Adding Headlamp Washers

[particlewave]

Originally Posted by Santafe

My 03s failed MOT last August because I had failed to notice that one of the washer jets had gone missing ( two jets per side ) exactly as j.fro described, I objected to the MOT depot chief examiner and he assured me that EU law required all vehicles fitted with Xenon headlights must be self levelling & equipped with washers, VOSA backed this up. As Porsche will only sell the complete washer body the best deal I could get was £150 per side, this was from Design 911

That same thing gets said here in the US, but is 100% false.
There are a few on this board and many on rennlist that claim all US cars with xenon projectors require self-leveling and washers, but it is utter nonsense left over from the early days of xenon when they were rare. It was/is an elitist "I'm better than you" thing.

An easy way to answer the question would be to go to any new car lot and see how many new cars with xenons have headlight washers (the self-leveling may be harder to check for). The answer here in the US is that almost no xenon equipped cars have these features from the factory. The common sense deduction is that they are not required. If they were, these cars would not be sold here.
Of course, you could also just read up on DOT/MOT regulations.

[lkchris]

Originally Posted by particlewave

There are a few on this board and many on rennlist that claim all US cars with xenon projectors require self-leveling and washers, but it is utter nonsense left over from the early days of xenon when they were rare. It was/is an elitist "I'm better than you" thing.

That's not quite it.

No, the washers aren't required in the USA but they are required in the EU and NO German manufacturer deletes them (or the auto-leveling) on HID-equipped USA models. This is known as integrity. What Chebbie does is of no interest.

In the USA you are free to add Litetronics to a halogen Boxster without also adding washing and leveling.

In fact, in the USA, you are essentially free to illegally add HID burners to light units not designed with reflectors that correspond. This is as far from "elite" as it gets. It's chintzy.