New LED tail lights 69 Cuda

BOYS BOYS BOYS..... not a recap , worked for an R&D facility in Farmington Hills , MI for a few years. specifically from 92 to 96. They were doing research on LED lighting ( I know because my team did the programming for the test gathering computers ) At last count they had built 186 "models" the reason for all the models is as Dan has specified. light output is measured at like 50 different angles and at least 100 different distances in each of those angles. The first 50 of the models tested appeared FAR better than their 1157 counterparts and from a brightness perspective they were certainly brighter! THAT was the reason they were in the discard pile....THEY WERE TOO BRIGHT!! YES!! this can be the case!! TOO BRIGHT is almost as bad as not bright enough!! The standards HAVE, IN PLACE, MINIMUMS...AND MAXIMUMS! Failure to meet MINIMUM or EXCEEDING MAXIMUM opens YOU and the MANUFACTURER to potential litigation PERIOD!! NOT what you want to be NOT what YOU feel is reasonable NOT what does not fit in your opinions...... LAW!!! Below MIN or above MAX, means something like the other drunk assed fall asleep at the wheel idiot that HIT you CAN CLAIM HE DIDN'T SEE YOU if the lawyers discover something OTHER THAN VALIDLY APPROVED FIXTURES, BULBS, LENSES ALL IN WORKING PROPERLY FUNCTIONAL AND ADHERING TO THE LETTER OF THE LAW!!! IF THEY CAN PROVE YOU HAD UNAPPROVED LIGHTING, IT DOES NOT MATTER IF HE WAS DEAD...... YOUR EQUIPMENT WAS/IS FAULTY AND THEY WILL 100% of the time rule in his favor...PERIOD!!!! Happens all the time the last one was Toyota with the supposedly faulty accelerator cable..... Toyota forked out MILLIONS not only for the recall but for the damages!!!
WITHOUT PROPER INDEPENDENT TESTING AND APPROVAL YOU LOSE - Auto companies spend billions in legal fees trying to sidestep faulty equipment..... not one case that I have ever heard ruled in their favor since Ralph Nader went after GM for the Corvair!!!
SORRY BOYS you can blast away all you want and blow as much smoke as you like ....your car has faulty ANYTHING, you will lose..... your car has aftermarket marked as "OFF ROAD ONLY" stuff....you will lose...and NOT just the car.... you can be sued for every penny you have made and every penny you might make and a basket of $$ for good measure!!! THE FACT IS you have anything BUT APPROVED EQUIPMENT ON YOUR RIDE AND THEY "discover it" YOU WILL LOSE!! That is IT! the judge does not care WHAT YOU THINK, The Jury DOES NOT CARE WHAT YOU THINK..... YOU TOOK A RISK and SOMEONE GOT HURT.... period!!!! THIS IS NOT AN OPINION PANEL, this is LAW!!
This is NOT open for discussion....it is the LAW!!! I am really sorry that you guys don't believe it or like it....and as Americans you are FREE TO TAKE ANY RISK THAT YOU CHOOSE TO TAKE....no one will bother to stop you because THEY DON'T CARE!!! You desire to be stubborn and NOT believe ..... GO FOR IT!! By the way...if ANY of the classic insurance companies also discover what you are doing they will drop you like a hot penny!!! Because THEY do not want to absorb YOUR RISK!! it isn't worth it to them, the potential for loss is too great.

ALL that being said.... the spaghetti lights look like they might just pass without much tweaking.....and for nominal cost for the independent test. YES you don't have to have one....but if accident or incident happens you can BET YOUR BIPPY THEY WILL BE DOING THOSE TESTS OVER & OVER & OVER IN THE HOPE THAT THE PRODUCT FAILS....BECAUSE IF IT DOES..... they WIN you LOSE...that quick and that simple. There is NO CAP on awards for this and YES IT CAN SPELL FINANCIAL RUIN AND HAS for several companies in and around Detroit for the last 50+ years!!!!
The LED lights are cool as hell, I despise 1157's they are downright DULL in comparison....the LED 1157 replacements are insufficient and I know of at least three people here in Michigan that were pulled over and ticketed for using them, by the Michigan State Police, By the Macomb county Sheriff and the Oakland county Sheriff....
Someone said it earlier this is a CYA world and the folks at Nissan R&D took those lighting measurements VERY SERIOUSLY at 100 x 50 check points any of them failed the whole model failed and went into the fail heap....at about 10k for prototyping each model and ONE test failure scrapped that model..... I am thinkin Dan may have assisted/alerted everyone in averting a fairly large litigation and Expense torpedo!
There are RULES, they are specific and the manufacturer is "responsible " for adherence. Legally no one care's if you test or not...that is up to you, if you take the risk and they don't adhere....YOU are liable!! in plain english that is the message you can perform the semantic gymnastic dance until your lil legs fall off AINT CHANGING A THING, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE....thats the message that is the LAW.
if that pisses you off or does not fit into your belief system or just makes you boil...too bad!! NO BS mouth runnin gyrations are gettin you off the hook...YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE PLAIN & SIMPLE..... you take the risk YOU OWN IT!! NOTHING may happen as a result...or you could lose everything and even spend some time in the can!!! YOU also own the CHOICE!! I get that...so does Dan.... likely neither of us is ever going to sidestep that just to put LED's in our cars....we are not going to take that RISK with you guys that believe the risk to be small and "worth it" and we are likely NOT ever going to see things your way unless of course the LAWS change, which in the next 12 months is unlikely. Dan wants a set I am certain...I would like a set for my 66, in fact I built a set and tried my own testing with a stupid photographers light meter....they failed miserably against the 1157's! and I had about 40 leds...bright as hell in a two foot circle DIRECTLY behind the car...a foot to either side 80% light loss!!!! 80%!!!! they got trashed and the 1157's put back.
I would LOVE a set.... instant on....longevity.....higher lumens all the good stuff...but if they leave a "blind spot" or in one area do not meet the standards....I am no way willing to take that risk with all the blood sweat & tears that go into each of my builds and I am not about to set my home and everything I own on the chopping block because someone says "trust me"..... you guys can do what you like!! I have seen what the pro's do and I know what can be lost in a courtroom if ALL your ducks aren't in a row as a manufacturer AND as a CONSUMER!!
Honestly Spagetti...your stuff is way cool and looks to be effin close as it gets ...but we all know in the court room close is only good for hand grenades and horseshoes and maybe shotguns..... Dan is pretty accurate if the cost is 500 to 100 and can be easily spread over 50 to 100 pairs thats an additional 10 bucks per....
WHat Dan didnt mention ( or maybe he did and I missed it) is that testing needs to be done for each MODEL you produce...unless the specs are exactly the same re size number of low & high lights, angles etc etc..... brightness in sunlight /darkness min & max requirements etc etc etc .... I can tell you without doubt the Detroit auto companies and the suppliers here take these requirements very seriously.

no slams no insults no attacks no nothing but what I have witnessed with my own eyes & ears.... this is not a swipe nor a swing....just sharing of info I think you have a helluva product...I think you spent a boatload of time doing the "construction " R & D and you have one sa-weet prototype!!! Take it to the next level and validate that it adheres to what the GUBMENT SEZ IT PODA DO and you got the better mousetrap!!!
Like Dan I think you guys are fricken CLOSE........ if it hits the mark or really close it is likely only millimeters away.....for a lousy $1000 ( if that) why not get the SEAL? once you have the FORMULA it can be applied to many diff models with a much higher incidence of success and meeting the requirements for that model as well...... you have a bitchen lead ona start-up that most everyone I know would love to see you get off the ground!!! and start mass producing APPROVED LED replacement fixtures for just about anything!!!

just sayin

and for all you chest pounding saber rattling 9 year olds who dont believe this is as important as it is......spend a few hours in a court room listening to class actions against a manufacturer..... HELL listen to the suits against small repair shops that took a car in for an OIL CHANGE and handed it back to the customer oil change complete...only to discover when SERVED the subpoena that the car had bad brakes and they are liable for handing it back inoperable!!! true story!!! happens everyday!! the concerns are REAL the requirements are REAL the judgements are REAL and the LOSS IS REAL, which part of this confuses you?

my 2+ cents