No lights...

[siadwell]

I think for a lot of people one is enough in their minds, and buying a new bulb is too complicated, never mind carrying a spare or having some at home ready, fitting it would involve raising the bonnet and might cut into some Soap opera and get their hands dirty, still as long as they can add credit to their pay as you go mobile whilst driving which is several thousand times more complicated than fitting a bulb thats alright.

Not that it's a reason to drive around for months with only one working headlight, but the designers of some modern cars don't help.

I had a Renault Scenic that stated in the owner's manual that changing the headlight bulbs was a dealer job. The dealer claimed they had to take half the front bumper off to do it, and charged £40. Add the fact that the nearest dealer may be miles away and unable to fit you in for a week, and changing bulbs is not as simple as you make out.

As it happens, thanks to an online owners' forum, I found a way to DIY at the cost of only an hour's swearing in the rain, and lacerations to my forearm.

 

[thomas]

I had a Renault Scenic that stated in the owner's manual that changing the headlight bulbs was a dealer job. The dealer claimed they had to take half the front bumper off to do it, and charged £40. Add the fact that the nearest dealer may be miles away and unable to fit you in for a week, and changing bulbs is not as simple as you make out.

As it happens, thanks to an online owners' forum, I found a way to DIY at the cost of only an hour's swearing in the rain, and lacerations to my forearm.

That's rediculous!! I just pay halfords to do it...it's a simple job I know, but it only costs a couple of quid and if anything goes wrong they're liable...rather than me!

 

[gaz]

there is a design fault with the scenic, and as saidwell's dealer said, you have to take the front bumper off to get to the lamps. Really dumb for a french car manufacter where they are very stritc on lights not working.

 

[Amanda P]

If you don't drive away from street lights, it can be quite hard to tell, from inside the car, whether both headlights are working properly or not. That's why people drive around for months one-eyed.

Of course, a periodic check would be wise, but as Andy so sagely puts it in the sig line below:

 

[gaz]

If you don't drive away from street lights, it can be quite hard to tell, from inside the car, whether both headlights are working properly or not. That's why people drive around for months one-eyed.

Of course, a periodic check would be wise, but as Andy so sagely puts it in the sig line below:

In the past decade or so, part of your driving lesson should be checks to do before you start driving, and it includes checking tyre pressues, lights, indicators etc.. but to most of us this is an impractical exercise to do before every car journey.

Last night i saw a guy who's brake lights where wired wrong, and his drivers side brake didn't come on, but his indicator (constant) did. So some wiring gone wrong, i followed him for 2 miles to tell him that he had this issue.

And again this morning i saw someone who's brake lights where out, the only one working was the one above the rear window! unfortunatly she put her foot down and i didn't catch her, but for the mile i followed her no one attempted to point out that they didn't work, even though it's very unsafe.

 

[marinyork]

And again this morning i saw someone who's brake lights where out, the only one working was the one above the rear window! unfortunatly she put her foot down and i didn't catch her, but for the mile i followed her no one attempted to point out that they didn't work, even though it's very unsafe.

It's common for the entire row to go. I don't know why this is. It's why I think rear window brake lights isn't a such a bad idea.

I had a smidge of sympathy for someone who I met who ploughed into the back of someone on a major road that is totally unlit because their rears were totally out. Lights aren't contested so they got 100% of the blame.

I'd actually agree with J4CKO though. It's appalling the number of front and rears out. As for complaints about it being too complicated the three or four cars I've looked at bulbs on are easier to deal with than anything on a bicycle.

 

[Amanda P]

Years ago I used to have a van that would occasionally blow a fuse that caused all the rear lights to go out.

One night as I drove along a dark, winding stretch of road, the driver behind began flashing his lights. I guessed the fuse had gone again, but didn't dare stop on that stretch: with no rear lights it would have been very foolish indeed. At least the driver behind me was aware of my presence (he'd presumably seen the lights go out) and was acting as rear lights for me.

So I continued to the next junction where there were traffic lights, and street lights. He pulled up beside me and was apoplectic with rage. Why hadn't I stopped, he demanded to know? Hadn't I seen him flashing?

I did try to explain that, with no rear lights, it would have been a bit silly to stop on a very dark twisty stretch of road, and that I was very grateful for him alerting me to the failure, but he wasn't listening at all - too busy ranting about me not responding to him INSTANTLY!

Most cars are wired so that a single fuse blowing will only kill tail lights on one side, not both. But the Vauxhall Rascal had all the tail lights wired through the same fuse. Not clever.

You'll be pleased to hear that I had a spare fuse, and having stopped where it was safe to do so, I replaced the fuse and went on my way.

 

[siadwell]

That's rediculous!! I just pay halfords to do it...it's a simple job I know, but it only costs a couple of quid and if anything goes wrong they're liable...rather than me!

Don't think I didn't try. It's on their black list.

 

[Arch]

If you don't drive away from street lights, it can be quite hard to tell, from inside the car, whether both headlights are working properly or not. That's why people drive around for months one-eyed.

I probably thought this in the past, but a lady came out of a driveway on my road this morning, and stopped, and I saw she only had one brake light. She got out to close her gate behind her, so I mentioned it, and she said "yes, I know, it's (gesturing towards the dashboard) just told me". So I imagine more and more modern cars have a dashboard alert of failing lights. Hell, I think my Mum's Corsa does, now I think of it.

I see so many, I barely notice them anymore. The police could make a fortune in a crackdown....

 

[marinyork]

I probably thought this in the past, but a lady came out of a driveway on my road this morning, and stopped, and I saw she only had one brake light. She got out to close her gate behind her, so I mentioned it, and she said "yes, I know, it's (gesturing towards the dashboard) just told me". So I imagine more and more modern cars have a dashboard alert of failing lights. Hell, I think my Mum's Corsa does, now I think of it.

I see so many, I barely notice them anymore. The police could make a fortune in a crackdown....

Older cars have told you when an indicator is broken for a long, long time, although this is not an especially common fault. A lot of the fault with indicators is them being the wrong colour.

The car I learnt to drive in had these kinds of warnings on but that was a very new car.

I do worry about back lights on some newer cars. They are so bright compared to some of the ones on older cars I can imagine some older cars that are a dark colour suffering from underpowering issues like cyclists get.