LED Lamps: Issues in Testing and Standards

Current vehicle lighting standards were developed based on the characteristics of incandescent bulbs. The purpose of this paper is to explore the ways in which those standards and test specifications may be appropriately applied to lamps with light emitting diode (LED) light sources. The paper also explores possible changes to current testing and standards that would improve performance in the field or lower the costs of manufacturing and validating LED lamps. As LED lamps become increasingly common, it is important that our standards and test procedures properly account for the differences in LED and incandescent lamps without penalizing the new technology through the use of inappropriate requirements.