Nevada headlight laws vs. modern headlights

eggsalad

Enlightened
Joined
Mar 30, 2013
Messages
268
I had some questions about modern headlights, and I started digging into laws in the state of Nevada.

Nevada Revised Statutes 484D.220.2 states:

" Whenever a motor vehicle equipped with headlamps is also equipped with any auxiliary lamps, spot lamp or any other lamp on the front projecting a beam of intensity greater than 300 candle power, not more than a total of four of any such lamps may be lighted at one time when upon a highway."

The current Acura lineup uses 3 LED elements per side, for a total of 6 "lamps" are lighted at one time.

Current-model Ford F-Series appear to use 2 lamps per side for low beam. Add in the (probably useless) fog lamps that people love to run all the time, and you get a total of 6 "lamps".

Can one of you fine and intelligent folks help me understand how these (and there are probably other examples) are legal under Nevada law? Or perhaps it's that old standard, "lack of enforcement".

Thanks!

edit: I find nothing about how many lamps a vehicle can operate if they are *less* than 300 candlepower, maybe that's infinity. :)
 
Last edited:

-Virgil-

Flashaholic
Joined
Mar 26, 2004
Messages
7,802
The current Acura lineup uses 3 LED elements per side, for a total of 6 "lamps" are lighted at one time.

No, the three elements on each side together count as one lamp. You wouldn't have a complete or legal beam pattern with one or two of them, only with all three. Each element is considered a "beam contributor", and FMVSS 108 defines "beam contributor" as "an indivisible optical assembly including a lens, reflector, and light source, that is part of an integral beam headlighting system and contributes only a portion of a headlamp beam". "Integral beam headlamp" means "a headlamp (other than a standardized sealed beam headlamp) [...] comprising an integral and indivisible optical assembly including lens, reflector, and light source, except that a headlamp conforming to [certain requirements] may have a lens designed to be replaceable".

Current-model Ford F-Series appear to use 2 lamps per side for low beam. Add in the (probably useless) fog lamps that people love to run all the time, and you get a total of 6 "lamps".

Well...no, not quite. Each side of the Ford truck you're thinking of (with the silly and wasteful "quad dual beam" halogen setup) has one lamp. It looks like this—one single assembly on each side, which has two reflectors and two bulbs. FMVSS 108 S10.15.1 says "A replaceable bulb headlighting system [...] must provide in total not more than two upper beams and two lower beams and must incorporate not more than two replaceable light sources in each headlamp." Now, understanding that "headlighting system" means all the headlamps on the vehicle, let's check it out...two lamps, one on each side of the vehicle. Each lamp provides a low beam and a high beam, check. Each lamp contains not more than two H13 bulbs, check (the turn signal bulb doesn't count). So nothing in that requirement precludes the "quad dual beam" system. Maybe Ford and its supplier designed the optics so both bulbs/reflectors on each side are needed to produce a complete low beam and a complete high beam, or maybe you still get a compliant low or high beam with one of the two operating on each side, but both are needed to provide the low and high beam performance Ford wanted. Either way would probably pass muster if NHTSA had any questions about it.

Of course, none of that really matters much on the side of the road, with a traffic officer writing you a ticket for "illegal" headlamps. It happened in the early-mid '90s to drivers of new cars with original-equipment Xenon headlamps. It probably happened in the mid '80s to drivers of new cars with composite headlamps (there are places in the US with laws still on the book, requiring cars to have sealed-beam headlamps). Eventually none of those tickets would stick, because states are not allowed to pick and choose what Federally-compliant vehicle equipment they will and won't accept. If a headlight system is legal as per FMVSS 108, every state is obligated to accept it whether they like it or not.

I find nothing about how many lamps a vehicle can operate if they are *less* than 300 candlepower, maybe that's infinity. :)

That's a very common threshold, "300 candlepower" (properly, this word should be candela). For mental calibration, 300 candela is the maximum allowed intensity (80 is the minimum), on axis, for a single-compartment stop light or red rear turn signal. A front turn signal must be at least 200 candela unless it's within 4 inches of the low beam, then it must be at least 500 candela. This "300 candlepower" threshold is a sort of rough "bright lights" versus "not-bright lights" dividing line. It would be better if they said what they meant (road-illumination lamps versus signaling and marking lamps), but they don't.
 

eggsalad

Enlightened
Joined
Mar 30, 2013
Messages
268
Thanks for clearing that up for me, Virgil!

I think what had me confused was that I was thinking a light bulb (or LED element) was a "lamp". In my (non-automotive) trade, the two are synonymous. You've just taught me that on motor vehicles, the terms are not synonymous. Thank you.

edit for clarity: In my trade, a "lamp" is a bulb. What the auto biz calls a "lamp" (containing one or multiple bulbs) I would call a "fixture".
 
Last edited:

-Virgil-

Flashaholic
Joined
Mar 26, 2004
Messages
7,802
Name games! The thing that actually makes the light, if it has electrodes or a filament inside a capsule is legitimately called a "bulb" or a "lamp" (or a "globe" in some places like New Zealand), or formally in US vehicle regs it's a "light source". That item gets installed in an optical assembly of some kind with a front lens; that assembly is most often called a "lamp" if it goes on a vehicle (yes, this means in some places they have to figure out how to explain installing a lamp in a lamp). If it doesn't go on a vehicle, it's informally called a "fixture" or formally a "luminaire".
 

eggsalad

Enlightened
Joined
Mar 30, 2013
Messages
268
In Entertainment, only 3 sorts of people use the term "luminaire".

a] People from France or French Canada.
b] Fixture manufacturers
c] Pompous (insert the slang for an unpleasant body part)

:)
 

John_Galt

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 20, 2009
Messages
1,831
Location
SW, PA
@ Virgil
"Eventually none of those tickets would stick, because states are not allowed to pick and choose what Federally-compliant vehicle equipment they will and won't accept. If a headlight system is legal as per FMVSS 108, every state is obligated to accept it whether they like it or not."

This right here is part of a game I am playing with local law enforcement/courts. My state, PA, requires 5-3/4" or 7" round sealed single or dual beam Incandescent headlamps. I've been charged in the same town twice for my headlamps color on my drive to work. Neither the inspection code, title 67, or the vehicle code, title 75, have an updated standard for lamps. Obviously, if the code hasnt been updated since the introduction of fmvss108, then the code is void by federal law as it established the minimum standards. The local magistrate agreed the first time, did not agree when presented the same information again recently.

I had assumed there was something to the effect of each sealed lamp assembly being considered "one lamp," given that trucklites first gen led headlamp, and subsequent models offered by JW Speaker, etc had multiple emitters and optics in a sealed assembly.
 

-Virgil-

Flashaholic
Joined
Mar 26, 2004
Messages
7,802
I've been charged in the same town twice for my headlamps color on my drive to work. Neither the inspection code, title 67, or the vehicle code, title 75, have an updated standard for lamps. Obviously, if the code hasnt been updated since the introduction of fmvss108, then the code is void by federal law as it established the minimum standards.

That's not quite how federal preemption works, but basically if there's no PA statute that either directly or indirectly specifies the color of headlamps, then there's no legal basis for a ticket for improper headlamp color. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean you're going to win!

I had assumed there was something to the effect of each sealed lamp assembly being considered "one lamp," given that trucklites first gen led headlamp, and subsequent models offered by JW Speaker, etc had multiple emitters and optics in a sealed assembly.

Yeah, but don't get too comfortable with assumptions like this, though. The obvious or apparent headlamp count on a car isn't necessarily the correct one, from the perspective of the regulations. There are 2-lamp systems that look like 4-lamp systems, 4-lamp systems that look like 2-lamp systems, etc. If you think this probably has very little to do with assuring traffic safety...you're probably right!
 

Ls400

Enlightened
Joined
Jun 27, 2018
Messages
276
FMVSS 108 S10.15.1 says "A replaceable bulb headlighting system [...] must provide in total not more than two upper beams and two lower beams and must incorporate not more than two replaceable light sources in each headlamp."

Is this how the newer Jeep Cherokees get away with what appear to 3 separate light sources on either side of the car? I often see Jeep Cherokees at night with, in descending order on both sides, a thin LED strip, a low-beam, and fog lights illuminated. The LED strip isn't integral to either the upper or lower beam--it's just accent lighting, I believe.
 
Last edited:

-Virgil-

Flashaholic
Joined
Mar 26, 2004
Messages
7,802
No. "Replaceable light source" means what normal people call a headlight bulb. Each headlamp cannot contain more than two headlight bulbs. And we're talking about headlamps here, not fog lamps or front position/parking lights or daytime running lights.
 

Yahiko

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Dec 22, 2018
Messages
5
-Virgil-

I take it then the guy with the Superduty Ford Truck that then goes and sticks a light bar or a lighted up grill
that more of less made me stop in the middle of the street is not playing by the rules? I was not driving a
little car at the time. I was in the same type of truck a few years older.

Or if he was OK with that setup. Why?

Thanks
 

-Virgil-

Flashaholic
Joined
Mar 26, 2004
Messages
7,802
One light bar + two headlamps = three lamps, even though each headlamp has two compartments, so that jerk wasn't violating the number-of-lamps-permitted law even if the light bar is counted as a "pair" of lamps. But there are plenty of other laws it sounds like he was at least possibly violating (assuming we're still in Nevada):

NRS 484D.180 (1) Any motor vehicle may be equipped with not to exceed two spot lamps and every lighted spot lamp shall be so aimed and used upon approaching another vehicle that no part of the high-intensity portion of the beam will strike the windshield, or any windows, mirror or occupant of a vehicle in use. (2) Any motor vehicle may be equipped with not to exceed two auxiliary driving lamps mounted on the front at a height not less than 16 inches nor more than 42 inches above the level surface upon which the vehicle stands.

NRS 484D.210 (1) There shall be an uppermost distribution of light, or composite beam, so aimed and of such intensity to reveal persons and vehicles at a distance of at least 350 feet ahead for all conditions of loading. (2) There shall be a lowermost distribution of light, or composite beam, so aimed and of sufficient intensity to reveal persons and vehicles at a distance of at least 100 feet ahead; and on a straight, level road under any condition of loading none of the high-intensity portion of the beam shall be directed to strike the eyes of an approaching driver.

NRS 484D.215 (1) Whenever a driver of a vehicle approaches an oncoming vehicle within 500 feet, the driver shall use a distribution of light, or composite beam, so aimed that the glaring rays are not projected into the eyes of the oncoming driver. (2) Whenever the driver of a vehicle follows another vehicle within 300 feet to the rear, the driver shall use a distribution of light permissible under this chapter other than the uppermost distribution of light
 
Top