Toshiba HIR 9005(HB3)

Magio

Enlightened
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Jul 30, 2016
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Anyone know if there is an outlet to buy genuine Toshiba 9005(HB3) HIR bulbs? I was on Toshiba's Japan websites and it states there they are available and ECE approved, however I searched the internet for them and can't find them. Even searched Amazon Japan and it still didnt come up.
 

-Virgil-

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Mar 26, 2004
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There's no such bulb as HIR HB3. Do you have a link to what you saw on the Toshiba Japan website?

Anyway, it's going to be easier to just nip a bit of plastic off a readily-available, inexpensive HIR1 (9011) bulb.
 
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-Virgil-

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That is a very old page. Most likely they've forgot it's there.

Well it says they do exist.

No, it doesn't.

Closer to the bottom of the page under "For OEM Genuine Parts".

Right, it says the following:

For OEM Genuine Parts customers, HIR1 (ECE approved), HIR2 (ECE approved), and White-colored HB3 (ECE approved) are available.

It does not say an HIR HB3 is available, it says a "white-colored HB3" is available, and that's true, Toshiba used to make blue-tinted HB3 and HB4 bulbs. They were not HIR bulbs, though they used the same bulbous glass capsule as Toshiba's HIR bulbs. They might have sold some of them to Japanese OEMs for use in the Japanese market, but I'm not aware of them having sold any for outside the JDM. As far as I know, they no longer make them, though a bunch of (counterfeit, maybe) "Toshiba" bulbs showed up on the Japanese aftermarket, in "HIR" packaging, and with a variety of blue and chrome coatings, completely undesirable if the goal is to see.
 
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Magio

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Jul 30, 2016
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Its weird they would have a page dedicated to HIR's and then throw HB3s in like that. And if they also made HB4's why are they not mentioned in the same sentence? Assuming they really didnt make a HIR HB3 (I have to say assuming because I can't verify they actually didnt make any) thats a very confusing way of wording that sentence.
 

-Virgil-

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I'm not a hundred percent for sure, but it could be the case that English might not be the first language of the people who put that web page together about 13 or 14 years ago.

As for the HB3s, they "threw them in" to the paper catalog printed around the same time. The grouping's not weird if you consider these were the only halogen headlight bulbs Harison Toshiba made: HIR1, HIR2, HB3 "white", and HB4 "white". All used the same machinery and the same parts, just with different coatings on the glass. They had some success with the HIRs (Nissan, Toyota, and GM bought them, for example) but limited or no success with the "white" HB3 and HB4.

Keep on chasing the unicorn, though; maybe eventually you'll find it! :)
 

Alaric Darconville

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For OEM Genuine Parts customers, HIR1 (ECE approved), HIR2 (ECE approved), and White-colored HB3 (ECE approved) are available.
For draft animals customers, percheron horses, clydesdale horses, and white oxen are available.
 
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