When Last did you check if your brake lights work

JoeySully

Saw 2 cars yeserday that had no working brake lights

When Last did you check if your brake lights work.

i use my steering lock placed against the pedal and the front of the seat

Saruman

Just check the reflection in glass..

I see a lot of Garda cars with non working break lights.. also headlights.

Fey!

Each night I reverse into my drive - I can see the reflection off the garage door.
I'm lucky enough, though; if a bulb blows, a light turns on on the dash to warn me. I think, but am probably mistaken, that most newer cars have this (although I have to wonder now that I think about all the cars I see with blown bulbs).

Anan1

Good point. There are enough reflective surfaces everywhere to notice things like that, given a degree of awareness.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Saruman wrote:

I see a lot of Garda cars with non working break lights.. also headlights.

€1,000,000 says they wont get stopped for it

prospect

I regularly tow a trailer, & have my wife/dad/smeone check the lights every time I hook it up, they also check the cars lights.
Also, I have a habit of watching as my wife drives off in the car (making sure she doesn't floor it before the engine is warmed up), so i would very quickly spot a dodgy brake light or indicator.

EDIT: *Oh yeah, and as Fey! said, there is a dashboard indicator to tell you if there is a blown bulb...

unkel

I never check my brake lights until the computer tells me it is broken. It doesn't tell me which one, so I have to manually check

Bit of a bug in the software, methinks, but then again it is 10 years old. Probably fixed in a later version

fletch

My Dad & I check the lights on all the cars every few weeks or so.

Squirrel

I check the Sonata's and MR2's when I see them either reversing in to the drive or driving out of it, and I check the Micra's whenever it's blocking one of the other cars and I've to move it, I check the reflection when I'm going into the drive

JoeySully

Just remembered about a month ago i was driving late one evening headlights dims on so it was pretty dark. Noticed a guard behind me. OK. got home and realized that i didnt have 1 light working a t the back of the car. Unfortuantly for me and unlike some of you i dont have any fancy computer connected to every bolt in the car so i did nt get any warning light . but what surprised me was that the guards didnt even pull me over to mention it.
Please dont turn thius into a garda bashin thread, there is enough of them already . oh sh*t looks like i just have

Fey!

Joey - maybe they gave you the benefit of the doubt if you keep your car well; they may have assumed that it had just gone. Most of the cars missing lights that I see are missing a few, not just one!

Moanin

My A4 tells me on th dash if a bulb is blown and whether is left or right.

alias no.9

Fey! wrote:

Each night I reverse into my drive - I can see the reflection off the garage door.
I'm lucky enough, though; if a bulb blows, a light turns on on the dash to warn me. I think, but am probably mistaken, that most newer cars have this (although I have to wonder now that I think about all the cars I see with blown bulbs).

You're correct about the warning light, but like most other warning lights, most Irish people think they're for decoration.

@ Unkle, not quite sure how your system works but with a simple warning light, if a brake light is out, the warning light only comes on when you press the brakes, i.e. the brake light circuit is activated, similarly for a blown indicator bulb, it will flash with the indicators, for a side light or tail light, when you turn on the sidelights, and so on. Maybe the computer just says bulb blown though.

Fey!

alias no.9 wrote:

@ Unkle, not quite sure how your system works but with a simple warning light, if a brake light is out, the warning light only comes on when you press the brakes, i.e. the brake light circuit is activated, similarly for a blown indicator bulb, it will flash with the indicators, for a side light or tail light, when you turn on the sidelights, and so on. Maybe the computer just says bulb blown though.

I think Unkles works the same way as mine - the car pulses everything, so if a bulb is gone, you get a full time warning (except parking lights at the front on Angel Eye lights, and, I think, reversing lights). The dash has an outline picture of the car, and the light stays on on the corner of the outline that the bulb is gone on. However, it doesn't differentiate between brakelights and rear lights, so you have to figure out what's gone yourself. If it's the centre brakelight, one of the 2 rear warning lights shows.

prospect

JoeySully wrote:

Just remembered about a month ago i was driving late one evening headlights dims on so it was pretty dark. Noticed a guard behind me. OK. got home and realized that i didnt have 1 light working a t the back of the car. Unfortuantly for me and unlike some of you i dont have any fancy computer connected to every bolt in the car so i did nt get any warning light . but what surprised me was that the guards didnt even pull me over to mention it.
Please dont turn thius into a garda bashin thread, there is enough of them already . oh sh*t looks like i just have

Maybe they blew as you were driving in front of them, so they knew you wern't being negligant (sp) ?

unkel

alias no.9 wrote:

@ Unkle, not quite sure how your system works but with a simple warning light, if a brake light is out, the warning light only comes on when you press the brakes

It's not a warning light, but a message on the LCD panel stating something like "check brake lights". And yep, you're right, it only comes on when the brakes pedal is pressed. I would know it straight away when a brake light has failed though: I drive an automatic. I use the brake light all the time, in fact the brake pedal is the first pedal I press on any journey

JoeySully wrote:

but what surprised me was that the guards didnt even pull me over to mention it

They'd have to stop every 3rd car. They don't have the resources so they don't stop you. Same reason a learner driver can get away with driving un-accompanied and / or on the motorway

mike65

Check mine if I desire by looking in the neighbours windows

Mike.

seamus

Fey! wrote:

Each night I reverse into my drive - I can see the reflection off the garage door.

Snap.

Seth Brundle

alias no.9 wrote:

@ Unkle, not quite sure how your system works but with a simple warning light, if a brake light is out, the warning light only comes on when you press the brakes, i.e. the brake light circuit is activated, similarly for a blown indicator bulb, it will flash with the indicators, for a side light or tail light, when you turn on the sidelights, and so on. Maybe the computer just says bulb blown though.

My old E30 had a panel that would test various parts (lights, oil, coolant, washer fluid, etc.) With the brakes, it would stay lit until you pressed the brake pedal and the lights came on.

mike65 wrote:

Check mine if I desire by looking in the neighbours windows

Sounds a bit dodgy! You could get arrested for that!