Holy cow. I never thought my question would spark such a discussion!
Here's the LED bulbs I bought:
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I want to note, nowhere do they mention this bulb as being DOT approved or not, or for off-road/show use only. I think that's a big mistake on their part.
Initially I meant them for the turn signals on my motorcycle. But it was immediately obvious they did not function as well as the incandescent
1073 bulbs, so I decided to try them in the rear turn signals of my 2006 Sonata.
With one LED installed on one side, and the stock incandescent in the other.. I ran the hazard flasher and stood behind the car to compare them. I then moved the car into the street and walked a ways away.. I'd say 3 city blocks, though there's no 'blocks' here. I found the LED to be much more 'obvious', and didn't have that lazy attack/decay that the incandescnet has. The LED was also a brighter color of amber. Do they work as well in snow, fog, rain, direct sunlight? I didn't go that far to test. I put the old bulb back in, and started researching the flasher, which led to my original post.
And I'm all about safety, I ride a motorcycle. What everyone's said about the DOT specs and safety is completely right. It wasn't my intention to defeat the safety of the rear turn signals. I only bought these things and now had no use for them, and given my little test, they looked reasonably acceptable in my Sonata.
And not to be funny, but the bit about the flasher being responsible for alerting you to a burned out bulb; I do a walk-around on my vehicles routinely. I have a 2001 Sante Fe and the side marker lights chronically burn out, yet nothing brings that to my attention. And I drive a lot for work, and see cars with one, two or all brake lights out, or cars with those stupid clear aftermarket light housings that look like someone is shining a flashlight through them from the trunk when they step on the brakes. Not long ago, Florida stopped inspecting vehicles, which I think was a terrible idea. But anyway, my point is.. if you're going to meddle with the safety aspect of something on a vehicle, you have to be responsible for it, and if the flasher no longer warns of a bulb being out, I'd see it when I do my walk-around. (I picked that habit up from flying.)
Anyway, thanks for all the information. It's better to be safe than sorry. :)
Kiran