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<head> <meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 [filtered)"> <title>November 15, 2004 </title> <style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:#0253B7; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} p {margin-right:0in; margin-left:0in; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial;} p.articletitle, li.articletitle, div.articletitle {margin-right:0in; margin-left:0in; font-size:18.0pt; font-family:Arial;} span.atime1 {font-style:italic;} p.times, li.times, div.times {margin-right:0in; margin-left:0in; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> </head> <body lang=EN-US link="#0253B7" vlink=purple> <div class=Section1> <table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%'> <tr style='height:9.0pt'> <td width=418 style='width:313.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;height:9.0pt'> <p align=center style='margin-top:5.25pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><a name=top><span style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>November 15, 2004 </span></a></p> </td> <td style='border:none;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in' width=96><p class='MsoNormal'></td> </tr> <tr style='height:17.25pt'> <td width=630 colspan=2 style='width:472.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in; height:17.25pt'> <spacer height=23 width=630 type=block> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial'></span></p> </td> </tr> </table> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial;display:none'></span></p> <table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="97%" style='width:97.0%'> <tr> <td width=20 rowspan=2 style='width:15.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial'>[img]November%2015_files/image001.gif[/img]</span></p> </td> <td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'><!-- guestAuthor=0,authorIcon=/img/colhed_eyes_on_the_road.jpg,columnShared=0,authorN ame=Joseph B. White,one_author_in_byline= ,authorNameSqueezed= --> <table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%'> <tr> <td colspan=3 style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'> <table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=left> <tr> <td valign=top style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial;color:#999999'></span></p> </td> <td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial'></span></p> </td> </tr> </table> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-family: Arial'></span></p> <table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%'> <tr style='height:7.5pt'> <td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;height:7.5pt'> <spacer height=10 width=10 type=block> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:Arial'></span></p> </td> </tr> </table> <p class=MsoNormal></p> </td> </tr> <tr style='height:6.0pt'> <td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;height:6.0pt'> <spacer height=8 type=block> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:6.0pt;font-family:Arial'></span></p> </td> <td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;height:6.0pt'> <spacer height=8 type=block> <p class=MsoNormal align=right style='text-align:right'><span style='font-size:6.0pt;font-family:Arial'></span></p> </td> <td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;height:6.0pt'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt'></span></p> </td> </tr> </table> <p class=MsoNormal></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'> <table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=right width=200 style='width:150.0pt'> <tr style='height:.75pt'> <td width=10 rowspan=2 style='width:.1in;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in; height:.75pt'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial'>[img]November%2015_files/image002.gif[/img]</span></p> </td> <td width=10 rowspan=2 style='width:.1in;background:#CCCCCC;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in; height:.75pt'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial'>[img]November%2015_files/image003.gif[/img]</span></p> </td> <spacer height=1 width=1 type=block> <td width=10 rowspan=2 style='width:.1in;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in; height:.75pt'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial'>[img]November%2015_files/image004.gif[/img]</span></p> </td> <td width=180 style='width:135.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;height:.75pt'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial'>[img]November%2015_files/image005.gif[/img]</span></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial'></span></p> </td> </tr> </table> <p class=articletitle style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><!-- CODE=INDUSTRY SYMBOL=DAU -->Car Customizers, Government Clash</p> <p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:12.75pt'><span style='color:#666666'>Furor Over Headlight-Conversion Kits Is Ultimately a Collision of Cultures <span class=atime1>November15,2004</span></span></p> <p class=times>Bright, high-intensity discharge headlights have become a status symbol for a lot of American drivers, including many who can't afford the high-end German sedans that made them popular. Others, still seeing blue after an encounter with a set of these intensely bright bulbs, consider HID to be a four-letter word.</p> <p class=times>Now, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is pursuing a crackdown on companies that sell certain HID headlight-conversion kits, and the organization that represents America's car-customization industry is crying foul.</p> <p class=times>This dispute is highly technical in many respects. But the underlying issue is fairly basic: It's a culture clash.</p> <p class=times>The past few years have seen an explosion of interest in car customization. Movies like the "Fast and the Furious," television shows like MTV's "Pimp My Ride," and music videos that feature outlandishly modified SUVs have taken what were fringe movements and given them visibility in front of a mainstream audience hungry to give their look-alike rides some flair. An increasingly creative and entrepreneurial galaxy of companies that make and market spoilers, wheels, high-performance suspension parts, trick lights and other gear has now made the so-called aftermarket components business a $29 billion-a-year industry in the U.S., according to the Specialty Equipment Market Association, or SEMA, the trade group that represents the customization industry.</p> <p class=times>It was only a matter of time before the customization industry's outlaw streak got it into trouble with the national safety cops. About three years ago, the NHTSA responded to a growing number of complaints about headlight glare by opening a formal review of the issue. In the course of that inquiry, the NHTSA began getting complaints about high-intensity discharge headlights, which were starting to appear on expensive, mostly German, luxury cars. These lights cast a bright, blue-white light that is distinctly different from the yellowish beam from a standard headlight. Moreover, HID lights tend to create a sharp line between the beam and the darkness surrounding it, in contrast to the fuzzy borders of a standard headlight beam.</p> <p class=times><REPRINTSDISCLAIMER>From behind the wheel, factory-spec HID lights give you the feeling that you are zooming down the highway behind a magic lantern that beams a bright, powerful ray at threats lurking in the darkness. But for oncoming motorists, NHTSA researchers found, these bright lights could be a problem. An NHTSA report on the issue cites a study that found HID lights prompted more complaints about glare than standard halogen headlights. Still, NHTSA hasn't yet seen enough data to rule out factory-installed HID lights that meet federal lighting rules.</p> <p class=times>Then, the customization industry began selling bulbs and kits designed to give less-expensive vehicles that didn't come equipped with HID headlights a facsimile of the high-status, HID look for prices that ranged up and down from about $500 a set. Coolbulbs.com<sup>1</sup>, one of many Web sites that offered these conversion kits and bulbs, put the proposition with refreshing directness. Next to a photo of an Audi with shining, bright headlights, a headline declares: "You know you want this look."</p> <p class=times>NHTSA regulators, however, concluded that many of these HID conversion kits didn't comply with federal standards. Some aftermarket HID lights, NHTSA found, produced "many times the permitted glare intensity." Many didn't have proper low- and high-beam functions -- they were just on. Some weren't aimed properly.</p> <p class=times>In early 2003, NHTSA began cracking down. The agency began contacting sellers of HID conversion kits and effectively ordering them to stop selling lights that didn't comply with federal rules, and to recall kits they had sold. One big supplier of HID kits and replacement lamps, American Products Co., was socked with a $650,000 civil penalty. In all, NHTSA says it has taken action against 24 companies that retailed what the agency contended were illegal HID kits.</p> <p class=times>In the most recent action, against Astex USA of Dayton, Texas, NHTSA Administrator Jeffrey Runge stated in a letter that a replacement light "must have the same [within a tolerance] luminous flux [a measure of power] as the light source it replaces."</p> <p class=times>In other words, NHTSA is warning the customizers that new headlights have to be pretty much like the headlights that came on the car in the first place. Mark Lee, identified by NHTSA as the proprietor of Astex USA, didn't respond to messages last week.</p> <p class=times>The NHTSA headlight crackdown has raised alarms at the SEMA, which late last month declared that it intends to fight the NHTSA crackdown on replacement lights, in court if necessary. SEMA spokesman Steve McDonald says SEMA, which represents 5,727 members, fears that NHTSA is trying to declare illegal replacement parts that comply with federal safety standards -- but don't perform exactly like the original equipment the auto makers sell. "Our fear is this could pertain to all kinds of equipment," he says. SEMA, understandably, is concerned about a federal standard that puts more power in the hands of the car makers, and limits the freedom of customizers to go beyond the factory's basic designs.</p> <p class=times>This fight could take a while to reach its end, and it could have broad implications for the whole car-customization movement. In the meantime, custom-parts merchants like Andrew Falk, president of Coolbulbs.com, have put their HID conversion businesses on hold for fear of expensive fines and legal hassles. Mr. Falk says Coolbulbs was once one of the top three sellers of HID conversion kits, but adds that "we have not sold any since [the government] contacted us. We stopped. All of the suppliers dried up."</p> <p class=times>Mr. Falk cautions that kits you might see for sale on Internet auction sites probably don't comply with the law, although whether a citizen who put an illegal kit on a car would get a ticket is unclear.</p> <p class=times>Mr. Falk's site still carries promotions for the HID kits. "They are our most-viewed pages, so I wasn't about to take them down," he says. But if you try to buy a kit, a pop-up message appears: "Due to pending government legislation on these types of kits we are not allowed to sell them at this time." The message adds: "Please check back soon and don't try and order this type of product from another store without finding out if they have it in stock first because almost no one does. Sorry for the trouble but there is quite a bit of debate going on right now in Washington about aftermarket HID and we are just waiting to see what happens."</p> </td> </tr> </table> <p class=MsoNormal></p> </div> </body> </html> |
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<head> <meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 [filtered)"> <title>November 15, 2004 </title> <style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:#0253B7; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} p {margin-right:0in; margin-left:0in; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial;} p.articletitle, li.articletitle, div.articletitle {margin-right:0in; margin-left:0in; font-size:18.0pt; font-family:Arial;} span.atime1 {font-style:italic;} p.times, li.times, div.times {margin-right:0in; margin-left:0in; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> </head> <body lang=EN-US link="#0253B7" vlink=purple> <div class=Section1> <table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%'> <tr style='height:9.0pt'> <td width=418 style='width:313.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;height:9.0pt'> <p align=center style='margin-top:5.25pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><a name=top><span style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>November 15, 2004 </span></a></p> </td> <td style='border:none;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in' width=96><p class='MsoNormal'></td> </tr> <tr style='height:17.25pt'> <td width=630 colspan=2 style='width:472.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in; height:17.25pt'> <spacer height=23 width=630 type=block> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial'></span></p> </td> </tr> </table> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial;display:none'></span></p> <table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="97%" style='width:97.0%'> <tr> <td width=20 rowspan=2 style='width:15.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial'>[img]November%2015_files/image001.gif[/img]</span></p> </td> <td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'><!-- guestAuthor=0,authorIcon=/img/colhed_eyes_on_the_road.jpg,columnShared=0,authorN ame=Joseph B. White,one_author_in_byline= ,authorNameSqueezed= --> <table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%'> <tr> <td colspan=3 style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'> <table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=left> <tr> <td valign=top style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial;color:#999999'></span></p> </td> <td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial'></span></p> </td> </tr> </table> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-family: Arial'></span></p> <table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%'> <tr style='height:7.5pt'> <td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;height:7.5pt'> <spacer height=10 width=10 type=block> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:Arial'></span></p> </td> </tr> </table> <p class=MsoNormal></p> </td> </tr> <tr style='height:6.0pt'> <td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;height:6.0pt'> <spacer height=8 type=block> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:6.0pt;font-family:Arial'></span></p> </td> <td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;height:6.0pt'> <spacer height=8 type=block> <p class=MsoNormal align=right style='text-align:right'><span style='font-size:6.0pt;font-family:Arial'></span></p> </td> <td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;height:6.0pt'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt'></span></p> </td> </tr> </table> <p class=MsoNormal></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'> <table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=right width=200 style='width:150.0pt'> <tr style='height:.75pt'> <td width=10 rowspan=2 style='width:.1in;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in; height:.75pt'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial'>[img]November%2015_files/image002.gif[/img]</span></p> </td> <td width=10 rowspan=2 style='width:.1in;background:#CCCCCC;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in; height:.75pt'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial'>[img]November%2015_files/image003.gif[/img]</span></p> </td> <spacer height=1 width=1 type=block> <td width=10 rowspan=2 style='width:.1in;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in; height:.75pt'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial'>[img]November%2015_files/image004.gif[/img]</span></p> </td> <td width=180 style='width:135.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;height:.75pt'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial'>[img]November%2015_files/image005.gif[/img]</span></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial'></span></p> </td> </tr> </table> <p class=articletitle style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><!-- CODE=INDUSTRY SYMBOL=DAU -->Car Customizers, Government Clash</p> <p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:12.75pt'><span style='color:#666666'>Furor Over Headlight-Conversion Kits Is Ultimately a Collision of Cultures <span class=atime1>November15,2004</span></span></p> <p class=times>Bright, high-intensity discharge headlights have become a status symbol for a lot of American drivers, including many who can't afford the high-end German sedans that made them popular. Others, still seeing blue after an encounter with a set of these intensely bright bulbs, consider HID to be a four-letter word.</p> <p class=times>Now, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is pursuing a crackdown on companies that sell certain HID headlight-conversion kits, and the organization that represents America's car-customization industry is crying foul.</p> <p class=times>This dispute is highly technical in many respects. But the underlying issue is fairly basic: It's a culture clash.</p> <p class=times>The past few years have seen an explosion of interest in car customization. Movies like the "Fast and the Furious," television shows like MTV's "Pimp My Ride," and music videos that feature outlandishly modified SUVs have taken what were fringe movements and given them visibility in front of a mainstream audience hungry to give their look-alike rides some flair. An increasingly creative and entrepreneurial galaxy of companies that make and market spoilers, wheels, high-performance suspension parts, trick lights and other gear has now made the so-called aftermarket components business a $29 billion-a-year industry in the U.S., according to the Specialty Equipment Market Association, or SEMA, the trade group that represents the customization industry.</p> <p class=times>It was only a matter of time before the customization industry's outlaw streak got it into trouble with the national safety cops. About three years ago, the NHTSA responded to a growing number of complaints about headlight glare by opening a formal review of the issue. In the course of that inquiry, the NHTSA began getting complaints about high-intensity discharge headlights, which were starting to appear on expensive, mostly German, luxury cars. These lights cast a bright, blue-white light that is distinctly different from the yellowish beam from a standard headlight. Moreover, HID lights tend to create a sharp line between the beam and the darkness surrounding it, in contrast to the fuzzy borders of a standard headlight beam.</p> <p class=times><REPRINTSDISCLAIMER>From behind the wheel, factory-spec HID lights give you the feeling that you are zooming down the highway behind a magic lantern that beams a bright, powerful ray at threats lurking in the darkness. But for oncoming motorists, NHTSA researchers found, these bright lights could be a problem. An NHTSA report on the issue cites a study that found HID lights prompted more complaints about glare than standard halogen headlights. Still, NHTSA hasn't yet seen enough data to rule out factory-installed HID lights that meet federal lighting rules.</p> <p class=times>Then, the customization industry began selling bulbs and kits designed to give less-expensive vehicles that didn't come equipped with HID headlights a facsimile of the high-status, HID look for prices that ranged up and down from about $500 a set. Coolbulbs.com<sup>1</sup>, one of many Web sites that offered these conversion kits and bulbs, put the proposition with refreshing directness. Next to a photo of an Audi with shining, bright headlights, a headline declares: "You know you want this look."</p> <p class=times>NHTSA regulators, however, concluded that many of these HID conversion kits didn't comply with federal standards. Some aftermarket HID lights, NHTSA found, produced "many times the permitted glare intensity." Many didn't have proper low- and high-beam functions -- they were just on. Some weren't aimed properly.</p> <p class=times>In early 2003, NHTSA began cracking down. The agency began contacting sellers of HID conversion kits and effectively ordering them to stop selling lights that didn't comply with federal rules, and to recall kits they had sold. One big supplier of HID kits and replacement lamps, American Products Co., was socked with a $650,000 civil penalty. In all, NHTSA says it has taken action against 24 companies that retailed what the agency contended were illegal HID kits.</p> <p class=times>In the most recent action, against Astex USA of Dayton, Texas, NHTSA Administrator Jeffrey Runge stated in a letter that a replacement light "must have the same [within a tolerance] luminous flux [a measure of power] as the light source it replaces."</p> <p class=times>In other words, NHTSA is warning the customizers that new headlights have to be pretty much like the headlights that came on the car in the first place. Mark Lee, identified by NHTSA as the proprietor of Astex USA, didn't respond to messages last week.</p> <p class=times>The NHTSA headlight crackdown has raised alarms at the SEMA, which late last month declared that it intends to fight the NHTSA crackdown on replacement lights, in court if necessary. SEMA spokesman Steve McDonald says SEMA, which represents 5,727 members, fears that NHTSA is trying to declare illegal replacement parts that comply with federal safety standards -- but don't perform exactly like the original equipment the auto makers sell. "Our fear is this could pertain to all kinds of equipment," he says. SEMA, understandably, is concerned about a federal standard that puts more power in the hands of the car makers, and limits the freedom of customizers to go beyond the factory's basic designs.</p> <p class=times>This fight could take a while to reach its end, and it could have broad implications for the whole car-customization movement. In the meantime, custom-parts merchants like Andrew Falk, president of Coolbulbs.com, have put their HID conversion businesses on hold for fear of expensive fines and legal hassles. Mr. Falk says Coolbulbs was once one of the top three sellers of HID conversion kits, but adds that "we have not sold any since [the government] contacted us. We stopped. All of the suppliers dried up."</p> <p class=times>Mr. Falk cautions that kits you might see for sale on Internet auction sites probably don't comply with the law, although whether a citizen who put an illegal kit on a car would get a ticket is unclear.</p> <p class=times>Mr. Falk's site still carries promotions for the HID kits. "They are our most-viewed pages, so I wasn't about to take them down," he says. But if you try to buy a kit, a pop-up message appears: "Due to pending government legislation on these types of kits we are not allowed to sell them at this time." The message adds: "Please check back soon and don't try and order this type of product from another store without finding out if they have it in stock first because almost no one does. Sorry for the trouble but there is quite a bit of debate going on right now in Washington about aftermarket HID and we are just waiting to see what happens."</p> </td> </tr> </table> <p class=MsoNormal></p> </div> </body> </html> |
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<head> <meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 [filtered)"> <title>November 15, 2004 </title> <style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:#0253B7; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} p {margin-right:0in; margin-left:0in; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial;} p.articletitle, li.articletitle, div.articletitle {margin-right:0in; margin-left:0in; font-size:18.0pt; font-family:Arial;} span.atime1 {font-style:italic;} p.times, li.times, div.times {margin-right:0in; margin-left:0in; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> </head> <body lang=EN-US link="#0253B7" vlink=purple> <div class=Section1> <table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%'> <tr style='height:9.0pt'> <td width=418 style='width:313.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;height:9.0pt'> <p align=center style='margin-top:5.25pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><a name=top><span style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>November 15, 2004 </span></a></p> </td> <td style='border:none;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in' width=96><p class='MsoNormal'></td> </tr> <tr style='height:17.25pt'> <td width=630 colspan=2 style='width:472.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in; height:17.25pt'> <spacer height=23 width=630 type=block> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial'></span></p> </td> </tr> </table> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial;display:none'></span></p> <table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="97%" style='width:97.0%'> <tr> <td width=20 rowspan=2 style='width:15.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial'>[img]November%2015_files/image001.gif[/img]</span></p> </td> <td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'><!-- guestAuthor=0,authorIcon=/img/colhed_eyes_on_the_road.jpg,columnShared=0,authorN ame=Joseph B. White,one_author_in_byline= ,authorNameSqueezed= --> <table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%'> <tr> <td colspan=3 style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'> <table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=left> <tr> <td valign=top style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial;color:#999999'></span></p> </td> <td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial'></span></p> </td> </tr> </table> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-family: Arial'></span></p> <table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%'> <tr style='height:7.5pt'> <td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;height:7.5pt'> <spacer height=10 width=10 type=block> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:Arial'></span></p> </td> </tr> </table> <p class=MsoNormal></p> </td> </tr> <tr style='height:6.0pt'> <td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;height:6.0pt'> <spacer height=8 type=block> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:6.0pt;font-family:Arial'></span></p> </td> <td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;height:6.0pt'> <spacer height=8 type=block> <p class=MsoNormal align=right style='text-align:right'><span style='font-size:6.0pt;font-family:Arial'></span></p> </td> <td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;height:6.0pt'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt'></span></p> </td> </tr> </table> <p class=MsoNormal></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'> <table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=right width=200 style='width:150.0pt'> <tr style='height:.75pt'> <td width=10 rowspan=2 style='width:.1in;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in; height:.75pt'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial'>[img]November%2015_files/image002.gif[/img]</span></p> </td> <td width=10 rowspan=2 style='width:.1in;background:#CCCCCC;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in; height:.75pt'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial'>[img]November%2015_files/image003.gif[/img]</span></p> </td> <spacer height=1 width=1 type=block> <td width=10 rowspan=2 style='width:.1in;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in; height:.75pt'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial'>[img]November%2015_files/image004.gif[/img]</span></p> </td> <td width=180 style='width:135.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;height:.75pt'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial'>[img]November%2015_files/image005.gif[/img]</span></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:Arial'></span></p> </td> </tr> </table> <p class=articletitle style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><!-- CODE=INDUSTRY SYMBOL=DAU -->Car Customizers, Government Clash</p> <p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:12.75pt'><span style='color:#666666'>Furor Over Headlight-Conversion Kits Is Ultimately a Collision of Cultures <span class=atime1>November15,2004</span></span></p> <p class=times>Bright, high-intensity discharge headlights have become a status symbol for a lot of American drivers, including many who can't afford the high-end German sedans that made them popular. Others, still seeing blue after an encounter with a set of these intensely bright bulbs, consider HID to be a four-letter word.</p> <p class=times>Now, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is pursuing a crackdown on companies that sell certain HID headlight-conversion kits, and the organization that represents America's car-customization industry is crying foul.</p> <p class=times>This dispute is highly technical in many respects. But the underlying issue is fairly basic: It's a culture clash.</p> <p class=times>The past few years have seen an explosion of interest in car customization. Movies like the "Fast and the Furious," television shows like MTV's "Pimp My Ride," and music videos that feature outlandishly modified SUVs have taken what were fringe movements and given them visibility in front of a mainstream audience hungry to give their look-alike rides some flair. An increasingly creative and entrepreneurial galaxy of companies that make and market spoilers, wheels, high-performance suspension parts, trick lights and other gear has now made the so-called aftermarket components business a $29 billion-a-year industry in the U.S., according to the Specialty Equipment Market Association, or SEMA, the trade group that represents the customization industry.</p> <p class=times>It was only a matter of time before the customization industry's outlaw streak got it into trouble with the national safety cops. About three years ago, the NHTSA responded to a growing number of complaints about headlight glare by opening a formal review of the issue. In the course of that inquiry, the NHTSA began getting complaints about high-intensity discharge headlights, which were starting to appear on expensive, mostly German, luxury cars. These lights cast a bright, blue-white light that is distinctly different from the yellowish beam from a standard headlight. Moreover, HID lights tend to create a sharp line between the beam and the darkness surrounding it, in contrast to the fuzzy borders of a standard headlight beam.</p> <p class=times><REPRINTSDISCLAIMER>From behind the wheel, factory-spec HID lights give you the feeling that you are zooming down the highway behind a magic lantern that beams a bright, powerful ray at threats lurking in the darkness. But for oncoming motorists, NHTSA researchers found, these bright lights could be a problem. An NHTSA report on the issue cites a study that found HID lights prompted more complaints about glare than standard halogen headlights. Still, NHTSA hasn't yet seen enough data to rule out factory-installed HID lights that meet federal lighting rules.</p> <p class=times>Then, the customization industry began selling bulbs and kits designed to give less-expensive vehicles that didn't come equipped with HID headlights a facsimile of the high-status, HID look for prices that ranged up and down from about $500 a set. Coolbulbs.com<sup>1</sup>, one of many Web sites that offered these conversion kits and bulbs, put the proposition with refreshing directness. Next to a photo of an Audi with shining, bright headlights, a headline declares: "You know you want this look."</p> <p class=times>NHTSA regulators, however, concluded that many of these HID conversion kits didn't comply with federal standards. Some aftermarket HID lights, NHTSA found, produced "many times the permitted glare intensity." Many didn't have proper low- and high-beam functions -- they were just on. Some weren't aimed properly.</p> <p class=times>In early 2003, NHTSA began cracking down. The agency began contacting sellers of HID conversion kits and effectively ordering them to stop selling lights that didn't comply with federal rules, and to recall kits they had sold. One big supplier of HID kits and replacement lamps, American Products Co., was socked with a $650,000 civil penalty. In all, NHTSA says it has taken action against 24 companies that retailed what the agency contended were illegal HID kits.</p> <p class=times>In the most recent action, against Astex USA of Dayton, Texas, NHTSA Administrator Jeffrey Runge stated in a letter that a replacement light "must have the same [within a tolerance] luminous flux [a measure of power] as the light source it replaces."</p> <p class=times>In other words, NHTSA is warning the customizers that new headlights have to be pretty much like the headlights that came on the car in the first place. Mark Lee, identified by NHTSA as the proprietor of Astex USA, didn't respond to messages last week.</p> <p class=times>The NHTSA headlight crackdown has raised alarms at the SEMA, which late last month declared that it intends to fight the NHTSA crackdown on replacement lights, in court if necessary. SEMA spokesman Steve McDonald says SEMA, which represents 5,727 members, fears that NHTSA is trying to declare illegal replacement parts that comply with federal safety standards -- but don't perform exactly like the original equipment the auto makers sell. "Our fear is this could pertain to all kinds of equipment," he says. SEMA, understandably, is concerned about a federal standard that puts more power in the hands of the car makers, and limits the freedom of customizers to go beyond the factory's basic designs.</p> <p class=times>This fight could take a while to reach its end, and it could have broad implications for the whole car-customization movement. In the meantime, custom-parts merchants like Andrew Falk, president of Coolbulbs.com, have put their HID conversion businesses on hold for fear of expensive fines and legal hassles. Mr. Falk says Coolbulbs was once one of the top three sellers of HID conversion kits, but adds that "we have not sold any since [the government] contacted us. We stopped. All of the suppliers dried up."</p> <p class=times>Mr. Falk cautions that kits you might see for sale on Internet auction sites probably don't comply with the law, although whether a citizen who put an illegal kit on a car would get a ticket is unclear.</p> <p class=times>Mr. Falk's site still carries promotions for the HID kits. "They are our most-viewed pages, so I wasn't about to take them down," he says. But if you try to buy a kit, a pop-up message appears: "Due to pending government legislation on these types of kits we are not allowed to sell them at this time." The message adds: "Please check back soon and don't try and order this type of product from another store without finding out if they have it in stock first because almost no one does. Sorry for the trouble but there is quite a bit of debate going on right now in Washington about aftermarket HID and we are just waiting to see what happens."</p> </td> </tr> </table> <p class=MsoNormal></p> </div> </body> </html> |
Had to upgrade headlights. Stock lights provided very poor visibility.
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That's one thing I've noticed since getting the H2 and being up higher. There are ton of people with a misaligned headlight that's aimed up too high. Seems every day I get some putz behind me with his errant light on the back of my head. Can't wait to get over to the tint shop.
![]() Not to hijack the thread, but is there a way to put the inside rear view mirror on dimmed mode all the time? |
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