So what happens when active headlights go out?

Just curious as my new car has active headlights. When the motor goes out do they just act like regular headlights? Or are they going to go all crazy and cost me a lot of money. Volvo c30 is the car.

They will almost always just lock in a fixed position. Could be cheap to fix (replace & reinitialize motor) or very expensive (replace entire housing/lens/motor assembly). Self-leveling HIDs have been around for almost 20 years now so I wouldn't worry too much.

I'm assuming you mean lights that follow the wheel? Chances are they'll just stay wherever they were pointed when they failed if it's the motor, if it's the mechanism then they may get stuck pointing in one direction. Really, there's no way to tell from here. If you get lucky and they break pointed straight ahead, then you have inactive headlights.

The E39 BMW has self-leveling headlights, and the self-levelers are problematic. Their failure mode is to start drooping as they lose the ability to lift themselves back up again. The aftermarket has stepped up with stronger mechanisms.

Ahh, okay. Darn fancy stuff.

Yea, they follow the wheel.

Also the throw on Xenon headlights is ridiculous. I can see people / bikes on sidewalks like crazy.

What's going to happen in 10 or 20 years when all these new displays, devices and gizmos start to go on the new cars of today? Will the salvage yards be full of cars that are cheaper/easier to scrap than to fix?

I've been thinking this too. Especially with self driving cars. I guess they will become more disposable? Imagine the waste though..

Feedyurhed wrote: What's going to happen in 10 or 20 years when all these new displays, devices and gizmos start to go on the new cars of today? Will the salvage yards be full of cars that are cheaper/easier to scrap than to fix?

I'm pretty sure that statement could have come from any time in the last 50 years.

Probably a lot of it will be junkyard salvaging and the rest of it will be like a non-enthusiast-owned 15+ year old BMW; broken screens, worn out dealer-only parts, not "completely functional," but still operates as a car.

If the car has a huge fanbase, maybe the aftermarket will step in. There are some guys in the Subaru community building boards to retrofit new-generation sensors and other stuff into older cars for the purpose of powertrain swaps, for instance.

Obscure cars will either fade away or the community will figure out a way to bastard another piece of kit into them, like Megasquirting a Yugo.

If Dorman is smart, they should be hiring a lot of reverse engineering guys to scope out and debug working units right around now.

In reply to Keith Tanner:

Agreed. GM really started this malarkey 50+ years ago with "planned obsolescence." It has only gotten worse since then, as more and more automakers have realized it's more profitable to sell consumers a new car every five years than to maintain a well-built one for 15. But as you said, that's a pretty established concept as well.

Feedyurhed wrote: What's going to happen in 10 or 20 years when all these new displays, devices and gizmos start to go on the new cars of today? Will the salvage yards be full of cars that are cheaper/easier to scrap than to fix?

I imagine it will be like it is today. If its a popular enough car or common enough problem the aftermarket will come up with a solution to fix the issue. If it is an unpopular or oddball car, some dude on a forum somewhere will have a stock pile in his back yard of good spares.

Edit-looks like several of us posted basically the same thing at the same time.

The planned obsolescence thing started probably a lot more than 50 years ago.

My father often told of a speech by the president/CEO of GM at a 1927 Stutz convention in which he said that the biggest problem was to produce a car that would give good service for 30K miles and then needs to be replaced.

At least todays cars last a little longer

I am definitely concerned with the long term durability of all of these new technology features as well. It is great to be able to have sync up my phone with my car and play music via bluetooth, make calls, etc. but what are the chances that any of these manufacturers really hold up their end of the bargain and make sure that the iPhone 12 still works with your car in 2025?

And how about adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitors, etc? How much hassle will these electronic aids be to maintain in the future? It's scary to think about all of that over the long term.

It's hard to tell what will become a standard. 1/8" jacks, for example, will let you play just about any source through just about any system. Even a cassette system with a cheap adapter. If the jack goes away on newer phones, I'll bet a bluetooth adapter will be put together.

Who knew the cigarette lighter would become the +12v power standard?

I agree that all the digital hookups are going to be problematic, especially when apps are involved. Those are transient, and unless the manufacturer releases an API or someone manages to sniff it out, the clock is ticking. I added a wired-in iPod adapter to my BMW (plugs into the proprietary BMW interface) and there's an iPod that will live with the car for the rest of its life. Even if standards change - which they have, because it's a 30-pin connector - that iPod will be there. Same with my truck, it came with an ill-chosen proprietary connector for a 30-pin iPod cable. The next year, they went to a USB connector - and of course, they haven't released a proprietary cable for Lightning connector, so it's also got a dedicated iPod Classic.

Stuff like adaptive cruise and blind spot monitors should be no different than any other stand-alone electronics. Other than the sensors, I'll bet we'll be able to fix up the electronics in the future.

In reply to Contradiction:

You have to realize that for most of those kind of features, the onus is on the device makers to stay backwards-compatible, not the automakers to be future-compatible (which is nearly impossible).

It is worth noting that by using a 30-pin to Lightning adapter, my iPhone 6S has worked perfectly fine on every mid-2000's car I've tried it with that has the older-style iPod connector built in. Also, as Keith mentioned, there are all sorts of cigarette lighter-powered Bluetooth adapters, cassette tape to 1/8" adapters and the like out there. I don't see portable device to automobile compatibility suffering too bad, as there will always be a market for adapters.

Jury's out on lane departure systems, active headlights, etc...but I will say that the active stability control on my 1999 BMW with 210k miles worked perfectly fine with all its original parts when I sold it. I bet when ABS was a new technology people were expressing the same concerns.

Keith Tanner wrote:

Feedyurhed wrote: What's going to happen in 10 or 20 years when all these new displays, devices and gizmos start to go on the new cars of today? Will the salvage yards be full of cars that are cheaper/easier to scrap than to fix?

I'm pretty sure that statement could have come from any time in the last 50 years.

I'd go back further. All the way to the begining.

New fangled unreliable electric starting motors replacing trusty hand cranks.

Complicated fire arms replacing simple and reliable bows and spears.

Problematic metal knives replacing readily available sharp rocks.

You want planned obsolescence? Appliances. Cars have become much better appliances over the last 20 years. New appliances on the other hand -- now they suck. 3-5 year lifespan.

Coldsnap wrote: Also the throw on Xenon headlights is ridiculous. I can see people / bikes on sidewalks like crazy.

Why I hate them. I mean do we really need retina melting headlights? You may be able to see well but on coming traffic may be blind. I know of several accidents that ave happened because of this issue. Up here in NE we have lots of hills and elevations change. The dam adjusters don't work instantly and the people coming the other way get blinded. I really really hate those things!!!!

/rant

Ok I feel better carry on.

dean1484 wrote:

Coldsnap wrote: Also the throw on Xenon headlights is ridiculous. I can see people / bikes on sidewalks like crazy.

Why I hate them. I mean do we really need retina melting headlights? You may be able to see well but on coming traffic may be blind. I know of several accidents that ave happened because of this issue. Up here in NE we have lots of hills and elevations change. The dam adjusters don't work instantly and the people coming the other way get blinded. I really really hate those things!!!! /rant Ok I feel better carry on.

I think that explains why they are aimed so low from the factory. I've also noticed the throw on my drivers side is shorter than on passengers side. Which actually makes genius sense as that's the side which would blind passers. You can sort of see the throw from the image. I was going to adjust mine because I thought it was wrong..

I thought my drivers side was wrong. but after having a think on it, I think it's intentionally..

To the op, if it's a BMW with biodegradable headlight wiring it means you will be kissing a bunch of cash goodbye. I took a look inside my headlight housings. All the wire insulation was cracked and falling off. Thanks hella.

Just had a bulb warning go off in a 2008 328xi-- after getting codes (Left parking light 00AxxX), spent a while looking around the car and finding out it's the drivers side headlight halos/DRL.

You can't buy just the bare bulb, it's an approximately $50 OEM assembly containing the bulb. The aftermarket has stepped in here though-- for $150 you can get an LED retrofit for both sides

In reply to Karacticus:

Sorry, I have to laugh about a $50 bulb.

I had to replace a headlight on my Samurai last month. It cost $7. I'm pretty sure the bulb I replace was a 1988 original.

Disposable appliances indeed.

A BMW E60 headlight xenon housing is about $750 per side.

$50 bulb is nothing, my friends dad bought an ls400 new, had factory hid and 10 or so years later one finally went out so his dad went to Lexus for a new bulb and it cost...$320. For one bulb.

I've always felt that lights should be standardized. They were for years, by regulation and by convenience. Ignoring the classic 7" round headlight - which puts out pretty awesome light - think of how many cars shared the same tails and other lights. Lucas lights were used on everything from Land Rovers to Rolls Royces, and some of the most beautiful cars ever made used them.

Now, those 7" round lights are beautifully upgradable. You can select from a variety of housings from Bosch to Cibie. You can run sealed beams (eww), H4s, zenons or LEDs. I've got at least 8 cars that use them and the ones with the LED lights work as well as anything I've ever driven.

Having unique head and tail lights for every model year of every vehicle is dumb. It's expensive to develop, produce, support and repair.