Check your tail lights!

[brick]

Just a friendly reminder that this is the time of year when light bulbs tend to fail, and we...for whatever reason...don't have "bulb out" indicator for the tail lights. I found a dead one this morning so I replaced them both.

I really wish we had an indicator for dead lights. My first car had one and it was built in 1985.

[Paradox]

Originally Posted by brick

My first car had one and it was built in 1985.

Tell me about it, my first car was an 85' Maxima and it had indicators for burnt out bulbs front and rear as well as an indicator to let you know when your washer fluid was almost empty.

[Shawn Clark]

I didn't realize exterior lights failed on Japanese vehicles. Seriously, I've had so few fail over the past 19 years that it is something that prompts me to say, "Honey, take a look at this! A brake light failed." It's nothing like the domestics that seemed to churn through them rapidly (why is that???)

I just don't see many burned out bulbs on Japanese vehicles, but see them everywhere on domestics, including DRL's that have failed.

[fuzzy1]

Originally Posted by Shawn Clark

I didn't realize exterior lights failed on Japanese vehicles. Seriously, I've had so few fail over the past 19 years ...

My recently-departed Honda was not quite so good. Over its 23 years, I did replace more than half of its exterior bulbs. Once. And the front side marker lamps twice. Those markers never actually burned out, just became too dim as the filaments evaporated and darkened the glass.

My one lifetime boo-boo, rear-ending an SUV, was in hindsight, not 100% my fault. His brake lights (only 2, very inadequate compared to the 5 on my car) had all failed. Almost pulled that one in my new Prius last month too, when a car stopped in the middle of the street, for no good reason, without any brake lights (BA works very well, almost getting me rear-ended). And at a stoplight today, I noticed that EVERY vehicle in front of me had at least one dead brake lamp.

[djasonw]

I had a 1984 Nissan 200SX and it even had audible warnings like fuel level is low, parking brake is on, right door is open and some others I forget. It also had a low washer fluid level indicator and bulbs out indicators. I wonder why they don't have this in the Prius?

[fuzzy1]

I had a 1984 Nissan 200SX ... It also had a low washer fluid level indicator and bulbs out indicators. I wonder why they don't have this in the Prius?

My cheap 1984 Ford P.O.S. had these too. But they have been absent from all 4 household vehicles since.

[AussieOwner]

None of my cars have any of these warnings - maybe it is on domestic US cars to warn the dumb-s%ts that they need to occassionally check their lights. That is what most of us do elsewhere in the world - a quick walk around does not take long

[Speedsta]

Im happy that it doesnt have these indicators, so I was able to change everything to LED without mounting any resistors

[priusincc]

I'll have to agree with the others, you just don't have problems with burned out bulbs on Japanese vehicles, and I see many on domestics. Even so, I periodically check mine by the reflections on the front garage wall and rear garage door before I open it.
Toyota probably doesn't have indicators, due to a cost savings.

I did have a '72 Chevy that went thru a lot of bulbs. It turned out that the voltage regulator was off and the voltage was close to 16VDC. It was OK after reducung the voltage.

[nyty-nyt]

Bulb failure with the approach of winter.
Isn't this why convenience stores have windows starting at about bumper level, so we can back into the parking spot and look back to see if our brake lights are lighting up?
How convenient.