It is important to have two working headlights, and some countries even require you to carry a spare bulb.
It is impossible to change a headlight bulb on many (most?) modern cars without specialist equipment and a great deal of effort.
I may be wrong, but isn't this a design fault?
(I can remember, as an extremely unhandyman, being able to change the headlight bulb on my 1980 VW Golf.)
And why isn't anyone campaigning to get the manufacturers to sort it out?
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Good point. I really don't see why I should pay some dealership £100 smackers to change a bulb in a headlight or ' risk invalidating my warranty ".
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Fleet owners and customers alike wanted longer intervals between servicing, so in turn the manufacturers and garages find something else to bring the money in - ie, charging you a fortune to change a bulb that you are no longer able to do yourself ;o)
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I may be wrong, but isn't this a design fault?
Yes it is. So are fake bumpers that don't protect, are easily damaged, cost too much and can't be repaired.
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What do company car drivers do in these instances? Are you allowed to pay dealers to change bulbs or do you have to do yourselves?
Edited by BobbyG on 02/05/2009 at 21:30
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IIRC this is why the Jag XF has its design of headlights, purely so owners can change their own bulbs.
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I may be wrong but isn't this a design fault?
It's not a design fault in the sense that the designers aren't aware of the implications. It's really just the inevitable result of having to pack so many items under the bonnet. If there was lots of spare space under the bonnet a lot of people would complain about that, so designers can never win. I've only had one headlight bulb fail since about 1970 so it doesn't really bother me.
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>>,I may be wrong but isn't this a design fault?
Actually an oversight, My 1988 and 1990 Jettas have easily replaced bulbs. Just twist the collar, remove the faulty lamp, pop in a replacement and twist to close. Righty tighty, lefty loosey. A vast improvement over the sealed beam units on my 69 Mustang which have retaining collars with tiny screws that love to fall and get lost.
There is no reason for difficult lamp replacement other than poor engineering
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I hate changing light bulbs as invariably you cant get to them without drawing blood
However the 7 inch sealed beam things were no better from the past as the whole shooting match complete with pod used to fall out once you attempted to take of the chrome ring that held it in, but the wing colapsed in a puff of dust.
One bulb in 37 years mr snail? that must be a world record,have you contacted McGuinness ;-)
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Other hard-to-get-at/generally awkward components:
*Fuses* A bit of a pain in the rain, but it was at least possible to identify and replace one under the bonnet; I never understood the benefit of having the fusebox inside the passenger compartment right under the dash where only Harry Houdini could actually wriggle in and swap one over. Having said that, never had one blow in 25 years of driving!
*Spark plugs* One out of the four is always an awkward little git!
*Spare wheel*
*Jack*
...and apart from all these low-maintenance, low-usage parts, how about *Seatback recline*. What happened to those simple-to-use levers? Hate those knurled wheels - always stiff and always awkward to reach and absolutely fatal for, erm, romantic moments... (Ahem.) Nowadays I need to make slight change to posture on long journeys and have not yet reached the dizzy heights of electric seat adjustment.
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>One bulb in 37 years, Mr Snail? That must be a world record...
Ask him how many cars he's had in that time.
};---)
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I believe on some cars you have to take the front bumper off to be able to get to the headlight bulb as the space is to tight
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>One bulb in 37 years Mr Snail? That must be a world record... Ask him how many cars he's had in that time. };---)
I made it come to 39 years since 1970, but I must admit I used old-fashioned mental arithmetic and not a calculator like you youngsters do! Since you ask, during that time I've had 13 cars, and I've averaged about 15,000 miles per year. Is it relevant?
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