Korean Job Discussion Forums

[oatmeal]

Just a couple honest questions here.
It was my first time going for a car inspection in Korea. The emissions test passed and everything else about the internals of the car passed. The surprising thing that failed me were "visual" modifications.

1) I had changed my license plate light bulbs to LED light bulbs (tons of cars have them on the streets) but he said to me I have to remove it and use regular bulbs

2) I have a sticker on my license plate (on the edges, numbers are not obstructed and CLEARLY VISIBLE), but he said I have to remove them.

3) My rear bumper reflectors were recently swapped out for actual working LED lights. He told me I'm not allowed to have that and need to remove.

I have to come back within 2 months to do a re-test to get a pass.

These are very simple fixes and not costly at all. I can do it the very next day or even the same day if I wanted. But it's tedious and having to drive 40 km one way and back to do this again is what bothers me.

Other than the explanation that "it's the law", can anyone explain if they know why LED license plate bulbs are illegal? I see so many cars that have them. If they are illegal, why do stores sell them? Why do Korean companies sell them online everywhere? It's like selling illegal drugs. Shouldn't they not be allowed to sell them if it's against the law to have them? And why would they be illegal? They are not dangerous to anyone. It makes the license plate easier to read since it's better lighting. So I'm confused why this was a fail on the car inspection test. If I had known, I would have just put the originals back in before going for the test. It takes like 3 minutes to change out the bulbs.

Second question: why is having a sticker on the license plate illegal? I can understand if something was OBSTRUCTING a clear view of the numbers on the plates, but it sounds like the law says, "nothing can be put on the license plate". So if I go and draw a happy face on the corner of my license plate with a black marker, that would make it illegal since I marked the license plate? The law should be, "LP numbers should be clearly visible and unobstructed" ..which would mean that as long as the numbers are clearly visible, you can put a sticker or border or whatever design on the plates.

Third: why is having a functional LED rear bumper light illegal? Lots of cars already come with LED bumper lights. Doesn't it make it safer at night or during fog so that when u brake, it's more visible for traffic behind u? How is it dangerous to drivers? I'm guessing that if the car doesn't originally come with it, and then u add it on after, that's why it would be illegal. I think it's like the HIDs example. Many cars like BMWs, Lexus, etc., already come with HIDs headlights. Those are very bright and honestly, they are blinding to oncoming traffic, yet they are legal?? But if you take a stock car that doesn't have HIDs and then convert it to HIDs, it now becomes illegal? I don't understand this double-standard? I suppose some aftermarket HIDs put into wrong cars could burn out the lamp housing/wires and be a fire hazard? Is that why? So only if the car comes with it, can it be legal, but if it doesn't come with it and you make modifications, it becomes illegal?

Hope any car enthusiasts with experience can contribute some feedback about their experiences. I just feel it's really odd that these minor visuals is what failed the test but the major things like the actual emissions and functioning of the car were all good.

Some of us car owners like to customize and modify our cars to give it a unique look or accent of our own. It's no different as fashion. We all like to change our clothes, hairstyles, to look different, to cater to ones own liking, and heck, people even go so far as to do plastic surgery to alter their faces and basically lie to everyone else because you might have thought this girl was pretty with a small nose and big eyes, and then when u have babies, they turn out with big noses and smallish eyes and you wonder, "what the heck happened??" ...that's like false DNA advertisment! Shouldn't that be illegal? They should have "people inspection" and any modifications made to your body should have to be undone and go back to stock.

Just my two cents.

[northway]

I'm pretty sure putting stickers on your license plate (or altering it in any way) is against the law everywhere, not just Korea. This isn't rocket science.

[optik404]

Sounds similar to the US. Lots of mods sold at Autozone are illegal to put on your car. Depending on where you live, the police don't care or in states like California they will ticket the hell out of you for every illegal thing on your car.

[northway]

[hellofaniceguy]

[northway]

[Steelrails]

Anyone who does or has done any tuning knows that a bunch of stuff is potentially illegal and you need to check what the laws are first.

To answer your questions-

1) License plate bulbs are illegal because as hellofaniceguy said, if one person can mod them, everyone can mod them and where does the line get drawn? And if they interfere in any way with the camera technology or a cop being able to read it, it should be banned. The safety of others overrides your right to mod your car.

2. Are you seriously wondering why its illegal to put stickers on your license plate?

3. I don't know about the HIDs, other than they might be too bright. Also, if its something other than the standard red brake light and yellow-orange indicator, then it could potentially be confusing. Someone might confuse your white HIDs for headlights.

[tob55]

Word to the wise, know what will or will not be expected and required BEFORE going to get your vehicle inspected. No need to come on the forum claiming this and that, when a simple examination of the regulations of what is legal and illegal would have saved trouble for you. I have to have two vehicles inspected every 6 months due to the need for business. We never ever do anything to the vehicles without first knowing whether or not it is legal. I just finished the second vehicle inspection on Thursday of last week. A few things I need to get done, but certainly nothing that is illegal according to their guidelines. Do your homework and we will not have to discuss it on Dave's. IMHO

[oatmeal]

Yay, I'm glad I can start a heated debate about logic lol.

I'm not worried about cops pulling me over for having LED plate bulbs or black bar stickers on my plates. NO THEY ARE NOT BUTTERFLIES. They are black bars (the euro style).

Again I ask, how does better lighting on plates make it harder to see for the cops? LEDs emit clearer light while using less energy and last 1000x longer than regular bulbs. How do they endanger anyone's life? Ultimately, if that's the law, then that's law and I'll remove them for the inspection but stick em back on after the inspection.

From a logic stand point, it doesn't make any sense that LED plate lights is hazardous or illegal because of what? Police cameras can't read plates? They are too bright for other vehicles? LOL. And again, I say, if they are illegal, then why is everyone allowed to sell them? That's like selling illegal drugs. If it's banned or not allowed, and you are selling it, do you see something wrong with this picture?

Also, once again with a sticker on LPs. They are not butterflies or pokemon or some outrageous whacky designs. They are simply black bars put on the right and left side of the numbers (it's called the euro look). The numbers are CLEARLY VISIBLE and UNOBSTRUCTED. How on earth does this become a danger to society or a problem for police or cameras to see the plates? As I said, the way the law is written I believe has to be revised. They wrote it as, "nothing is allowed to be put on license plates" when I think what they really mean is, "the LP numbers should be clearly visible and unobstructed". Since they have worded it incorrectly, this means that if I take a crayon and draw a blue dot on the corner of your plate which will not affect the visibility of your LP one iota, this technically means it's illegal since something was added onto the plate. Do you understand this logic? Does it make sense to you what I'm getting at?

Also, people put giant ass "baby in car" or other stickers on their car windshields (front or back) and aren't those technically more dangerous since it actually could get in the view of the driver looking out his windshields?? How about the cars that have like 20% tint on the FRONT windshields! How they can see at night time is beyond me....that's heck of a lot more dangerous if you ask me. Some people even tint their front and rear lights. These things I consider via logic to be dangerous. Not a little led bulb plate light or a little sticker on the plate. The rules and laws are too arbitrary and not even enforced, but we have to go through the tedious process during car inspection time.

We are not talking about guns, drugs, or weapons of mass destruction. We are talking about "style". I still don't see the logic in how you can say styling your car is a danger or threat on the roads. Nothing on the vehicle is actually dangerous or doing anyone or anything harm. It does not impede anyone's driving ability. It does not blind anyone. It does not obstruct anything as far as police or cameras need to see. We're talking about plate lights and a sticker! LOL.

In any case, I find it amusing to chat about this because it's just good to use some good ol logic and put it up to debate. The law is the law and I will remove those things for the inspection but after the inspection, they'll go right back on and life will continue as it always was.

Car enthusiasts in Korea actually already know about how regulated and suffocating the laws in Korea are about cars and customizations. Isn't it ironic that despite all these stiff laws on customizing cars, Korea still has the highest traffic deaths and traffic accidents among the OECD countries?? Again, logic wins but these laws are not based on logic, but based on uneducated folk in the transportation ministry who are guided by ill perceived stereotypes and beliefs. Customization of cars in Korea was recently covered in the major news as they were talking about how it's one of the fastest growing sectors in the Korean economy. It's a 5 billion dollars (US) in sales in Korea alone annually and growing and more jobs being created as they see the market growing.

I still think Korea should also implement a mandatory PEOPLE CHECK as well as cars every 2 years. This way they can catch all the sick people, all the illegals who don't have papers, and all the modded people who will need to go back to stock and remove all modifications done to their bodies as it is illegal and harmful to society.

^_^

[oatmeal]

Oh, just another question if anyone knows.

Do I have to go back to the same place where I did my first test
or can I go to another center for the re-test?

Just wondering.

[Steelrails]

Dude, before we go point by point, you sound like a teenager who thinks what they are saying is clever but has no idea how the real world works and not everyone is as nice and fun and happy as you are and that when you have to do things like enforce laws, write them, and charge offenders, you have to have some rules. There will be inconsistencies. That's life.

Our lawmakers shouldn't spend their time putting in 50 clauses related to LED license plates and license plate stickers just to satisfy some tiny minority of tuners when such things can also pose a danger when used improperly. They should spend their time on more important things. It's impractical for them to even consider such things.

Why do you need to mod your license plate? How much are you truly expressing yourself? What about the next guy who puts stickers on that makes his numbers look different or something? What about someone whose LED lights can go red or something else?

The law should be spending time on things like health care and education, not your entitled license plate sticker cause. Your position may be logical, that doesn't make it sensible or practicable.

Past experience with "styling" mods has shown that they can indeed be dangerous, whether its tinted windows posing dangers for cops, tinted license plate covers, and so on.

Remember, driving is not a right, its a privilege. That license plate is issued by the government. They have every right to tell you how to maintain it.

You are only looking at this from your own selfish perspective. You are not considering the perspective of lawmakers, cops, prosecuters, and judges who have to deal with this and practically enforce it.

[northway]

[oatmeal]

Save your "driving is a privilege, not a right" sermon.

That doesn't justify illogical reasoning behind lawmaking.
Laws do not mean they are perfect laws. Laws are made to be revised
and amended.

Clearly you have no sense of logic as you think something like a sticker
on a plate is going to endanger the lives of other drivers on the road?
It's ridiculous.

As I said, I only agree to remove them because it's the LAW, but I don't agree that they should be removed because they are hazardous to traffic. There are plenty of silly laws out there that could be revised, but mostly, we the people do not know about them or know how to change them, nor do we want to spend the time, money, and effort to evoke those changes.

There are a million worse things and more dangerous things that go on in this world and you are making such a big deal about protecting these laws?

The cosmetic plastic surgery industry is more dangerous than LED license plate bulbs or stickers on a plate. The plastic surgery industry has single-handedly driven young girls and boys to destroy their natural god-given bodies to alter it into some sort of inhuman achievement to attain else believe they are too ugly to live in this world, hence leading to the highest suicide rate in the world.

So yes, a mandatory PEOPLE CHECK every 2 years should be conducted to ensure that people's bodies and minds are healthy and not customized/modified as that is very dangerous to the society we live in. Your own children may fall victim to this syndrome. Meanwhile, led plate light bulbs and stickers are still deemed more dangerous. Nice logic.

This is "discussion", not a platform for you to try and preach to me to abide by every single law mindlessly because it's the law. You won't win this argument. After the inspection, I'll be putting all my stickers right back on them and LED bulbs too. In any case, people like you are amusing and make these discussions fun.

[Patrick Bateman]

As a fan of car modifications and logic, I thought I'd chime in.

I'm willing to bet that it's illegal to change plate bulbs because (as others have mentioned) potentially an aftermarket bulb could hinder a camera's ability to clearly read the plate.

But you argue that your bulb helps people see your plate. But what if it didn't? You want the law to read, "aftermarket bulbs are illegal if they cannot be seen by a camera." You know what makes more sense? "aftermarket bulbs are illegal." That's easier to interpret and easier to enforce, the two things the law is more concerned about.

The exact same logic applies to stickers on the plate. The law is concerned with making the government run as efficiently as possible towards the interests of the people. Easier to make all stickers on plates illegal rather than making a more subjective law which could potentially force police to pull you over to check your plates (waste of time and resources) where the only gain is your vanity.

Regarding your comment about it not being hazardous, I'd agree, but not all laws are concerned with immediate threats.

[Steelrails]