Will traffic police check if car lights are replaced with LED bulbs?

[McSabrina]

They will not check as long as you do not install spotlights. Below are the advantages of LED light sources: Energy saving: LED car lights are cold light sources, generally consuming low power, with power consumption not exceeding -W, saving over 70% more energy than traditional light sources. Environmental protection: The spectrum contains no ultraviolet or infrared rays, producing neither heat nor radiation, with minimal glare. The waste is recyclable, pollution-free, and contains no mercury, making it safe to touch and a typical green lighting LED source. Long lifespan: There are no loose parts inside the lamp body, eliminating issues such as filament burnout, thermal deposition, and light decay. With appropriate current and voltage, the service life can reach 60,000 to 100,000 hours, which is more than 10 times longer than traditional light sources.

[Jeremy]

Last time at the auto repair shop, I heard my traffic police friend mention this issue. What they care about most isn't the bulb material itself, but whether the lighting meets safety standards. According to the national standard GB7258, LED modifications must include lenses, with color temperature between 4300K and 6000K, and the low beam height must not exceed the factory standard. If your lights scatter like a flashlight shining in people's eyes during night driving, or if your high beams are modified to be like searchlights, you'll definitely be pulled over. Old Zhang from our car enthusiasts group got a ticket last year - he bought cheap off-brand bulbs that projected light at such a wrong angle it illuminated treetops, and the traffic police penalized him for illegal modification with points deducted. Actually, if you buy certified bulbs from legitimate channels and get the lighting parameters inspected after modification, you generally won't have any trouble.

[CassidyLee]

Just helped my neighbor's kid with this last week. There's actually a trick to his Civic's LED conversion: replacing with same-spec LED bulbs is fine for factory projector headlights, but slapping LEDs directly into halogen reflectors is just asking for trouble. When the traffic police tested it with a handheld luminance meter, the scattered light exceeded standards by over 200%. They mainly focus on two types: those who install ultra-white blinding lights, and those who add those obnoxious flashing strobe lights. Once during a night check, we saw a Highlander with ice-blue LEDs that looked like ambulance warning lights - got impounded on the spot. Many new models come with factory LEDs now, so reasonable upgrades like ours are completely fine. Just remember to avoid fancy colors and stick to white/yellow light.

[AliviaLee]

The modification shop technician gave me some insider tips: never use LED lights with fans. Last year, a customer bought a fan-cooled version for better heat dissipation, but the waterproof gasket aged, causing water ingress and a short circuit. During the annual inspection, the light testing equipment even threw error codes. Traffic police mainly check three things when inspecting lights: whether additional light strips are installed, if the light color is compliant, and if the light intensity is glaring. When I upgraded my old Touareg with Osram's flagship model, I made sure to keep the original car lenses. After the modification, I spent three hours adjusting it with a level. Last year’s inspection was passed in one go. The key is to have the work done by a certified shop and keep the product’s 3C certification and work order handy to show during inspections.