Bulb replacement.

Fishtits

OK. I've had enough. Today I had to assemble all manner of 1/4 drive extensions, flexis etc. to change a rear side lamp bulb in a best selling car.

Regular filament type bulbs are fitted to just about everything on the road. They are a lifed item i.e. they are expected to fail prior to the vehicle being scrapped.

Several European countries insist (penalties apply if not) that you carry spare bulbs in the car. (what's the point given the next sentence?)

More and more vehicles now need workshop & mechanic type assets to change a bulb.

Am I the only one that would like to confront the current crop of vehicle designers with this?

Its obscene that you need to disassemble bodywork to change a bulb, and no customer is happy with the bill either...

Yeah, I'm pis*ed off.

Get the basics right...

Slidey

Totally agree.

You have to take the battery out of the MK4 Golf to get at the LHS headlight bulbs. Pure bollocks. By rights you should be able to change any bulb with only the very minimum of ripping...

Plug

Did anyone here change a front parking light bulb in an old Ford Galaxy or VW Sharon?
The hands of a 5 y/o are involved with a piny long nose pliers.
Lethal things:D

DublinDilbert

It is poor design alright, what I can't understand is that if they want to put a bulb in such a hard place to change, why don't they fit an LED bulb that will out last the car by a factor of ten!!!

Is it the extra €1 in cost? Or that they like getting you back to the dealer for such simple things.

tossy

They want more and more customers to bring the car into a main dealer to get the work done,for everyone here that attempts to change a bulb themselves there are 5 suckers booking cars into garages (ok maybe not so much these days as much as in the boom times,these days people just drive on with one light!!!)

There is no money for the main dealer in selling cars minimum profit margins,the money is made in servicing and parts departments where the mark up is greater.

Owen

Isn't there some new Renault that you have to disassemble the bodywork for an hour or so to change a headlight bulb?

Tropheus

This is by design, the harder they make it, the more they line the pockets of their dealship network.