing the use of automotive lighting. HID lighting systems that are supplied with the vehicles from the factory are DOT approved. There are currently no HID conversion kits available from any source which is DOT approved if installed outside of the automotive factory. Moreover, in the United States, this is not street legal for use on public roads. In Canada, a similar but less defined clause applies. As a result, we officially endorse the kit for exhibition and off-road use only. We are not responsible for buyers who violate the terms of sale while in which they will assume all responsibilities for any unauthorized or unintended use other than exhibition or off-road use.


Having said that, we would like to add our "plea" for your consideration.

• ALWAYS re-aim your headlights / fog lights after HID conversion kit installation. Due to the intensity of light from an HID system, it is not unusual to aim the lights a tad lower.
• NEVER install an HID conversion kit into a halogen reflector based lighting system. This is really the basis for this page, and the cause of the issue #2 way at the top of the page.

Let's elaborate on the second point here.

There are essentially three types of lighting systems:

• Reflector based, separate high and low beam
• Reflector based, compound single high/low beam (9004, 9007, H4, H13)
• Projector based

The first and second lighting systems use a chrome reflector to illuminate the road. These are horrible systems based on the fact that unless the light is aimed extremely low (and therefore ineffective), there will always be glare to the driver in front of you and on-coming traffic. This poses a real and direct safety risk to other drivers on the road and we absolutely cannot condone the use of an HID conversion kit in those types of light housings. Fortunately, many aftermarket projector based light housings are available to replace stock reflector types.

Of the three, the third one is usually the desired candidate for HID conversion kit use. The light cutoff is crisp with minimal glare into the vehicle ahead or oncoming.

In the end, it's up to you to decide on what you would like to do. We encourage you to research thoroughly prior to embarking on a conversion, and do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. Thank you for reading and helping us make the roads a little safer for everyone!