Cars with bulbs out

[EnthusiastOwned]

Is it just me or are there a LOT of cars being driven around with bulbs out, headlights, tail/brake lights etc?

I see two or three almost every journey, What is it? At first I though people just don't check, but then most if not all modern cars have a dash warning. So what is it? Laziness? ignorance?

[Johnnytheboy]

Someone needs to invent a camera that detects them.

Maybe speed camera vans could start handing out fines for this as well.

Or even better: instead.

[ILoveMondeo]

To change the bulb on a lot of modern cars is no longer trivial.

On my A8 the official route in the service manual is to remove the front bumper.

One side can be done by taking the air box out, not sure about the other side.

Not an excuse as such, but perhaps part of the reason?

[J4CKO]

I would say its about 1 in 20 cars with a bulb out, I have said before that a bulb out should be a producer, or at least the owner saying they want to be scrutinized more closely to see what other stuff can be turned up.

Hopefully as we move to LED lighting the bulbs wont fail with the same .tedious regularity

[idibbers]

The funny thing is it's always older cars that I see with bulbs out.

I hate the "oh no I've got a headlight out, I'll put the high beams on to make up for it..." just get it fixed!!

[wst]

My car doesn't throw up any warning lights about lights out, and when it's brake lights or side repeaters it's a bit of a pig to check them yourself.

Weird one I see loads of is 1 headlight out. Granted it might have just gone at the start of that journey (I had both headlights go at the same time once!) but on the other hand... not.

[Jordan210]

What amazes me is the amount of cars under 3 years old I see with bulbs out. Mercedes and Audis are the worst around me.

[Johnnytheboy]

Vauxhalls seem to have 2/3 brake lights as a standard fitment.

One thing I've noticed more frequently is cars with their brake lights jammed on, which is downright dangerous.

[JakeT]

I had to drive with three bulbs out this morning as they all managed to blow at the same time. Full Beam, rear marker and number plate light... All on the same side of the car. I only knew about the rear bulbs as I left the car running as I took the recycling out. Then I drove to Halfords and got some new bulbs.But I digress, many cars don't warn of failed bulbs still, or some cars (namely Volvos) are overly picky and will tell you a bulb is out even when one isn't. Or as mentioned before it can be a massive pain to change bulbs.

[Martin_Hx]

Saw a 07 Golf with both brake lights out yesterday with just the middle high level one showing, couldnt get a long side to tell him....

Thankfully the bulbs on my Civic are really quite easy to change if they blow, plus when parking in the garage i can see if all my lights are working!

[J4CKO]

I aw a Golf that had only one rear light working on the whole car, oh and he had the interior light on ! I tried to get the drivers attention but he just flicked me the bird, and therein lies the problems, we let pretty much anyone drive a car and they love the freedom it brings but are not interested in any responsibility that comes with it.

[alpha channel]

See more than enough on my commute on a daily basis (some with both main lights blown), it seems that more modern cars are more prone to it as I've never had to change a blown headlight bulb in my Coupe in the near eleven years I've owned it (barring old age dimness).

Meanwhile my Alfa came with two spares (in an open pack) in the glove box when I bought it.

[heebeegeetee]

EnthusiastOwned said:

Is it just me or are there a LOT of cars being driven around with bulbs out, headlights, tail/brake lights etc?

I see two or three almost every journey, What is it? At first I though people just don't check, but then most if not all modern cars have a dash warning. So what is it? Laziness? ignorance?

It's that the manufacturers have been allowed to make them very hard to change. A car that can't have bulbs changed easily at the roadside by a novice is not fit for purpose imo.

[RobM77]

heebeegeetee said:

It's that the manufacturers have been allowed to make them very hard to change. A car that can't have bulbs changed easily at the roadside by a novice is not fit for purpose imo.

I'm very surprised it's not an EU regulation to have a bulb that can be changed without tools, especally given the rules in some European countries about carrying spare bulbs (do those rules still stand?!). Incidentally, my 2007 BMW has a little hatch in the front wheel lining that you turn a handle and open to change the bulb, and the back's equally easy, so some manufacturers are at least trying.

[STW2010]

I had a warning to change a side light in my e46 recently. Now this isn't a 2 minute job as the air box needs to come out, and you really need daylight to do it. It blew on the Thursday and I did it on Saturday morning, which was the first decent opportunity I had.

If it was a more serious bulb (headlight, brake lights etc) then I would have either done it straight away or used my other car.

A lot of people wouldn't even attempt that though and would either take it to the dealers to be ripped off or to Halfords to have their cars smashed up by some caveman.

[JuniorD]

Johnnytheboy said:

Someone needs to invent a camera that detects them.

Maybe speed camera vans could start handing out fines for this as well.

Or even better: instead.

More cameras, one ones with more capablities, and more fines. Is that what you really want?

[HarryFlatters]

I had both dipped headlight bulbs fail on Saturday night. I had to get home, so drove the 15 miles or so along lit roads with sidelights and fog lights. I'm not proud of that, but at least I: -

a: noticed that they were not working
b: replaced them yesterday morning

[V8forweekends]

RobM77 said:

I'm very surprised it's not an EU regulation to have a bulb that can be changed without tools, especally given the rules in some European countries about carrying spare bulbs (do those rules still stand?!).

Me too - if they expect you to carry spare bulbs, they can't expect you to remove the bumper to change the bulb can they?

[STW2010]

HarryFlatters said:

I had both dipped headlight bulbs fail on Saturday night. I had to get home, so drove the 15 miles or so along lit roads with sidelights and fog lights. I'm not proud of that, but at least I: -

a: noticed that they were not working
b: replaced them yesterday morning

Was there not a single petrol/service station on that 15 mile journey?

[CB2152]

The manual for my 9-5 makes it sound so easy to change a sidelight. Twist and remove bulb holder, replace bulb, reinsert bulb holder.

Trouble is, unless you have boroscopes for fingers, it takes a couple of hours and a fair bit of luck to actually perform those tasks. Maybe it gets easier with experience but it was not something I would have wanted to do at the roadside if I had to.