Musings on LEDs for Cars

One of the front turn signal bulbs went out in my car.  I went to the local auto parts store to find a replacement.  These days, there are LED alternatives.  And since I’ve read and heard about the benefits of LEDs – longer lasting, lower power requirements for the same brightness, etc. – I decided to buy a pair of turn signal LEDs.  And this is where the trouble began.

It turns out, the packaging of LEDs for cars are marked with “For off-road use only.”  I find this surprising.  Cities have been racing to replace their street lights with LEDs.  The regional power company has been encouraging households to replace their bulbs with LEDs.  But without delving much into the why, I bet that legislation or rules set forth by the NHTSA disallows such replacements.  This is unfortunate.

The second problem is that because of the low power draw, the light still flashes quickly as if the bulb is out, because the relay is not built to handle LEDs.  This means I have to replace the flasher relay as well to one that can handle both LEDs and incandescent bulbs.  And this brings us to the final problem.

A pair of LEDs was $20, and the flasher relay was another $20.  Regular bulbs were $8 for a pair.  To replace the flasher relay, I had to remove the bottom panel of the dash to reach it.  Even then, the relay and the wiring harness wasn’t exactly easy to reach.  Moreover, I replaced a reliable Denso part with something of dubious quality.  (Denso has been supplying Toyota for a very long time, and is partially owned by Toyota.)  Did I now increase the risk of an electrical fire in a car that my wife drives more often and my kids ride regularly?

While the end result of getting it to work was satisfying, I’m not sure it was worth the cost and the trouble.