Earlier this month I drove down to so cal from nor cal, and a strange realization hit me: the huge proportion of cars with a single burned out headlight. It seriously must have been at least 1% of all cars in the other side of the freeway. And they are all relatively new cars, less than 10 years old. Now, i drive to work and in 10 minutes on the street i see at least two vehicles with burned out headlights. Go to the supermarket, burned out headlights. Go downtown, burned out headlights. Wtf? Is there a known bad batch of headlights produced a while ago that now they all seem to go out enmasse? Is the worlds single headlight manufacturing plant flooded and out of commission?
To determine more accurately whether I’m just experiencing confirmation bias here, or if this here is real, poll coming.
Maybe it’s a sign of more and more people not having the ‘expertise’/know how/willingness to change out a bulb in their headlight.
I’ve probably had it happen maybe 4-5 times in the last 10+ years of car ownership, and for me there is nothing simpler than changing the bulb, and in fact I keep a pack of bulbs in the car for such an occasion. But I think a more enlightening poll would be, “Could you/Would you change a blown headlight bulb.”
I am absolutely not handy or car-smart at all, but I was able to replace my headlight. Just had to read the manual and make sure to buy the right model. BUT! Some headlamp installations are convoluted and require you to take things out to replace them. That might explain the proportion.
I see cars with a burned-out headlight all the time (at least one or 2 every day, sometimes more), but then I drive home after dark 5 days a week… except in high summer, when twilight is much later. For someone who works an earlier job in a less-rainy climate, they might not see headlights as much.
What are the car inspection requirements for your area, if any?
Around here, all lights and blinkers have to be working before you can renew your tags each year.
I think this may be partly why even though I work nights and see headlights coming as well as going, I see a much smaller percentage of bured out headlights.
Most of the ones I do see are likely from the county or surrounding states where there may not be an inspection requirement at all.
Cars differ in how easy it is to change a headlight. I have always changed my own, but when the driver’s side bulb blew out on my Mazda, I discovered you have to practically take the front end apart to change it.
Both of mine currently work fine, but I’ve found that 1) DIY change for me is easy and inexpensive 2) The better brighter bulbs are worth the $2 more and 3) always change in pairs. Hey, you have the hood up anyway & you just did it once, so there’s no guess work.
Beats having to put up your hood again next week or the week after.
PS- I believe I learned these from threads here initially; but I know from first hand experiance that the advice worked.
I just replaced one a couple days ago that had been out for a week. I’ve replaced headlamps on every car I’ve ever owned; did so last February on my wife’s car and this February on mine. Usually they’re easy- pop the hood, locate the back of the socket, a quarter turn to get it out, pull the dead lamp, etc. On my Nissan, I had to go in through the wheel well. It was a little more involved- had to lay on my back, remove some screws, squeeze my hand in and do it blind. Like Count, I always do them in pairs.
My car is less than 4 years old, but I have almost 80,000 miles on it and keep my headlights on whenever I’m driving, day or night, so I’m not surprised it went out.
Every time I buy replacement halogen lamps, the guy at the auto supply store reminds me not to touch the lamp with my fingers, because the oils from my skin will shorten the lamp life. So I always use a plastic glove to install replacement lamps. Does everybody do this? If you don’t, have you noticed the lamp burns out sooner?
Headlights used to be a pain in the ass to replace. In ye olde days you had to replace the entire lamp assembly, and then usually adjust the position of the beam. Nowadays you just unscrew the bulb. Nothing could be easier.
You realize, don’t you, that some of the people answering YES to this poll could have a burned-out headlight but don’t realize it.
I don’t know what’s the matter with the drivers in your area, but I see burned-out headlights rarely enough that they make me go, “Hey! That guy’s headlight is burned out!” It doesn’t happen often.
My guess is that a lot of people simply do not know they have a burned out light. I see many tail lights not working, and 3rd brake lights, as well as headlights. This suggests people rarely do more than the standard minimum maintenance on their car, do not do any inspection of tires and lights, and treat it more like an appliance they put gas in when needed.
The only light I cannot change on my own car is the rear inside brake light; that one’s wired up weirdly and I haven’t ever been able to do it. I’ve changed my own headlights before (with some help, as I tend to rush through things sometimes.)
inside a halogen bulb is a gas, and as the bulb operates the pressure inside the bulb can get pretty high. Especially considering that halogen filaments run hotter than a traditional incandescent. Any foreign material on the bulb can cause uneven heating of the glass and cause it to burst.
I’ve only seen burst halogen bulbs when water got into the headlamp housing.
No but I had one burnt out for maybe 14 days before I replaced it a week or so ago. In the cars I’ve owned, you need 9" long quadruple-jointed elf fingers to be able to work in the space provided and I was waiting for nice weather. Hard enough to do it without having numb fingers or wearing gloves.
I went on a ride-along with a police office friend of mine once and one of the things we specifically looked for were burnt out headlights and tail lights. That way if he happened to pull over a car full of shady characters with warrants or a backseat full of drugs or guns, he wouldn’t have to defend his reasons for pulling over the car in the first place.
The last time I bought a replacement bulb, the clerk at Autozone offered to come out and install it for me. I declined as it’s a super-easy thing to do on your own, but I certainly appreciated the offer.