Worst car to replace a headlight bulb on
Discussion
It should be straight forward. Its a basic part in what should be an accessible area. Its essential to staying roadworthy, so why do they make it so f
king hard?
I'll start:
2006 Citroen C4. I had to pop two pieces of trim off and remove the entire headlight cluster to replace the main beam. Stupid.
2006 Renault Megane. Accessible from the front wheel arch(!) IF you put it on a full lock and jack it up. Taking the wheel off is better but you still do it blind. Take it to the dealer and they'll charge you to remove the front end. tts.
Over to you, the vastly more experienced PH massive.
king hard?I'll start:
2006 Citroen C4. I had to pop two pieces of trim off and remove the entire headlight cluster to replace the main beam. Stupid.
2006 Renault Megane. Accessible from the front wheel arch(!) IF you put it on a full lock and jack it up. Taking the wheel off is better but you still do it blind. Take it to the dealer and they'll charge you to remove the front end. t
ts.Over to you, the vastly more experienced PH massive.
308mate said:
2006 Citroen C4. I had to pop two pieces of trim off and remove the entire headlight cluster to replace the main beam. Stupid.
Quite common, and I would say a clever way to do it - engineer the removal mechanism to be usable in-situ, then you can have everything in the engine bay tucked right up to the back of the light without worrying about access.Makes replacing the bulb a trivial task when you can just pop the cluster off. Same thing is done with a lot of rear lights, never hear complaints there!
Doesn't the 996 have a great release mechanism for the lights too? ETA: Yes they do! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D65x8G1f6AI
Volvo XC60 is a good one too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udxHinz92eE
Edited by Krikkit on Thursday 15th September 12:43
Krikkit said:
Quite common, and I would say a clever way to do it - engineer the removal mechanism to be usable in-situ, then you can have everything in the engine bay tucked right up to the back of the light without worrying about access.
Don't misunderstand me. Popping the two trims off was just what's required to access the bolts that hold the headlight unit in place. The trims are held on by those plastic fixings that allow exactly two uses before they snap and nothing goes back together ever again. The bolt on the underside is then still only accessible with a 6" extension on your socket which you have line up by peering through a couple of different holes in the bumper. Stupid. 
Me and one or two others who work in the industry designing the lamps have answered a few times why it's often made difficult to change the bulbs, as car people it's not something we want to make difficult in any way. However our voices as engineers can be a fair way down the list of who is listened to.
In no particular order it's down to the following:-
Styling
Pedestrian impact
Crash regulations
Cost
Technology
Timing
Lamp regulations
There's probably others I can't think of too.
To follow an earlier post, I've never discussed nor heard of anyone actively designing lamps that are difficult to change bulbs on in order to fleece extra money from the customers.
In no particular order it's down to the following:-
Styling
Pedestrian impact
Crash regulations
Cost
Technology
Timing
Lamp regulations
There's probably others I can't think of too.
To follow an earlier post, I've never discussed nor heard of anyone actively designing lamps that are difficult to change bulbs on in order to fleece extra money from the customers.
SturdyHSV said:
Volvo V70 (2000-2007) you have to remove the headlight to change the bulb.
To remove the headlight you have to remove the bumper.
Hateful.
They must have learned their lesson. The 3rd generation V70 is the same as the XC60 video posted above - pull up and remove two metal tent peg things and the light unit can be removed. No tools required and very easy. The most difficult bit is disconnecting the power supply plug after a few years of heating, cooling, and crud build-up.To remove the headlight you have to remove the bumper.
Hateful.
Oilchange said:
Should be made law that you can change a bulb at the roadside...
This 100%In my opinion, being able to change any of the bulbs at the road side, with no tools (or at most using the tools included as standard in the vehicles tool kit), should be one if the requirements for type approval.
Ford KA MkI - 'easiest' way is headlamp out/Bumper off. Tried doing my old one once by using the access panel on the Headlamp. Spent a couple of hours trying to do it, gave in and took the car to Ford. The tech just laughed when I told him how I'd been attempting it.
Not sure about the Puma - not had to change one yet.
Not sure about the Puma - not had to change one yet.
chibbard said:
Most TVR's. What do I win !!!
Easy on the chim - undo 3 screws remove panel reach in and removed old bulb, replace with new. Ok you are working blind but its not difficult, took me about 10 minutes last time I did one.Now the Jag on the other hand is a workshop job. Remove front bumper, remove headlight assembly, replace bulb then reassemble.
The indicator bulbs are inside the light cluster too but Im lucky as Houdini appears to work at my local Jag dealer and he can somehow get his fingers in through the back plate and replace the indicator bulb without dismantling anything. I can only assume he uses magic to do it.
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