Ease of replacing light bulbs in moderen cars!

Derek C gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Lovely, an' all.

Which do you want to give up to allow it - impact resistance, performance, gadgets, or external packaging?

It can often be tricky, what a pity it is that virtually no car purchaser ever thinks about any aspect of the servicing of the new vehicle they are looking at, if everyone did, and rejected cars with terrible aspects, such as bulb changes, cam belt changes, even spark plug replacement, then some easier cars would get made.

I changed a hl bulb on a crv the other day, in the dark and raining total job less than 2 minutes with no tools needed, now that is sensible design.

I agree. It may be that the problems associated with changing these bulbs mean that we see such a large number of cars with at least one headlamp down. I reckon it's a minimum of 10%, sometimes more.

Rob Graham

Rob Graham gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Far more likely is that the drivers just don't give a toss.

The other night, there was a black softroader thing on the M25 - Rav or CR-V or something similarly forgettable - in the dark, wet, spray, slow traffic.

The driver either had both dip beams failed or couldn't be arsed to turn the dip on. Shame one of the sidelights was out, too. She MUST have known

- after all, the back of every vehicle was illuminated apart from the one in front of her.

I agree - apathy is a major issue. I have pulled alongside some drivers with a failed rear or brake light and often had a response such as "I know - but it is going for a MOT in 4 weeks and it will get fixed then" or (giggle) "Its been like it for ages"

"John" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

I've given up, after one too many "Yeh? And? What's it got to do with you, anyway?"

Fine. You want an excuse for plod to tug you, feel free.

Having said that, I phoned a one-man-band plumber a while back to tell him he didn't have ANY brake lights on his (signwritten) van. He was almost pathetically grateful.

In message , Adrian writes

A friend of mine, when he was a motorcycle courier, pulled up alongside a woman stopped at the traffic lights to tell her she had her rear fog lights on. She had no idea what he was talking about and he had to switch them off for her.

There are also the people who drive down unlit roads using dipped lights only, even when there is no oncoming traffic. Do they not know what main beams are for, or are they afraid that it costs a lot of money to have them on?

There are even some people who don't know what to do if their accelerator pedal gets a bit sticky.

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I had a look at the latest version of the Citroen C5 diesel today, as I am thinking of buying one. It looks quite easy to get at and change the headlamp bulbs, and there is more room under the bonnet generally, compared with the previous model. Presumably non of the above attributes have been compromised, and it looks nicer.

Maybe manufacturers do listen to complaints about maintenance issues and stupid design after all!

Derek C