How can I modify my car's lights so that it still passes the vehicle inspection?

However, some car owners who modify their lights are unaware of the regulations, resulting in their modifications not being accepted by the vehicle inspection center and requiring repairs.

According to the Vietnam Registering and Inspection Agency, the highlight of Circular 43/2023 is the re-regulation of motor vehicle modifications, introducing changes to technical aspects of automobiles that are no longer considered "modifications" as before. This means that vehicle owners who make technical changes or modifications do not need to submit design documents and will still have their vehicles accepted by the inspection agency.

Currently, vehicles are having their front headlights modified and fog lights (also known as underbody lights) added. While all these modifications, including adding fog lights, are common, some vehicles pass inspection by the vehicle registration center, while others are sent back for repairs or to provide additional documentation.

Mr. Do Manh Phu (Phu Cat commune, Quoc Oai district, Hanoi) said that because he frequently travels on forest roads, he upgraded from halogen headlights to "super bright" LED headlights. However, during vehicle inspection, the lights were not accepted and he was asked to rectify the issue because the beam angle was too large, and the lights also lacked documentation proving their origin.

Representatives from several vehicle inspection centers in Hanoi said that common car headlight modifications include replacing the original headlight assembly with a different type than the car's design, replacing standard headlights with LED projector headlights (also known as "bi-LED") with higher brightness and wider beam angles, replacing headlights with those that emit both blue and red light (demon eye headlights); and replacing bulbs with significantly higher wattage bulbs than the original ones.

Regarding fog lights, common practices include installing LED bulbs that function similarly to low beam and high beam headlights, installing a strip of lights in the middle of the front of the vehicle, and lights with various colors… Such cases will not be approved during periodic vehicle inspections and will require correction and repair.

According to Mr. Tran Quoc Hoan, Director of the 29-03V Vehicle Inspection Center, the new regulations allow vehicle owners to change front headlights and install additional fog lights without any further procedures. However, they must be accompanied by a conformity sticker or certificate to prove quality and origin.

For front headlights, the inspection unit only approves replacement headlight assemblies that have been certified or declared compliant with QCVN 35:2017/BGTVT - National technical standard on optical characteristics of front headlights of road motor vehicles, without requiring any modification to the vehicle's structure to ensure installation.

"The conformity sticker is affixed to the light bulb and comes with accompanying documentation. When purchasing the light bulb, the supplier is responsible for providing this document to the buyer. When replacing the light bulb, the owner needs to keep this document to provide to the vehicle inspection center. Without it, the product will be considered counterfeit, of unknown origin, and will not be approved by the vehicle inspection center," Mr. Hoan further explained.

In simpler cases like replacing light bulbs, the new regulations allow for the replacement of bulbs of a different type than the vehicle's original design, provided the wattage is equivalent and the bulb assembly structure can be replaced without altering the original design.

The new regulations allow vehicle owners to install additional fog lights without any paperwork, but require them to be separate units, with a maximum of two lights, each positioned below the front headlights.

"Fog lights must be installed in such a way that the light beam does not shine upwards, but lies below the horizontal line (which can be determined approximately or by a light testing machine) in order to be approved and certified as compliant by the vehicle inspection unit," Mr. Hoan said.