Hi,
I just want to relate an instance ( fact ) to you, that happened to me not so long ago. Long story short, looking for four new tyres for wife's car. Go to Australia wide, normally very reputable, multi brand, tyre selling and fitting company. These days, like most anyone, upselling ensued. 'Can we fill your tyres with Nitrogen?', 'Can we use special balance weights?', 'can we wax your car with pureed whale blubber?', and so on, with me saying all the while, 'no, I just want 4 tyres fitted, balanced and alignment!!'. Anyway, then came the clanger....'Can we fit a LED headlight upgrade for you?' Instantly, my ears pricked up ( as I've related elsewhere in this forum, wife's and my car have pro aligned halogen headlights with Philips Xtremevision 100's in situ ) and I asked, 'how are they better than standard lights? Thence followed the guff we've all heard.....'Far more light on the road', 'Whiter light', 'Longer lifespan', 'Use less power', 'Nice blue/white colour', etc etc ( Bear in mind this is just before i'm about to hand over $$ for a deposit to start work ). I then made this comment, ' Are you aware that to sell these conversions in Australia, for use on public roads, is illegal?, and are you also aware that selling, fitting and using these conversions for use on public roads leaves those that do, liable to prosecution?, and that they directly contravene ADR's ( Australian Design Rules ) for on road use? I then closed my wallet, said ' thanks for your time ', and walked out ( with, I think, a tyre lever aimed directly at the back of my head ).
Point is, while 'preaching to the converted' ( us ) is fine, how do you get the message across to the general populace, most of whom wouldn't know a lumen from a lux ? Like in a myriad of other areas, this high volume, Chinese stuff, is going to continue to flood our markets, until fundamental changes are made to prevent it from doing so for on road use. I think the almighty $$$ is always going to override the legal/ethical/safety arguments, that the likes of CPF, Daniel Stern and others who are always trying to do the right thing, continue to put forward. The only way I see, is continue the push, no matter how great the odds.
Note, the comment refers to aftermarket LED headlight kits, and no reference whatsoever to O.E.M, factory designed and fitted LED headlights, is intended.
I just want to relate an instance ( fact ) to you, that happened to me not so long ago. Long story short, looking for four new tyres for wife's car. Go to Australia wide, normally very reputable, multi brand, tyre selling and fitting company. These days, like most anyone, upselling ensued. 'Can we fill your tyres with Nitrogen?', 'Can we use special balance weights?', 'can we wax your car with pureed whale blubber?', and so on, with me saying all the while, 'no, I just want 4 tyres fitted, balanced and alignment!!'. Anyway, then came the clanger....'Can we fit a LED headlight upgrade for you?' Instantly, my ears pricked up ( as I've related elsewhere in this forum, wife's and my car have pro aligned halogen headlights with Philips Xtremevision 100's in situ ) and I asked, 'how are they better than standard lights? Thence followed the guff we've all heard.....'Far more light on the road', 'Whiter light', 'Longer lifespan', 'Use less power', 'Nice blue/white colour', etc etc ( Bear in mind this is just before i'm about to hand over $$ for a deposit to start work ). I then made this comment, ' Are you aware that to sell these conversions in Australia, for use on public roads, is illegal?, and are you also aware that selling, fitting and using these conversions for use on public roads leaves those that do, liable to prosecution?, and that they directly contravene ADR's ( Australian Design Rules ) for on road use? I then closed my wallet, said ' thanks for your time ', and walked out ( with, I think, a tyre lever aimed directly at the back of my head ).
Point is, while 'preaching to the converted' ( us ) is fine, how do you get the message across to the general populace, most of whom wouldn't know a lumen from a lux ? Like in a myriad of other areas, this high volume, Chinese stuff, is going to continue to flood our markets, until fundamental changes are made to prevent it from doing so for on road use. I think the almighty $$$ is always going to override the legal/ethical/safety arguments, that the likes of CPF, Daniel Stern and others who are always trying to do the right thing, continue to put forward. The only way I see, is continue the push, no matter how great the odds.
Note, the comment refers to aftermarket LED headlight kits, and no reference whatsoever to O.E.M, factory designed and fitted LED headlights, is intended.
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