Increase of cars with broken lights? Recession to blame?

whiskeyman

Over the past few weeks I've noticed a massive increase of cars driving with only one headlight / broken indicators etc...
Not all these are bangers either, as many were high end cars.
Has anyone else noticed this?
Are these additional costs just being done without by many drivers?
I know these would be picked up in the NCT, but would the guards stop people on this too?

Anan1

Most people don't care enough to replace bulbs without the threat of sanction, and the Gardaí don't have a simple ticketing system.

aujopimur

I did a rough count a few times, about 1 in 10 had faulty/broken headlights not to mention the pr1cks with their fog lights on.

Cookie_Monster

I think Peasant had a game before. See if you can pass 10 cars in a row with fully functioning lights & the correct ones turned on as appropriate.

Its quite hard

Triangla

Could be more related to the bad weather, water/ice build up in headlight fittings blowing lights at this time of year.

Also, a blow out on the way home from work may mean you can't go to motor factors. Typical headlight there is €3. Prices in petrol stations are €10+. People may decide to hang on until the weekend when they can buy them at a reasonable price.

It pays to keeps spares in the glove box.

shedweller

Not to mention a socket set and other tools to remove the headlight and probably the bumper too!

Ardennes1944

shedweller wrote: »

Not to mention a socket set and other tools to remove the headlight and probably the bumper too!

eh....?

Max_Damage

Deutschlandfürimmer7 wrote: »

eh....?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZWqU9X6PR4

shedweller

Deutschlandfürimmer7 wrote: »

eh....?

To replace the headlight bulbs. Most modern cars make it all but impossible to replace a headlight bulb at all, let alone on the side of the road. I believe this is deliberately engineered into the design.
I changed headlight bulbs on two newish (2004,2008) cars recently and it was more than a half hour job i can tell you, and i'm reasonably handy with the tools!
This was discussed here a few months ago.

Ardennes1944

eh.....of course you'd need those tools ive changed them on a couple of 04/05 cars no prob. although im sure many would love to blame this on the recession its more to do with people not giving a ****

A-Trak

If you can't afford a €15 headlight bulb due to recessionary factors, you can't afford to run a car IMO.

I'd agree with others that it's the effort required on some cars rather then the cost

It took me an hour and half the skin on my knuckles to replace a drivers side dim headlight bulb last night.

PCPhoto

I currently have only 1 functioning headlight bulb..... I am aware of the issue and have an appointment with the mechanic tomorrow (have a number of other issues I wanted sorting)

Apologies if my driving at night has offended some of you :rolleyes: I'm not mechanically minded and work 8-6pm mon-fri (and occasionally weekends) so cant get it sorted as fast as some of you suggest. (I do actually have a spare bulb in my glovebox - but its too dark for me at the end of my day to try change it ... and its too much effort after a long days work)

- if anyone knows of a decent basic mechanics course that they are willing to recommend - I'd be interested.

antopanto

It's not a recession thing, it's a mixture of lazyness, tightfistedness and couldn't careless:eek:

blueshed

drove from Trim to Kilcock the other night and counted a total of 19 cars/vans with faulty lights or even one of them not working.

over the last 4/6 weeks the problem seems to be worse.

Ali Babba

Lots of people don't seem to be bothered fixing their cars after the ice/snow either, i'd say it's that they don't want to spend the money unless they really have to. I know a few who have said they wouldn't bother fixing their cars in case we get more bad weather or until they have to for the NCT.

road_high

What an absolute RIP OFF. Defo never buying a Megane. Not that I would have anyhow

JJJJNR

Personally I find it hard to remember to change the offending bulb, as once I turn the engine off all I want to do is get in the house and go back to sleep ASAP.

ToxicPaddy

I was chatting to my mate about this yesterday, last Sunday I saw 5 cars out of 8 with 1 light out..

A lot seemed to be higher end models too..

OldmanMondeo

PCPhoto wrote: »

I currently have only 1 functioning headlight bulb..... I am aware of the issue and have an appointment with the mechanic tomorrow (have a number of other issues I wanted sorting)

Apologies if my driving at night has offended some of you :rolleyes: I'm not mechanically minded and work 8-6pm mon-fri (and occasionally weekends) so cant get it sorted as fast as some of you suggest. (I do actually have a spare bulb in my glovebox - but its too dark for me at the end of my day to try change it ... and its too much effort after a long days work)

- if anyone knows of a decent basic mechanics course that they are willing to recommend - I'd be interested.

Did you look in the owners manual to see how the bulb can be changed? I changed the 2 bulbs in my 08 Mondeo, took me 20 minutes and you need to remove the headlight to get at the bulb. I changed 2 bulbs on a lad in work car, took about 5 minutes. Not all cars are hard to change. What car is it?

DarkJager

I had fun because of my headlights last week, and i put the blame squarely on the stupid ****in weather we had. Doing 100km/h from cork to limerick and road in front of me went pitch black. Both headlights gone at once. Had to drive the rest of the way on hazards and full beams.

road_high

On my S40 a message comes up on the dash when a bulb blows. And they are a total zinch to fix.

And to think the new Megane is now Ireland's best seller. I really hope they have improved this stupid set up.

L1011

I suspect the weather - freezing bulbs suddenly having lots of heat generated through them - has taken some out. Had one dead in my C4 there, I'll admit I bought a bulb yesterday in Lismore and actually left it until this evening to change it...

RandomAccess

That youtube clip is pretty good but at one point the mechanic has his leg under the front of the car while its on a trolley jack. Which is probably not a good idea..

RandomAccess

aujopimur wrote: »

I did a rough count a few times, about 1 in 10 had faulty/broken headlights not to mention the pr1cks with their fog lights on.

Hey, those are me spare headlamps. :pac:

Seriously though I've seen quite a few people using foglight's without their headlights, I assume their headlamps must be blown?, but perhaps they never noticed since most people drive with them on all the time anyway

anotherlostie

I was passed out on the N7 this evening by a white van with both rear lights gone and then when he breaked, only one break light working. Flashed him but he probably didn't know why.