Does Your Chevy Need New Headlights?

When visibility diminishes after dark, drivers face a 30% greater risk of collisions. Along with more careful driving, the best way to mitigate this risk is with powerful, fully functioning headlights. Always look out for the following signs that your headlights might be on their last legs, and it’s time to visit your local Chevy dealer for new headlights. 

Does Your Chevy Need New Headlights?

One Headlight Bulb Blows

The clearest indication of a failed headlight is when one bulb fails. There may be an issue with the wiring behind the socket of that bulb, but at least you know it isn’t the battery, alternator, or fuse. 

If both headlights fail at the same time, it’s more likely that something besides the bulbs has caused the problem. Your technician can test a failed bulb using a multimeter or by simply trying a new bulb in the socket. 

Fading Headlight Brightness

It can sometimes be difficult to notice fading headlight brightness because it happens gradually over time. When dimming occurs, you might start to find yourself squinting to see far ahead or feel less sure of your surroundings after dark. Always replace your bulbs as soon as you think they’re starting to degrade. 

Halogen bulbs can lose up to 80% of their brightness when they degrade and will usually die quite rapidly. High-intensity discharge (HID) bulbs and light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs tend to lose less of their maximum brightness over a longer period, making it trickier to notice the gradual loss in brightness. 

Cloudy or Hazy Light

If the light in front of your car has started to seem hazy or cloudy, or perhaps more yellow than usual, the lenses of your headlights might have started to deteriorate. This may be caused by oxidization.

The acrylic in headlight lenses can become oxidized by the UV rays in sunlight. Headlight lenses are usually coated in a clear layer to slow oxidization, but this protective layer can start to wear off over time.

Flickering Light

With halogen bulbs, flickering light may mean the tungsten filament has become damaged and will soon fail altogether. With LED or HID headlight bulbs, flickering is more likely to point to an underlying issue such as damaged wiring, a failing alternator or battery, or a mismatch in the voltage your car emits and the power the bulb needs. A technician will soon work out and repair the root cause. 

How Your Chevy Dealer Can Test Your Headlights

When you take your car in to have your headlights examined, the technician can test the bulbs in a number of ways. A multimeter is the most common tool for this. They might also use a continuity tester. And simply hooking the bulb up to a 12-volt battery can also check how well a bulb is working.

Visit Bacon Chevrolet today to have your headlights examined and repaired or replaced. As a family-run dealership with an ethos of being “The Good Deal Dealer,” we’ve been helping out the drivers of East Texas for over fifty years.

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