No more LED Headlights

[Racer65]

A lot of folks have been waiting for their order of LED headlights and instead got a refund from me last night. Unfortunately, lights were blocked by Customs! Over the past 24 hours, I spent a lot of time talking to multiple parties, including U.S. Customs, DOT, and the manufacturer. To make a long story short, there is one guy calling the shots on behalf of DOT, and I spoke to him at length. I asked him, what do you need from me to release the shipment? We have tested the lights. It exceeds DOT standards. It is also certified IP68 and RoHS for use in the European Union. We can show you the test results and the paperwork. He says, "But it doesn't have a DOT logo embossed on it". I asked him if he tested the lights. He said no, it's a visual inspection of the logo. WFT? You don't care if the light is actually compliant, as long as it has a logo?

Anyways, lessons learned. For those of you interested in this topic, here's a good read from SEMA. Things you may not know:

• DOT does not certify anything. Manufacturers self-certify. It's the honor system! but you gotta have the logo. Quote from SEMA:

Is “DOT-approved” a legal term?
No, NHTSA has no authority to "approve" or "disapprove" vehicle equipment. The equipment is self-certified. Sometimes the term is confused with the DOT symbol, which is required to be placed by the manufacturer on certain items of equipment such as headlamps. This is simply an affirmative statement by the manufacturer that the equipment is compliant with an applicable NHTSA rule.

• All aftermarket HID lights (as opposed to LED) are non-compliant and illegal

Hopefully, these lights will be back one day after we address the logo.

 

[Toyota Pilot]

Can they be imported as aftermarket lights for "offroad" use only?

 

[David70FJ40]

Happy I ordered mine when I did, they are terrific lights. Leave it to the government to break an anvil with a rubber hammer.

 

[JohnnyC]

That's sucks racer ... Hope you weren't out a lot of coil

The same issue is with tires ... They don't care if the tyre is bald with belts ticking thru the side as long as it has the stupid DOT stamp

I bought a set of hella copies like 20 years ago (lights) that were marketed as off road only as they weren't allowed to sell them because of brightness being higher than the standard auto bulb ... that's what they told me when I called and was the only difference and why they couldn't say for street use

I checked to see if they had a dot on the lens and there is not... But... I recall there being stuff stamped on the other side... Maybe it can just be applied with a stamp?

Or as said above maybe you can sell them as off road only?

 

[Coolerman]

If they passed all the tests, have the manufacture simply stamp it with the DOT logo. I always thought a DOT stamp was like a UL stamp: the device has to be actually tested by UL (or an authorized testing facility) in order to pass and have the right to display the UL logo.
Testing a device is not cheap either! My company paid out close to $25,000.00 years ago to have a asphalt mix controller box I built pass the CE (Canadian Electrical) standards. I had to ship two samples of the controller to a third party testing facility with full documentation. Only one of them came back working. They said it failed their "lightning" test... but I did get the approval!

 

[honk]

THIS ^^

Can they be imported as aftermarket lights for "offroad" use only?

Sure they can. But any light which has the POTENTIAL to be used upon the highways needs to be certified by the seller, importer, or manufacturer as meeting what all requirements or the seller is committing a crime with penalties that are usually heavy fines.

If the attention of a regulating agency comes to a product the data acceptable for any certification claim will be expensive as it would require engineering and performance testing by services who are themselves certified to do such testing.

All of it would be more than any small vendor like Racer needs to bear.

 

[Weber Sarge]

Sure , I was just about to pull the trigger Friday - sorry .
I've been down this road before with parts - it really becomes too much of a pain to deal with , not to mention very expensive . Hope you can get the manufacturer to play along , system is sure rigged against the little guy .
Sarge

 

[x463]

Ouch.....I wonder if this was an unlucky one-time catch or if they are cracking down on all offshore copied lights w/o the label. Amazon had the same lights a few weeks back which probably still has stock.....few more $s then @Racer65. You can also buy from the OEMs and made in the USA (Truck-Lite and Peterson). They cost more b/c they aren't copies but still good value for the money and not super expensive like the Speakerman units or HID units (there is one legal/approved option - roughly $1500/pair).

 

[gcrump01]

Government stupidity at its best. Just ridiculous that the customs agent can't do anything but look for a DOT stamp. Government full of incompetent useless people. Ugh!!

 

[White Stripe]

You can buy these lights on ebay all day long. At least they look like the same lights. I could be wrong though.
Octane 7" Round Dual LED Headlights Pair Hummer Jeep Wrangler CJ TJ JK

 

[Landpimp]

Call them off road motorcycle lights or tractor lights for a backhoe, bulldozer or the like.

 

[Racer65]

Call them off road motorcycle lights or tractor lights for a backhoe, bulldozer or the like.

You know how the government puts a red tape process in place so that you are screwed no matter what?
File a petition. 60 to 90 days to hear back. Meanwhile, they are charging you a daily storage fee.

 

[ginmtb]

You can buy these lights on ebay all day long. At least they look like the same lights. I could be wrong though.
Octane 7" Round Dual LED Headlights Pair Hummer Jeep Wrangler CJ TJ JK

Those appear different - Racer's has a much better cable setup on the back side. The wires are protected in a single strand/sheath that has a strain relief installed. I don't have them in front of me otherwise I'd take a look. But that's what I recall.

 

[White Stripe]

Those appear different - Racer's has a much better cable setup on the back side. The wires are protected in a single strand/sheath that has a strain relief installed. I don't have them in front of me otherwise I'd take a look. But that's what I recall.

Like these?
Pair 7" 80W CREE Round LED Headlights Projector for Jeep Wrangler JK TJ Hummer

 

[Coolerman]

Like these?
Pair 7" 80W CREE Round LED Headlights Projector for Jeep Wrangler JK TJ Hummer

Interesting! Their listing claims DOT SAE certification!
Condition: New other (see details)
Seller Notes: “US ORIGINAL Beam, Top Assembly Technology, High Quality, Best Price, DOT SAE certification, Fast + Free Shipping Via Fedex & USPS Shipping, Only 100 sets available, sold out so far!!!”

 

[Fast Eddy]

Interesting! Their listing claims DOT SAE certification!

But if you look at the close-up of the light there appears to be no logo. Talk is cheap. (?)

 

[ranma21]

You know how the government puts a red tape process in place so that you are screwed no matter what?
File a petition. 60 to 90 days to hear back. Meanwhile, they are charging you a daily storage fee.

Unfortunately that is the case. Either you have them destroyed or return to the origin port.Sorry to hear that, there is always a risk to import non US ( Dot certified )headlamp, the DEPO headlamp I imported for 80 and 100 series was ok so far, I guess may be DEPO has a presence in the USA itself, custom cut the headlamp box and inspected them, but it went through custom without problem even without "DOT" logo on them, just ECE ( E-code ) on them.

 

[Coolerman]

But if you look at the close-up of the light there appears to be no logo. Talk is cheap. (?)

Yeah, I looked and could not see one either. Maybe it was stamped with disappearing ink? Gets it through customs then just fades away!

 

[Racer65]

Those appear different - Racer's has a much better cable setup on the back side. The wires are protected in a single strand/sheath that has a strain relief installed. I don't have them in front of me otherwise I'd take a look. But that's what I recall.

Keep in mind a lot of lights look similar but there are variations in actual quality, construction and fit. I wouldn't be surprised if majority of the eBay / Amazon sellers have never opened the box; that's why all you see are stock photos. Even the boxes are universal, so you would not know the difference unless you've talked to the manufacturer and tried the products. There are many instances where the aftermarket vendor uses the photos from Truck-Lite; that's why you may see the DOT logo on it. There is no aftermarket LED light I'm aware of that has the DOT logo.

 

[Fast Eddy]

The logo is supposed to be cast into the lens, I'm pretty sure.