Fewer than one in ten xenon headlamps use mercury-free bulbs in 2008 models for the North American market. Although mercury-free xenon headlamp bulbs and matching ballasts have been available and approved worldwide since 2005, a DrivingVisionNews survey undertaken at the Canadian International Auto Show found amongst 90 models with xenon headlamps, only eight —of which seven are Japanese — use the D3 or D4 mercury-free bulbs .
The other 82 models use D1 or D2 bulbs, which contain between 0.5 and 1 mg mercury apiece.
The market share of mercury-free xenon headlamps is expected to rise significantly if the exemption for D1 and D2 bulbs is withdrawn from the European Union’s directive on the restriction of hazardous substances (RoHS).
