Are both your car headlights working?

I am accustomed to new cars looking unfamiliar but cannot recall ever seeing so many ugly new cars. Hopefully DRLs will become less silly when the novelty wears off.

We now have mood lighting appearing in some cars. At present it’s confined to interior lights but I’m sure the manufacturers will be keen for us all to appreciate how clever they are if they can get away with pretty coloured exterior lighting.

The car remains an important status symbol – well, at least the manufacturers think it should which is why they are constantly trying to tweak the styling and glamourise the shape in the hope of appealing to a particular market segment. The advertising seems to be directed mainly at 20-30 year olds [the PCP purchase arrangements help in this respect] even though this group is usually more concerned about getting a roof over their head and raising a family. By the law of averages, most drivers are in an older vehicle, usually second- or third-hand; they must regard the new models which will be in their price bracket in three-four years’ time with a degree of apprehension if they want something practical, manageable and maintainable.

Nowadays you are no-one if you don’t have a quality or executive car with automatic adjustment of seats and other ego-massaging features. Perhaps it would be more useful to issue a reminder to look check the lights etc. The driver could be rewarded with an nice tune once they had complied.

I like that. Traffic signals, before they went LED, used to have a second lower wattage bulb that activated if the primary lamp failed – I am surprised this hasn’t been introduced in cars, not for the driver’s convenience but to ensure that two lights are always showing to oncoming vehicles.

I haven’t tried auto-adjusting seats; do they have a personal memory with pre-sets for the wife, the M-i-L, and other regular passengers? What I would appreciate in all cars is auto-adjusting head-rests in the rear seats as they always seem difficult to get right and some car owners don’t like people playing with them so they keep them at the lowest possible level which apart from being uncomfortable is illegal if the back of the head does not align with it.

DRL’s aren’t adorning ‘many’ new cars. They’re adorning ‘all’ new cars. As of February 2011 it has been mandatory for all new vehicles to have DRLs in order to pass type approval.

I appreciate that Will. I was specifically referring to the ribbons of LED lights that have been designed into many new cars as their compliance with the regulations. Other cars, and I particularly mentioned BMW’s, have much more sensible DRL’s.

Last week I found myself behind a car with a working number plate light but no tail lights. We were approaching traffic lights so I pulled into the other lane, wound down the window and shouted to alert him to the problem. He thanked me but was still driving without lights when I turned off a mile further on.

Thanks George. A simple post like this provides encouragement because we have no idea of which topics are being pursued.

Wavechange if there was two of you in the car (you did post “we”) your passenger could have taken his number and you could have reported him to the police who in turn, could have traced the offender through the DVLA. Problems arise when you are the sole occupant and like me, your short term memory may not be as good as it used to be 🙂

Now that vehicles with Daylight Running Lamps are more common, I notice many with only one illuminated. This is strange, since most are LED’s which supposedly last a lifetime. Is this because they are so bright, perhaps overloading them? In any case, no-one seems to be enforcing the requirement for both to be lit all the time.

I have noticed that as well. I thought it was possibly because the surrounding brightness of the sunshine was making one of the lights imperceptible, or because the angle of my observation was good for one side of the vehicle but not so good for the other – I don’t know whether the LED day running lights are aligned in any way. Drivers have a responsibility to check their lights but, as this Conversation has shown, many don’t and of those who do a proportion do not rectify a fault. For many cars with day running lights a failure would be within the warranty period.

Beryl – Sorry, my comment was ambiguous. I was alone and ‘we’ referred to the drivers.

I have frequently drivers if they have a faulty light or an under-inflated tyre when I have followed them into a supermarket or other car park. If we were invited to report cars with faulty lights I would be happy to oblige, but it’s not something I have ever reported to the police. I have reported car numbers when I have witnessed incidents such as cars shunting others when parking. Many years ago I approached a driver who was putting a note on the windscreen after I witnessed him hit a neighbour’s Morris Minor in icy conditions. It turned out that the car had already been hit and another driver had left a note. I wonder how the insurance companies sorted out that.

Perhaps a website could be set up to allow us to report problems, location and time/date.

I wonder if the automatic number plate recognition system could also identify cars with faulty lights so the process is automated in the same way as speed cameras, so that we are not reliant on anyone reporting faulty lights.

I must say the “big brother” approach does not appeal to me. It can lead to vindictive reporting or, at least, a holier than thou approach. When someone will not know they have a faulty light it is surely sensible to try to inform them rather than report them to the police (who have better things to do given their austerity budgets, particularly in investigating things that happened 30 years ago. And I thought “New Tricks” was just fiction, with a small cast). Particularly when you cannot easily replace many lights without a trip to the garage.

However, helping when there has been a “bump” is something I support. Whilst I think we are (all) too precious about the slightest mark on our beloved cars – why not have rubber panels like some vans; ah, it’s style isn’t it – the villain who really damages your vehicle and disappears without trace needs dealing with. Particularly those who ensure they are seen leaving a note on the windscreen – with a false address or phone number.

There is also the possibility that the lamp had failed very recently. I once checked my lights in the MOT waiting area and when tested ten minutes later, the number plate light was not working. 🙁 The tester showed me the problem, and the lamp worked, but my next journey was to the dealer to buy a new lampholder.

Unfortunately a bump can cause hidden damage even if it is invisible. I do agree about rubber strips, preferable at a standard height. Unfortunately they don’t sell cars.

Hopefully Which? is looking at the problem of cars where an obligatory lamp cannot be changed without tools at the roadside. It is amazing that the motor industry has not tackled this irresponsible behaviour long ago.

I’ve long since mused over this discolouration. Never used to happen with glass – at least not with soda glass. There were some particular bad boys of the late nineties to mid noughties, Fords were worst of the lot. As you say, fortunately the solarisation is only surface deep and can be burnished away. It’s worth subsequently – within a few weeks – coating them with UV protector to mitigate the effect for a few years (this can be reapplied in Spring each year usefully).

Discolouration of headlamp plastic does seem to affect some models more than others. If the light output is sufficiently reduced the need to rectify the problem will be mentioned as an ‘advisory’ on an MOT test, as Derek mentioned. There are plenty of YouTube videos about sanding headlights to remove discolouration, followed by treatment with a polish that will restore the shiny surface.

My car spends most of its life shaded from sunlight, which may be why there is no discolouration apparent. If I see a problem with cars of a similar age I might treat the headlights with UV protection polish, as mentioned by Roger.

You will find YouTube videos of people restoring plastic headlights with a variety of products including toothpaste – which is just a mild abrasive. It’s probably worth polishing the plastic every year or after treatment to maintain the clarity of the plastic once it has been sanded.

I managed to find some quite expensive restoration kits in Halfords and a much cheaper one close-by, at Proper Job. The kit I bought there was hardly any more expensive than toothpaste, but contained 2000 grit wet&dry paper, two grades of a white (aluminium oxide based?) polishing compound plus polishing cloths. For me, using the 2000 grit paper wet was the essential first stage of getting back to clear glass.

For those not wanting to get their own hands dirty, I also noted that some of my local tyre & exhaust shops also offer headlight restoration services.

As a friend found out, it was quite expensive to have her headlights restored by a local garage, but still much cheaper than new headlights plus the cost of fitting. It’s encouraging that it’s a DIY job. I presume that using rotary sanding disks will make the job easier.

Of course, if motor manufacturers reverted to designing new models with standard circumference round headlamps made with generic glass lenses, interchangeable between types of vehicle and with plug-in wiring, this problem would be largely overcome. The same can be said for much of life’s equipment and appliances and is another dimension of the sustainability agenda.

Headlight covers are generally polycarbonate with a scratch resistant coating. UV causes yellowing eventually in polycarbonate, both from daylight and Xenon bulbs. UV inhibitor in the material delays the process for many years, particularly as the pc temperature will not be high (even streetlights with polycarbonate covers last many years and are subject to much higher temperatures when lit, with much higher output lamps). I have not had to clean my headlights but would suggest being very careful with the coarseness of the abrasive material and the way it is applied as polycarbonate is a relatively soft plastic – a rotary sanding disc could spell disaster .

Derek mentioned using a fine abrasive and wet sanding, one of the advantages of which is that it provides cooling. Autoglym has a video showing the wet rotary sanding procedure.

Polycarbonate and acrylics are chemically reactive and it’s likely that wheel spray containing tar and chemicals will contribute to gradual staining.

After many years of trying to maintain “scratch-free” polycarbonate motorcycle helmet visors, I was, at first, reluctant to apply the wet sanding technique.

However, I also discovered that, for my case, polishing alone was insufficient to remove the yellow/brown surface layer.

I suspect that only some makes of headlight suffer these discolorations. For example, I never encountered any problems with my 1999 Toyota Yaris, which I retired when it was about 11 or 12 years – and 195,000 miles – old. So my Yaris reached a similar age to my Note without any apparent signs of this problem.

The worst affected car I can think of is a Toyota Yaris, probably dating from 2006. The plastic is not discoloured, just opaque – presumably as a result of UV exposure.

Thanks, interesting, as that Yaris was made the same year as my Note, but by a different brand. I must confess I do now sometimes look at other cars of about the same age as my Note, to look out for cars with pairs of cloudy headlights, or nice shiny ones or “one-eyed-jacks”, that have one of each.

Yes – at one time I paid a lot of attention to fading of red VW Golf and other cars. A few like mine had different degrees of fading of different panels.

Using a UV protective lacquer might be the best way to protect restored headlamps but I wonder if this could peel or crack with time.

If just the UV protecting film has degraded then this can be removed abrasively and a new coating applied. I believe decent coatings require UV source curing, something beyond diy. If the polycarbonate cover has yellowed then this will extend into the surface of the material and cannot simply be removed by polishing. The pc surface can also haze due to UV, and become damaged by, for example, car washes.

Discoloured and/or hazed headlights can substantially reduce their intensity and change the beam pattern by diffusion. As headlights are such an important safety feature I’d suggest that if degradation is significant the best solution would be to replace them – as you would with other safety dependent worn components. Alternatively you might find what you need in a visit to the breakers yard to recycle someone else’s headlights .

Hopefully if people take prompt action, either DIY or having the job done, they can deal with the problem and applying UV-resistant polish can reduce further deterioration. It would be interesting to know if polishing headlamps in the early stages of deterioration would be an effective solution.