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It isn't just caravan designers!!

otherclive

otherclive

I had thought my RAV 4 lights were not very good for night driving, but last night driving across Salisbury Plain in murky, wet conditions they were pretty awful. So I thought about upgrading them to higher intensity bulbs, thinking they cannot be this bad if they are LED, so they must be halogen. Turns out they are LED, but just look at what's required to access the bulbs, no wonder the manual says refer the car to a dealership. Null pointe to Toyota of Japan for this design feature.


Screenshot 2026-02-08 at 11.44.33.png
 
I had a similar problem with my Yaris. Ripped my hands to shreds trying to get to the bulbs. Change the off side one but couldn't do the near side. Had to take it the local garage who had to remove the battery and headlight assembly.

I remember a friend some years ago tried to change a bulb on his Citreon something. Like you the only way was to remove the front - cost about £170. He was not amused and went to complain in the showroom. As he was there a salesman was showing a couple the same version. He interupted and said " Ask him how much it costs to change a headlight bulb". The salesman was not amused.
 
The fog lamp bulbs on the 2014 Santa Fe is the same, as OC's Rav 4, remove the front wheel of the side concerned, remove the inner wheel arch , or peel back, unbolt the bumper from the top of the radiator and then you can get into the fog lamp. I got it down to about 1/2 hour.
 
I was talking to my son who is a team leader in the design dept of Jag Landrover.
(NO Booing yet please).
He was telling me that each part that is designed, that has to be removed to access another part, has to be able to be done in 10 minutes, using an "averaged large hand". Of a mechanic.
I am not so sure myself.
 
Maybe being LED the design team did not anticipate a bulb change in the vehicle life?
If so I know of one case where they got that one wrong.
 
I have the all singing all dancing LED headlights. Auto dipping on both sides, camera controlled. But we went to a Great granddaughters school musical on Friday night in Newent. Murky horrible weather with some shallow flooding. And even with those lights it was not nice driving.

Perhaps it was just the weather.

John
 
Beachball said:
So far on my Ford Kuga Hybrid full led headlights are okay but if any problem arise I would take it to the dealer to sort out .
Click to expand...
It’s not so much the full headlamps that are the problem as by definition there should be no oncoming traffic. It’s the dire dipped beam. I believe there is some adjustment for height which I will use to raise them a bit more.
 
JTQ said:
Maybe being LED the design team did not anticipate a bulb change in the vehicle life?
If so I know of one case where they got that one wrong.
Click to expand...
That’s probably the design philosophy as LEDs do/should have exceptionally long life.
 
Jcloughie said:
I have the all singing all dancing LED headlights. Auto dipping on both sides, camera controlled. But we went to a Great granddaughters school musical on Friday night in Newent. Murky horrible weather with some shallow flooding. And even with those lights it was not nice driving.

Perhaps it was just the weather.

John
Click to expand...
Mine have auto dip, which I don’t use. I can understand that the weather conditions did not help, but I had concluded that they are poor even on dry nights. It’s rural roads such as crossing Salisbury Plain, or B roads that are their weakest point. Main A roads or motorway not such a problem.
 
Hutch said:
I was talking to my son who is a team leader in the design dept of Jag Landrover.
(NO Booing yet please).
He was telling me that each part that is designed, that has to be removed to access another part, has to be able to be done in 10 minutes, using an "averaged large hand". Of a mechanic.
I am not so sure myself.
Click to expand...
Sure.... But if you have to take out 6 pieces to get to a lightbulb that's 1 hours Labour
 
otherclive said:
I had thought my RAV 4 lights were not very good for night driving, but last night driving across Salisbury Plain in murky, wet conditions they were pretty awful. So I thought about upgrading them to higher intensity bulbs, thinking they cannot be this bad if they are LED, so they must be halogen. Turns out they are LED, but just look at what's required to access the bulbs, no wonder the manual says refer the car to a dealership. Null pointe to Toyota of Japan for this design feature.


View attachment 10185
Click to expand...
Join the club!

I don't have LEDs, just HIDs, but VW officially state that to change the "bulb" you need to remove the headlights completely, which involves removing the front bumper - although some enterprising DIYers have discover that with small agile hands it's just possible to replace them without any dismantling
 
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RogerL said:
Join the club!

I don't had LEDs, just HIDs, but VW officially state that to change the "bulb" you need to remove the headlights completely, which involves removing the front bumper - although some enterprising DIYers have discover that with small agile hands it's just possible to replace them without any dismantling
Click to expand...
Find a friendly Helicopter engineer, a lot of engineering, remove and refitting components are done on your back and out of sight.,
I got my arm stuck inside a fuel tank replacing a fuel pump, my arm went dead, and my " mates" went for a tea break. 🥺🤬🤬🤬
 
RogerL said:
Join the club!

I don't had LEDs, just HIDs, but VW officially state that to change the "bulb" you need to remove the headlights completely, which involves removing the front bumper - although some enterprising DIYers have discover that with small agile hands it's just possible to replace them without any dismantling
Click to expand...
If I did go through a replacement process I would want improved led lights, not just the existing specifications which wouldn’t improve anything. Not sure what the bulb spec is for the RAV 4
the Owners Manual gives no information whatsoever apart from go to a dealer. More delving required.
 
My headlights don’t have individual bulbs, the LEDs are integral with the whole light assembly. Some on the Toyota Forum have also concluded that their headlights are poor, whilst others think they are great. It seems that around 2020-21 there were cars imported into UK with beams set at Japanese height, and who also drive on the left. Anyway I booked the car in to a local independent MoT testing garage and they found my lights low on the beam setter. So they raised them up to the maximum height that they would accept for an MoT pass. Didn’t even charge me too Below are pictures of dip and main before and after adjustment. A substantial improvement and taking it for a short drive I didn’t get flashed by oncoming cars. Very easy though to just adjust down a bit if required.

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