How many cars with a light out...

[Jembo]

Between my home in Kent, work in London & my sis' place up North, can't believe the numbers of vehicles I now see with a headlamp out - do they just come out just to see me???

Know there's a bit of a recession on, kakked me pants & almost did a wipe out in dark lane the other night with some muppet that had neither a dipped or sidelight on the drivers side... thought was a motorbike until the last second, just a lucky escape swerving into a gap.

 

[chrisj900]

do zeds tell ya if a lights out?? my other cars in the past wouldnt say a thing !! lots of ppl dont notice a light out as its like mid day with street lamps

 

[gannet]

do zeds tell ya if a lights out?? my other cars in the past wouldnt say a thing !! lots of ppl dont notice a light out as its like mid day with street lamps

my old alfa was always telling me I had lights out... pity it was wrong ALL the time :roll:

think the zeds do...

pisses me off as a cyclist as it's so hard to tell it car or bike if one it out...

 

[Adamski]

My E46 had a light that came on indicating which bulb had blown. Never had a bulb go in the zed though....


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[lacroupade]

Sad fact is though, many modern cars are built such that changing a headlight bulb is a major job, so tends to get left.....yet another example of style over substance.

 

[dan425]

The Zed does indeed inform you when a bulb has gone. I lost one recently and got it fixed within a matter of days. I see several cars on my daily commute with lights out, far too many.

It's just inconsiderate to the safety of you, your passengers and fellow road users.

 

[jamiez]

I think its a sign which demonstrates just HOW MANY bulb destroying pot holes and shiteee roads we have!

 

[Psy]

It's one of my pet-hates.

In London you get far too many cars driving around with no lights at all when it's dark - I guess they feel THEY can see well enough because of the street lights. Shame we can't see YOU...

However, re blown bulbs, it is shocking how difficult it can be for people to change bulbs - was it the Renault Megane that FifthGear did a special video on? The AA guy took ~1.5 hrs to change the headlight bulb and ripped his hand to shreads doing it... :thumbsdown:

In the Zed it's not easy, but it's an enthusiasts car built as a sports car from the ground up - a megane is a family car that should be straightforward. Anyone have the link to that video? Was shocking...!

S

 

[tomscott]

It really pisses me off the amount of people that dont prepare their car for winter, or look after it in general. The amount of people diving around in pitch black without lights on. How do they see their speedo...

 

[aquazi]

Over the weekend i encountered 2 cars on the same journey with no brake lights

The first a 2000 reg focus, which i nearly went in the back of on the M1, after it decelerated from 70 to about 50...so i swiftly overtook it, the second a Polo on the slip road, so i went in the lane beside them to tell them their brake lights were out, and the silly bint replied i know

 

[sp3ctre]

Sad fact is though, many modern cars are built such that changing a headlight bulb is a major job, so tends to get left.....yet another example of style over substance.

Spot on I think... cars makers should be forced to make their vehicles easy to swap bulbs out with access via the engine bay. Requiring people to dig around under the car will just encourage people to wait until the weekend etc..

 

[a11y]

It really pisses me off the amount of people that dont prepare their car for winter, or look after it in general. The amount of people diving around in pitch black without lights on. How do they see their speedo...

It's worth remembering that some cars nowadays have the dash/instruments permanently lit up (several VWs for example). Some muppets obviously don't realise this and hence don't switch their lights on, although I doubt these muppets are observant enough to actually look at their dash in the first place...

My old Clio was near-impossible to change front bulbs on due to the stupid size of the engine (2.0) in a small engine bay, made worse with biggish hands. The Z4's easy peasy in comparison.

 

[Adamski]

Sad fact is though, many modern cars are built such that changing a headlight bulb is a major job, so tends to get left.....yet another example of style over substance.

Spot on I think... cars makers should be forced to make their vehicles easy to swap bulbs out with access via the engine bay. Requiring people to dig around under the car will just encourage people to wait until the weekend etc..

I'm sure the BBC investigated the last Renault Megane for this. Quotes for changing a front light bulb (yes, just a quote for a light bulb) varied from £150 - £400 IIRC.

The front bumper more or less had to be removed to get to the bulb. A consequence of the 5 star Euro NCAP rating


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[Guiseley]

The Z4's easy peasy in comparison.

Well my light came on this morning so I'll have to fix it this week-end - too cold and dark before / after work I'm afraid. Hope a11y's right - wonder if there's a how-to?

 

[cj_eds]

My old Clio was near-impossible to change front bulbs on due to the stupid size of the engine (2.0) in a small engine bay, made worse with biggish hands. The Z4's easy peasy in comparison.

I'm sure every time you put your foot down you wished it had a smaller engine so you could get to those bulbs

I'd say no-one does check their lights. It's not hard if you're even vaguely observant and paying attention either. Drive/reverse up to a wall etc as you always do as you park and it's obvious when one side is not as lit up as the other. Lights don't need to be fixed apart from to pass the MOT once a year, so people don't. You probably don't want to see the state of tyres on those people's cars. Bet they are checked once per year too.

 

[pvr]

I guess that the life time of a bulb must be about 10 years as in the last 6 months, I have replaced every bulb on the Polo except for the indicators

 

[jamiez]

It's one of my pet-hates.

In London you get far too many cars driving around with no lights at all when it's dark - I guess they feel THEY can see well enough because of the street lights. Shame we can't see YOU...

However, re blown bulbs, it is shocking how difficult it can be for people to change bulbs - was it the Renault Megane that FifthGear did a special video on? The AA guy took ~1.5 hrs to change the headlight bulb and ripped his hand to shreads doing it... :thumbsdown:

In the Zed it's not easy, but it's an enthusiasts car built as a sports car from the ground up - a megane is a family car that should be straightforward. Anyone have the link to that video? Was shocking...!

S

Could not agree more with this

My neice's C2 had a couple of bulbs out and when i quized her she said "how am i suppose to do that"

Industy reall does need to make simple things like this exactly that "simple"

Or do i see a new trend of "bulb-guy" service appearing on our streets next to chips away and windscreen chip fixers?

 

[pvr]

You have a point there, and I think that there would be room for a "bulb guy" as going to Halfords is not something that people would appreciate doing whilst a dedicated centre might give them more confidence to have it done.

Often manufacturers do make it seem harder though, as on my X5 it stated that for a front indicator that the bumper needed to come off and the garage quoting something like £140 or so to change the bulb.

I just losend the headlamp and slid it forward until it hit the headlight sprayers and changed the indicator that way from behind, 10 minutes work.

 

[Guiseley]

Righto - given it get's people all aerated I've just spent the last 15 mins sorting mine out - easier than expected, but there again I was in a warm double garage with all the tools to hand