Why are modern cars designed with headlights where changing the bulb is so difficult?

On of your correspondents mentioned the number of cars driving with a light not working. One reason may well be the tendency for manufacturers now to make a lightbulb change a garage job. In recent years we have had an Audi A4 and a Renault Laguna and it was virtually impossible to change a headlamp bulb yourself. So a £5 bulb turns into booking the car into a garage for day and a £50 bill. It makes a nonsense of the French regulation that you must carry a spare bulb kit. Before I buy any car now I make sure I can change a lightbulb myself.
Something I have harangued about for about 15 years. Makes no difference. The EC is happy to require drivers to carry a spare set of bulbs. But the motor lobby is too strong for it to issue a Directive that cars have to be built in a way that allows a driver to fit those bulbs.
Answered by Honest John on

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