//:: HID Headlights

"Here we go ranting about driving again ... Installing aftermarket HID headlight units to make you ride appear more luxurious is daft!"

It's late in the evening and you're driving down a 2 lane 2-way road when you notice that an oncoming vehicle has its bluish-white lights on a high beam. You quickly and politely flash your headlights to alert the oncoming car but there is no response from the other driver coming towards you. As you vehicles pass each other, the glare is so intense that you almost veer off the road.

Does this sound familiar? If so, join the cub. You, like countless others, have just become a victim of aftermarket HID glare. Commonly cause by the fitment for halogen bulb, this kind of modification is illegal in the UK and the US. An HID, or high-intensity discharge lamp, produces about 250 percent more light than a standard halogen bulb. Due to the increase in lighting capacity, a projector lens (similar to that of a camera's) must be used to focus the light properly on the road surface and shine below the windshield level of approaching cars. Vehicles equipped with original HID do not cause glare because they have these lenses.

Developed by Robert Bosch GmbH, the first passenger-car application of HID lights was on the BMW 7-Series of 1986 to 1994. The glass capsule has two wires separated by a void filled with xenon gas, mercury and halide salts that take the place of the filament found in a halogen bulb. When high-voltage current is introduced to the capsule, it arcs across the void, ignites the xenon gas, and produces a brilliant white light.

However, unlike the filament of a halogen bulb, which is shielded when the low-beam material is lit (limiting the area of the illuminated reflector), the single capsule of an HID bulb simulates the full beam filament of a halogen bulb.

The absence of shielding is what makes the aftermarket HID conversion kits a genuine road hazard. They cannot be dipped and will momentarily blind oncoming drivers. The trend of mimicking high-end cars with HID has led to the misguided popularity of aftermarket HID conversion kits. We recommend using premium halogen bulbs from responsible OEM suppliers like Bosch instead.

I just wish the government will act to this aftermarket selling of HID's ... Is our high-way patrol officers doing something about it? PNOY has asked the removal of wangwang's (sirens) so maybe they can do something about aftermarket HID's.

HID is good! don't get me wrong ... it helps you drive safely during the night or even when it's raining but you must have the proper equipment. If your car did not come with HID fitted as standard then don't get an aftermarket HID. You're just making roads much more dangerous to drive on too! You're not helping out. You're just being a FLASH GORDON! Wanting to impress somebody with your flashy headlamps fitted to your box with 4-wheels.

HID, Headlight glare, Driving in the Philippines, aftermarket HID //TAGS