Got pulled for having a headlight out, fail

Solari said:
I find it so annoying how difficult it is to change the bulbs on some cars these days :( You'd think it should be one of the easiest bits of car "maintenance" to do, especially as you're supposed to carry spares and swap faulty bulbs over ASAP in many European countries.
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Indeed, a lot of newer Renaults seem to require you to remove the entire bumper just to change a bulb. Stupid idea.
 
oap said:
You'd be surprised how many people drive around with a headlight not working, nearly as bad as the idiots driving round with their front fog lights permanently on.
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saw a focus today that had just one side light working and was using the fogs as night driving lights. :eek:

One time I was driving home in the fog and nearly went into the rear of someone because none of their rear lights were working. Tryed to flash him down but he just ignored me. Luckily being a friday night a patrol picked him up when we went through the town. Told the bobby I had been behind him for a good 15 miles. Had a nice chat with the bobby and then he went to work on him.
 
Apparently to change the bulb on my megane you have to do it through the wheel arch which is why I've never done it myself.

Mines gone at the moment but i just dont have the time to book it in, so I've stopped driving at night for the time being.
 
Lum said:
Both my Volvos have had it (a 1990 460 and a 1991 940) I'm aware that some BMWs have it (and allegedly require BMW bulbs for it to work properly), other than that I've never encountered the blub warning system, none of my company cars I've had have had it (all VAG cars) and my 1999 Subaru Legacy didn't have it either.

I don't think it's common. I can see why the Sweedish cars would have it because it's dark a lot of the time there, hence the daytime running lights.
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Most top spec Fords have it aswell my Mondeo Ghia X has my dads old Sierra Ghia had it and that was made in 1982 :)
 
Lum said:
Both my Volvos have had it (a 1990 460 and a 1991 940) I'm aware that some BMWs have it (and allegedly require BMW bulbs for it to work properly), other than that I've never encountered the blub warning system, none of my company cars I've had have had it (all VAG cars) and my 1999 Subaru Legacy didn't have it either.
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My 05 Golf apparently has it. None of the bulbs have gone out so I don't know if it works or not...
 
Sp00n said:
Apparently to change the bulb on my megane you have to do it through the wheel arch which is why I've never done it myself.

Mines gone at the moment but i just dont have the time to book it in, so I've stopped driving at night for the time being.
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That is correct. There's an inspection panel in the arch. It's not difficult as such, just very fiddly and you will likely skin your knuckles and elbow :D
 
bad_ass_neil said:
i find the worst are brake lights, i only ever seam to find out when some one drives behind me. Either that or when i reverse up to a wall.
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dont get me started. spotted a duff bulb and swapped it sharpish. next day it had gone again. luckily i kept the original bulb in my bulb pack as it looked fine (in the dark!)

must have some dodgy wiring as it's intermittent now.
 
[TW]Fox;13625554 said:
They don't require BMW bulbs.
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Fair enough, I put that allegedly in for a reason as it was just something I heard from a disgruntled owner. Maybe it just doesn't work with cheap nasty bulbs?
 
i am the king of ***** blubs and in both my BMW and Volvo never caused me any problems with the bulb out warnings

(buy £1 for a full set from poundland/pundstecher)
 
rover416i said:
Hi all,

Basically, I got pulled over for having my offside headlight out, lovely chap, all dealt with very well (Yes, I was suprised!), he ever showed me how ANPR works :p

Anyway, I have to take it to a garage for verification the work has been done, just for them to check it and stamp the ticket. How much will the garage charge? Thanks!
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I would suggest taking your car to the place you had it MOT'D - take the MOT along too to show them if they ask to see it. Ask them if they could take a quick look to see that the bulb is working and if they could stamp the VDR form (Vehicle Defect Rectification) for you. Most MOT Garages will not charge you (particularly if they can see from your MOT that you're one of their customers)

Make sure you get the form dated as well, since normally there is only a 14 day period for you to get it examined. It has to be examined by a Garage that has an Offical MOT Stamp.
 
Kei said:
Out of interest, don't any of the cars mentioned here have a method of telling you that a bulb has gone?

I thought it was now quite a common feature on most cars, especially newer ones.
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All cars have this feature - its called the Driver.

Strictly speaking you should do a walk round your vehicle each day to examine it for defects, such as bulbs out, cuts in the tyre walls, low tyre pressures etc.

It only takes a few minutes to do and can save you a lot of money particularly if you get pulled for a dangerous defect.

As for bulbs out, obviously they do blow whilst driving. If you check your vehicle before setting out on your journey and then get stopped you have a defence in law in that you checked the lights were working prior to setting out and they 'must have' blown whilst travelling.

Obviously this really only works for one bulb - if loads of them are out you're really asking for trouble with that defence.

If you do get stopped try to be reasonable as well. Most Police Officers will issue a form to get it fixed initially.
 
Another one from Southport here \o/ I was interested to read that some/many models of cars now switch on a front fog lamp should a headlight fail. Since it's an offence to display fog lamps unless visibility is below 100m, surely that's asking for trouble? "The car made me do it" isn't much of a defence, thought it'd raise some eyebrows I'm sure :D

I check my car daily for blown lights and other issues, as Andy alluded to above. Surely you all do the same? "I only notice my brake lights are out when a van gets behind me" doesn't sound too clever?
 
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