Recession showing in number of faulty head/back lights

CreepingDeath

Anyone else notice the increased number of cars with only one headlight or backlight working at night ?

Makes you wonder if people are skimping on car servicing, how long it'll take for their brake pads to wear out or the like.

smellslikeshoes

Have noticed this myself, crazy carry on with the weather the way it has been lately hard enough seeing in the evenings with all the lights working.

Theta

Wont drive my car at night with a headlight out!

It can be seriously dangerous esp if the drivers side is out!

Heroditas

CreepingDeath wrote: »

Anyone else notice the increased number of cars with only one headlight or backlight working at night ?

Makes you wonder if people are skimping on car servicing, how long it'll take for their brake pads to wear out or the like.

It was just as bad last year and the year before too.

People are utterly oblivious to the fact that they need to check their lights regularly.
Some of them seem to think that if one of their headlights is broken, it's ok to put the remaining light on full beam to compensate :rolleyes:

pyramuid man

I have noticed this alright.
Also if there is any bit of rain at all, some people seem to think that its ok to use fulls all the time.

Stupid stupid people.

neilthefunkeone

Recession my arse.. Stupidity more likely!! I may have to go on a rant!!!!!

monkeypants

I'd say it's due more to a lack of checking rather than deliberate skimping on service. Just noticed the other night that one of the bulbs up front has gone again. This is at least the fifth bulb that has been replaced in the calendar year.

I'll admit that I don't check my lights as often as I should. Especially the rear lights.

Tipsy Mac

This morning in the space of 5mins I spotted a Garda car with a headlight out and spotted another with a tail light out, I guess NCT exemption for Garda vehicles has its downfalls.

mailforkev

No worse than usual I reckon OP.

Several times I've been stuck behind vans (usually) or cars with no functioning brake lights, let alone the rear lights out. Great fun trying to guess when they're stopping to avoid ploughing into the back of them.

A lot of Irish people are not very good at looking after their cars, and the chance of being stopped by the Gardaí for faulty lights is pretty much 0% which really doesn't help.

R.O.R

Tipsy Mac wrote: »

This morning in the space of 5mins I spotted a Garda car with a headlight out and spotted another with a tail light out, I guess NCT exemption for Garda vehicles has its downfalls.

I'd say that's more to do with the fact they need to get 15 forms signed by everyone from Chief Super to the Pope to God, before getting a bulb replaced, has more to do with it.

enda1

pyramuid man wrote: »

I have noticed this alright.
Also if there is any bit of rain at all, some people seem to think that its ok to use fulls all the time.

Stupid stupid people.

What are fulls?

In my vocab...

Parking lights
Dipped Headlights
Full Beams
(Fog lights)

So do you mean full beams or dipped headlights? Cause from your post you seem to imply that with a lot of rain, full beams should be used or something...

monkeypants

Does anyone think that the state of our roads and the number of ramps littered around the place contribute to this? I'm just thinking that I'm replacing a lot of bulbs...

bladespin

Seems much worse this year I have to say, lots of one-eyed jacks around.

celticbest

mailforkev wrote: »

No worse than usual I reckon OP.

Several times I've been stuck behind vans (usually) or cars with no functioning brake lights, let alone the rear lights out. Great fun trying to guess when they're stopping to avoid ploughing into the back of them.

A lot of Irish people are not very good at looking after their cars, and the chance of being stopped by the Gardaí for faulty lights is pretty much 0% which really doesn't help.

It's not only brake lights being out sometimes they are permanently stuck on, on some vechicles, both are as bad as each other as you don't know when the car is going to brake. I always leave a good distance to the car in front of me just incase there brake lights are not working and they jam on suddenly.

Mr. Presentable

I blame the NCT.

Now people have a cert for two years showing their car is roadworthy.

"One of you headlights is out, mate".
"According to this piece of paper my car is in proper condition to be on the road. I'll look after it in time for my next NCT"!

r3nu4l

enda1 wrote: »

What are fulls?

In my vocab...

Parking lights
Dipped Headlights
Full Beams
(Fog lights)

You'll have to add daytime running lights (DRLs) to that vocab now

I've also noticed a load of cars with only one light working :mad: Can anyone tell me why in some makes, when one dipped headlight bulb is gone, the other seems to switch to full headlight mode? I see that a lot, some idiot with one bulb gone, nearly blinding me with his other bulb...

Theta

r3nu4l wrote: »

You'll have to add daytime running lights (DRLs) to that vocab now

I've also noticed a load of cars with only one light working :mad: Can anyone tell me why in some makes, when one dipped headlight bulb is gone, the other seems to switch to full headlight mode? I see that a lot, some idiot with one bulb gone, nearly blinding me with his other bulb...

I have seen this a few times and I couldnt figure out how they did it to be honest!

My car tells me on the dash if a bulb goes so its handy I must say!

Voodoomelon

I think the american terminology is better, high beam and low beam.
Nice and simple. The word dipped seems to confuse people.

Shires

This was one of the little differences I noticed after returning to Ireland after 7 years abroad.. So many cars with knackered lights or fog lamps on.

Alun

Shires wrote: »

This was one of the little differences I noticed after returning to Ireland after 7 years abroad.. So many cars with knackered lights or fog lamps on.

Me too ... after 21 years on the 'continent' it was one of the first obvious things that I noticed. Try that in Germany and you'd be pulled over before you knew the bulb was even gone yourself.

pyramuid man

enda1 wrote: »

What are fulls?

In my vocab...

Parking lights
Dipped Headlights
Full Beams
(Fog lights)

So do you mean full beams or dipped headlights? Cause from your post you seem to imply that with a lot of rain, full beams should be used or something...

Well my vocab differs slightly. Allow me to explain.

Fulls = Full/High Beams
Dimms = Low/Dipped beams
Fogs = Self explanitory
DRL is the same.

I drive with "Dimms" on all the time. Also meant full beams but not always in city driving. I do maybe 80%Rural 20%Urban driving. And I do 110 miles per day at least.

r3nu4l

Shires wrote: »

This was one of the little differences I noticed after returning to Ireland after 7 years abroad.. So many cars with knackered lights or fog lamps on.

Alun wrote: »

Me too ... after 21 years on the 'continent' it was one of the first obvious things that I noticed. Try that in Germany and you'd be pulled over before you knew the bulb was even gone yourself.

Well in my part of England, it's just as bad as back home in dear old Ireland.

You get people in hatchbacks (mostly) driving with fog lights on all the time :rolleyes: and then a large number of cars and vans with one dipped beam bulb gone.

Then you get the guys with one dipped beam gone, the other dipped beam seemingly on full headlight (blinding) AND their fogs on (more blinding). ****ers!

Alanstrainor

I have to say, i've been noticing about the same amount of cars with one or more lights gone driving around, i'd say it's about average. I'd say most people are oblivious to the fact that one of their lights isn't working, rather than it being a concious decision to not replace them.

peasant

Alun wrote: »

Try that in Germany and you'd be pulled over before you knew the bulb was even gone yourself.

Try that in France and you'd get fined for not carrying a spare as well

TheNog

One evening in the space of half an hour stopped two drivers for having no rear lights at all. Both of them gave the usual excuse of "they are just gone a few minutes ago" and both looked at me like I had two heads when I asked them "have you got any spare bulbs in the car?". Incredible.

And yes one or more bulbs out does seem to be on the increase

Darragh29

I posted on this very issue last year and the year before, it had always amazed me how many cars you see at this time of the year with headlamp and sidelamp bulbs blown on one side of the car so it looks like a motorbike that is coming towards you, but it's by no means a new thing I think.

The-Game

Personally i notice its more the newer cars from mid 00s up that have taillights missing, or in alot of cases both tail and brake lights are out except for the little strip one on the top of the rear windscreen.

MaxFlower

I have a feeling all the flood waters in our area have contibuted to the blown bulbs. I had noticed an increase also but didn't link it with the recession.

CamperMan

Is that all you have noticed... you want to check the tax discs.... ouch, I see loads out of tax by several months....

bazzachazza

Best ones are the eejits with one headlight gone, and their foglights on to compensate but with a foglight bulb gone on the opposite side.

Foglight bulbs should never wear out through over use.

monkeypants

Even if I had a spare bulb, there's no way that I could replace it myself. The side lights have very little space to work in. I could get the connector off and the bulb in. Maybe. But I'd have no chance of getting the connector back on.

GreeBo

r3nu4l wrote: »

Can anyone tell me why in some makes, when one dipped headlight bulb is gone, the other seems to switch to full headlight mode?

Its probably not gone to full, just the single low beam bulb is now taking power that should be split between two bulbs, so its shining up to twice as bright. A good way to end up with no bulbs working, especially if its covered in greasy finger prints...

bazzachazza

Do Mercs not automatically go to highbeam or is it when the indicator goes the taillights flash instead ? I can't remember which it is.

_Kaiser_

I see this all the time and it's one of my pet hates...

I mean, how can people NOT notice this? Most newer cars will put up a warning symbol on the dash anyway and if that's not enough, surely the reduced visibility - or oncoming traffic flashing you should give a bit of a clue?

I put it down to laziness - I actually got out to a guy last week who was towing a cattle trailer on the N3 in the dark with no lights. The car that'd been in front of me (but behind the trailer) had eventually given up flashing him and overtaken a few minutes earlier, rather than try to guess when the trailer would suddenly brake/stop.

Anyway, I walks up to the fella's window and asks him if he's aware of the fact that he has no rear lights at all on his trailer, in the dark, on the N3 - "'I know" he says "I unplugged them because they kept blowing the fuses" :rolleyes:

I mean, the mind boggles! Is it just me that wouldn't drive the car until I had it fixed? This guy had his young daughter in the jeep with him as well!

Midnight_EG

I have a set of Halo/Angel Eyes wired seperate to the main lights, so in the case of a light going out I can always have the rings on and everyone can see

The-Game

Midnight_EG wrote: »

I have a set of Halo/Angel Eyes wired seperate to the main lights, so in the case of a light going out I can always have the rings on and everyone can see

For which you got hassled for by the law right?? :cool:

Midnight_EG

The-Game wrote: »

For which you got hassled for by the law right?? :cool:

Someone stalking me, or amazing memory? :P




Test tomorrow, and yes, I did get hassled but now its a-ok

langdang

Unless some modern cars do automatically switch on a full beam if one goes, then it's just someone using high beams out of pure ignorance/laziness/incompetence. There's no way the other dipped headlight would shine twice as bright just because one went.
How many petrol stations or tesco's have they passed since it blew? H1, H7, H4. simple. Manual will tell you if you don't know, the headlight may have it on the glass outside, or the bulb itself will say it.

You can't blame the recession, a kit with spare brake bulb,side light, and 2 headlights bulbs is about 6yoyo when they come around in Lidl, and the 30% (50?) brighter bulbs actually give a nice clean white light.

Should be a part of the driving test to change a random bulb on your car.
Should be a legal requirement to have spares and a hi-vis vest - where's the RSA on this one? Too busy telling all males we're homicidal maniacs behind the wheel, no time for common sense....

Kaiser, fair play to you for trying, but with the likes of those ignorant gimps you may as well be talking Swahili to them as trying to explain common sense and respect for other road users.

After all that ranting, I have to say disco lights make me smile - earth fault in rear lights, so everything is half lighting up and flashing, so you're not sure are they braking strangely, indicating, or having a panic attack at all the lights and sounds of the "Big Shmoke" and hitting buttons and pedals randomly . (It's generally eldery farmers with elderly carinas or ventos making a bi-annual trip to the city when I see em).

The-Game

Midnight_EG wrote: »

Someone stalking me, or amazing memory? :P

Test tomorrow, and yes, I did get hassled but now its a-ok

Combination of both! Was quite sure it was yourself who posted that before alright!

NCT? Theyre not an issue?

MacGyver

Midnight_EG wrote: »

Someone stalking me, or amazing memory? :P




Test tomorrow, and yes, I did get hassled but now its a-ok

i got a set for my car and they're white leds, they flew through the nct no problem. wired them into the parking lights instead of seperate. no problems with gards or anything either

Midnight_EG

MacGyver wrote: »

i got a set for my car and they're white leds, they flew through the nct no problem. wired them into the parking lights instead of seperate. no problems with gards or anything either

Try driving with no bulbs in the front because I had none, then talk to me about hassle :P

Voodoomelon

MacGyver wrote: »

i got a set for my car and they're white leds, they flew through the nct no problem. wired them into the parking lights instead of seperate. no problems with gards or anything either

I got a set of Umnitza Orion V2s, white LED angel eyes and wired them to the ignition instead of the parking lights. And voila, DRLs.

Midnight_EG

Voodoomelon wrote: »

I got a set of Umnitza Orion V2s, white LED angel eyes and wired them to the ignition instead of the parking lights. And voila, DRLs.

Mine are wired straight to the battery and a button on my dash, voila

L1011

I got looked at like I had two heads when I was changing a headlight on my van in shirt / work trousers a few weeks back. Lad on the garage forecourt (they still have these in Monaghan/Donegal a lot, weirdly) even said "would you not wait till its bright to do that?".

It was a dark and relatively wet night, getting even wetter later on. I despair sometimes... as did my washing machine getting brake dust out of a blue shirt!

Midnight_EG

MYOB wrote: »

I got looked at like I had two heads when I was changing a headlight on my van in shirt / work trousers a few weeks back. Lad on the garage forecourt (they still have these in Monaghan/Donegal a lot, weirdly) even said "would you not wait till its bright to do that?".

It was a dark and relatively wet night, getting even wetter later on. I despair sometimes... as did my washing machine getting brake dust out of a blue shirt!

Brake dust while changing a headlight

L1011

Midnight_EG wrote: »

Brake dust while changing a headlight

Crouching down at the side of the car. Engine bay gack just got on my hands.

Thinkingaboutit

CreepingDeath wrote: »

Anyone else notice the increased number of cars with only one headlight or backlight working at night ?

Makes you wonder if people are skimping on car servicing, how long it'll take for their brake pads to wear out or the like.

Some people are lazy, very lazy, won't bother either changing the bulb themselves, easy, or going to a garage if they are tards. I saw a car in Harolds Cross lit by only one foglight, both headlights gone, and one foglight not working. Not sure about it's rear lights.

Midnight_EG

MYOB wrote: »

Crouching down at the side of the car. Engine bay gack just got on my hands.

Ohhhh I getcha

The-Game

Midnight_EG wrote: »

Brake dust while changing a headlight

This one puzzled me at first as well!!

Victor

As I crossed as a pedestrian last weekend I noticed someone driving on his parking lights and I mentioned it to him. He then conscientiously checked the setting and left them as they were. A driver yesterday with no lights at all.

r3nu4l wrote: »

I've also noticed a load of cars with only one light working :mad: Can anyone tell me why in some makes, when one dipped headlight bulb is gone, the other seems to switch to full headlight mode? I see that a lot, some idiot with one bulb gone, nearly blinding me with his other bulb...

All the power is going to one light, so it looks brighter than normal.

Marlow

Voodoomelon wrote: »

I got a set of Umnitza Orion V2s, white LED angel eyes and wired them to the ignition instead of the parking lights. And voila, DRLs.

Heh. That was more work than what you would have needed to do. You would just have needed to recode your light control module via the i-bus or with a diagnostics cable. E38, same as my E39, support 3 types of daylight driving light settings:

- low beam + taillights (Scandinavian style)
- low beam and no taillights
- dimmed high beam and no taillights (US style driving lights).

Once coded, your lights go out, as soon as you switch your ignition off, instead of telling you, that you left your lights on, when you open the door. These settings can also be coded by using controls on the dashboard in a specific order. But I guess your approach works, too.

I was parked in Galway today, on a dark street, in front of a hotel, meeting friends. Because it's not easy to spot the car, i left my parking lights on (angel eyes front + taillights). The amount of people making me aware, that my lights were on is unbelievable. People have just no awareness of that safety comes first.

/M