Nighttime driving is riskier than daytime driving primarily because of reduced visibility. After dark, it’s crucial to ensure that your headlights are working well. Here are a few early warning signs that your headlights might need to be replaced or repaired. You can have new headlights promptly installed at your nearest GMC dealership.
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Bulbs Losing Brightness
The most common indication of failing headlights is gradually fading brightness ahead of your car. For optimal visibility and safety, it’s wise to replace headlight bulbs the moment they begin to fade.
Dimming light might be caused by a bad bulb, in which case you’re likely to notice faded light on just one side of your car. The dimming could also result from a problem with the battery or alternator, in which case the fading will probably be more even.
Flickering Light
Sometimes headlight bulbs begin to flicker as they fail. Flickering is more likely to occur with halogen bulbs, where the filament becomes burned out or broken. Alternatively, flickering might result from bad wiring or another electrical issue. You can try replacing the bulb to help determine the cause of the flickering.
Damaged Headlight Lenses
Headlight lenses may become damaged over time, causing the light to become partially blocked, hazy, or cloudy. If any of your lenses are cracked from an impact, it’s best to have them replaced. Sometimes, myriad little scratches or oxidization from the UV rays in sunlight can also cause permanent damage to headlight lenses.
Discolored Light
If the light ahead of your car is merely a little discolored, then your headlight lenses may simply have gotten dirty. In this case, you might be able to resolve the problem by cleaning your headlights.
Single Bulb Failure
When one headlight bulb fails, the other in its pair isn’t usually far behind. It can also be difficult to find a single identical bulb to the old one; you wouldn’t want to be driving with mismatched lighting on either side of your car. For these reasons, it’s considered prudent to replace both bulbs in a pair when the first one dies.
Blowing Headlight Fuse
A blowing headlight fuse might indicate a problem with the electrical supply, whereby the fuse blows to protect the headlights from a voltage surge. Conversely, a badly installed or faulty bulb might also cause a headlight fuse to blow. If your headlight fuse blows repeatedly, you’ll probably need to have a technician figure out and repair the cause.
Have your malfunctioning headlights examined and repaired or replaced today at Granite Automotive in Rapid City, SD. At our local full-service dealership, we provide a unique and highly personalized customer experience, whatever your vehicle purchasing, financing, or servicing needs might be.
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