If they are illegal then why do dozens of companies make them and haven’t been stopped? From diode Dynamics
“Street Legal Output. Don't be fooled by high lumen numbers or "projector specific" bulbs. Your Expedition headlights are designed as a system, to focus light. If the light source in that system is out of focus, it doesn't matter how bright it is. You won't have a focused hotspot of light to shine down the road, you'll just have more glare. To correct this, the SL1 LED headlight bulb was engineered with advanced optical design software, which simulates each ray of light in a process known as "ray tracing." Using this tool, our engineers perfectly matched the filament location, allowing the SL1 LED to focus light just like your original bulb, preserving the focus and hotspot, with no added glare. It produces a functional low beam pattern on the road, with a clear hotspot and wide spread of light. This is a safe, functional output, in compliance with photometric standards, which we call Street Legal.”
They work just fine in OEM projector housing and function just as well as any led retrofit. One could argue a retrofit would be illegal also and cause drivers to be blinded. It’s all in the light output and how they are adjusted. Joe Shmo who buys a ****** eBay pair and throws them in with no adjustment is a lot different than someone who takes the time and spends the money to get ones that have been manufactured with OEM projector housings and tested to meet manufacturer standards so they are safe to use.
And to continue my point, not one person has shown me a federal law stating LEDs in projector housings are illegal.
