Hi all , 

recently bought a S-Max and is quite amazing , unfortunate did not come with fully LED instead is halogen bulbs 

the installed halogen comes with auto-lights mechanism  so should be double  shouldn’t it ? 
 

 

Totally agree, it's a really surprising and well built car (coming from a Benz).

The LED headlights seems to go for £500 per side second hand - so, I'm not sure it's worth doing financially. 

LED H7 bulbs do exist these days but I'm not really sure about the beam pattern through the projector headlights.

Perhaps some more experienced people will chime in with tip, tricks and expertise.

1 hour ago, Anatoly said:

 so should be double  shouldn’t it ? 

🤔

double what ?

Auto headlights is now a legal requirement on all UK and European cars irrespective of the type of lights they have. 

I put these in my 2016 smax. 

https://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/h7-twenty20-projector-led-headlight-bulbs-pair.html

Massive improvement from the halogen. They are very good for improved visibility, specifically designed for projector lenses and have got through mots with no issues. 

They are not cheap at near on £80 a set but free replacements if they fail.

22 hours ago, unofix said:

🤔

double what ?

 

Hence my initial 'confused' icon LOL

If it's a simple H7 LED bulb you're after, I fitted these (£20!)

 

On 12/13/2023 at 6:25 PM, Anatoly said:

Hi all , 

recently bought a S-Max and is quite amazing , unfortunate did not come with fully LED instead is halogen bulbs 

the installed halogen comes with auto-lights mechanism  so should be double  shouldn’t it ? 
 

 

Hi chaps , what I meant is that the Car already has the all the auto lights set it up , and by changing the entire halogen system to the fully adaptive LED lights system that are come already to some of the S-Max from 2018 year shouldn’t be to much trouble , shouldn’t it ?

is frustrating that older cars have it , and this one doesn’t ……..

one of my friend has the same year S-Max with weaker engine but has better options one of them being LED system lights …. 
if anyone can recommend where can I get these light and if anyone done it before without any trouble   please let me know . 

 

2 hours ago, Anatoly said:

shouldn’t be to much trouble , shouldn’t it ?

You can not legally convert the halogen headlights to ........

2 hours ago, Anatoly said:

the fully adaptive LED lights system

The best you can do is change the halogen lamps to LED lamps (See Stephen Fords reply above). It is still technically illegal to do that in the UK, and if the change is noticed when the vehicle goes for an MOT it will fail.

UK vehicle lighting regulations are very clear on what changes are permitted to the cars lights. It is also worth remembering that changes to the vehicle should be notified to your insurance company.

Hi daveo81,

Really interested in the LED bulbs you fitted, mine is on projector, with slightly upgraded bulbs, which are still really poor on dipped beam in my opinion. Do these LED bulbs fit straight in and does the rubber boot still fit OK on the back please?

Thanks, Alex

Edited December 7, 2025Dec 7 by Alex Jullien

5 hours ago, Alex Jullien said:

Do these LED bulbs fit straight in

....and guaranteed to ensue an MOT failure if noticed by the tester.

On 12/7/2025 at 10:05 PM, unofix said:

....and guaranteed to ensue an MOT failure if noticed by the tester.

That's a key observation! Mine have passed 3 consecutive MOTs without comment.  Get them professionally aligned and you should be OK.

EDIT

as of yesterday, make that 4 consecutive MOTs LOL

On 12/9/2025 at 9:34 AM, StephenFord said:

Get them professionally aligned and you should be OK.

Looks like Alex hasn't been able to see his way back to the forum since their post 🤣

Nominated for a Silver "OPW" award 🎉