When on the road at night, visibility is vital for your safety. All drivers need periodical headlight replacement when their bulbs begin to falter. Let’s take a look at four signs that you should visit your local Ford dealer for a set of new headlights.
Dimming Brightness
Headlight bulbs can lose a great deal of their original
brightness before finally giving up the ghost. This is especially the case with
high-intensity discharge (HID) bulbs and light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs. Both
types have remarkably long lifespans but can also lose up to 70% of their
brightness before the end. Needless to say, don’t wait for your bulbs to fail
so far before having them replaced.
Which Bulb Do You Use?
There are three types of headlamp bulbs: HID, LED, and
traditional halogen bulbs. HID and LED bulbs are brighter, longer-lasting, and
more expensive as well. The only advantages halogen bulbs have are the lower
price tag and the fact that they don’t lose any brightness before they run out
of steam.
If you’re not sure which bulb type your Ford currently uses, you can look at
the light and beam pattern they emit. To do so, face your car to a garage door
and switch on the headlights. If you see warm yellow light, you have halogen
bulbs, while white light means HID or LED bulbs. LED bulbs will instantly turn
on at maximum brightness, while HID bulbs will flash for a few seconds and
slowly build to maximum brightness.
Flickering Light
If the light ahead of your car begins flickering, it’s quite
likely that a filament is loose in one of your bulbs. That bulb is on its very
last legs and has become distracting to other drivers, so it needs to be
replaced. There’s a chance that the flickering was created by a loose or faulty
connection. You’ll know if that’s the case as soon as you put a new bulb in.
One Bulb Dies
If one bulb dies altogether, then your bulbs probably need
replacing. It’s statistically unusual for both headlight bulbs to die at once.
If that happens, the problem is probably with your battery, wiring, or
something else in the charging system.
Do Headlight Replacement in Pairs
When one bulb fails, you should replace both headlights
because a bulb’s rate of deterioration accelerates as it ages. This means if
one bulb is dying, the other is usually close behind. It’s best to buy bulbs in
pairs because otherwise, you might not be able to find a perfect match later
on. In that case, you’ll have mismatched headlights, which look a little odd.
Enough Miles Pass Since You Bought Bulbs From Your Ford Dealer
It’s good to know the expected lifespan of your bulbs so you can anticipate the need for replacements. Halogen bulbs tend to last from 500 to 1,000 miles. HID bulbs can last anywhere from 2,000 to 8,000 miles, depending on the make. And super-durable LED bulbs can last for up to 30,000 miles.
If you’d like to have your headlights inspected by certified technicians, visit Crain Ford of Jacksonville. We’re a locally-trusted dealership dedicated to providing for all the vehicle purchasing and servicing needs of our customers with consistently excellent service.
Image via Ford.
