"Its one of the issues with LED headlights...'

And electric, folding, heated, indicator and puddle light equipped door mirrors.

Edited by elekie&a/c doctor on 25/07/2025 at 17:26

Looking back, bulbs in my old halogen cars usually lasted about a year

Really.

Cannot remember the last time I replaced a standard output Halogen headlight bulb and for the record we owned the wifes last car for 6 years.

Did 113,000 miles in a Golf over 7 years and cannot remember changing a headlight bulb.

Many people report that the "uprated" halogen bulbs have quite a short life, considered them on the Fabia (poor lights) but after looking at what had to be done to change them I did not bother especially if it was an annual activity.

What are you doing to them?

In my old cars, it would have cost around £30 to £40 for the bulbs

A pair of H4 (60/55 standard output) bulbs is £8.99 at Halfords and no doubt less elsewhere.

Where do you buy them? Bet they love you.

Edited by skidpan on 28/07/2025 at 09:29

The LED lights on our trucks and trailers despite having covered up to and in some cases well over 1 million kms (tank trailers have an odometer on one axle) have proved robust and reliable with almost all main units still originals, we get the odd side marker light going down which costs very little and is often just exposed wiring corrosions issues but the main light units seldom give any trouble, to be fair we don't have scrollings indicators on our trailers, which are pointless anyway.

Covering around 120-150k kms per year we'd be replacing headlights and other large units every other 6 weekly inspection if the OP's Suzuki dealer is to be believed.

For our vehicles the better sealing of LED units means corrosion to bulb holders and immediate wiring is less of an issue, LEDs stand the battering our third world roads subject them to when empty ifinitely better than standard bulbs, i've had to replace 6 out of the 8 bulbs in a standard 80's tipper trailer after just one journey across from Widnes to the Notts coal mines....thats the only issue with LEDs is that they're no longer an easily changed by the roadside item.

The sub standard LED quality in cars is just one more thing putting me off buying a newer car, i'll probably have to replace the halogen headlight bodies on my 20 year old Landcruiser at some point due to sun damage which polishing will no longer rectify, i can get good quality (others with the same vehicle have had them years following original headlight damage )aftermarket units for £120 a side, genuines were around £250 last time i looked, the figures being quoted for one comparitively small LED light unit by car makers are now frankly ridiculous and i don't wish to contribute to their scams.

Edited by gordonbennet on 28/07/2025 at 09:38

I'm a member of two suzuki groups, never heard mention of a led assembly failure, I would say the op has been desperately unlucky.

This siuation has me wondering, if this was a Toyota a phone call to head office (used to be Epsom/Esher) may well have goodwill authorised, Mr T dealer will normally do this for the customer but also the customer could phone them direct.

The Suzi dealer has presumably asked head office for some goodwill?

Thanks for the heads up. A manufacturer to avoid.

So are you going to avoid every manufacturer who has reported bulb failures?

And what about other minor issues such as squeaks and rattles?

The stupidity on this forum is beyond belief sometimes.

I suppose I could suggest you buy a horse, no LED's on those. But have you seen vets bills recently.

Thanks Skidpan.

Blodwens Insurance is more than the Korando, Plus her regular boosters etc. Runs on very good quality fuel too,

Essentially you are correct. If I avoided anything with any problems that I has previously I'd be on Shanks's Pony forever. Mind you even my cycle has LED lights. (came with them but never used them as don't go out at night.)

And the LED bulbs in the house.. last a couple of years only, we do have a large stock of candles.....

Edited by Orb>>. on 03/08/2025 at 10:46

Thanks for the heads up. A manufacturer to avoid.

So are you going to avoid every manufacturer who has reported bulb failures?

And what about other minor issues such as squeaks and rattles?

The stupidity on this forum is beyond belief sometimes.

I suppose I could suggest you buy a horse, no LED's on those. But have you seen vets bills recently.

I don't think the issue is the quality of Suzuki's product, just that they don't honour their warranty.

So are you going to avoid every manufacturer who has reported bulb failures?

And what about other minor issues such as squeaks and rattles?

The stupidity on this forum is beyond belief sometimes.

I suppose I could suggest you buy a horse, no LED's on those. But have you seen vets bills recently.

A sealed LED unit is not the same as a user changeable bulb. Not even in the same ballpark.

I think this should have been covered under warranty.

But I'll leave now and leave you charmers to your own thing.

Edited by Goodbye on 05/08/2025 at 16:41

I'm getting more confused now. In the original post, it says that the headlights and DRLs must be replaced together as a single unit, hence the absurd cost. Unless there is another facelift that I've missed (they do a lot for Vitaras...), the DRLs are nowhere near the headlights and can be bought as a separate unit. Why would the whole lot need to be replaced on both sides?