Rant : Why Does VW make it so difficult to change headlight bulbs ?

[scooperhsd]

Not just my 2000 New Beetle, but also our 2015 Golf . I remember the days when an ordinary joe could easily replace headlight bulbs, Now it means a trip to the shop...

 

[oilhammer]

I have news for you, it isn't just Volkswagen. Many cars require the front bumper cover be removed.

 

[JB05]

Try pulling the glove box light.

 

[scooperhsd]

Yeah - I asked the shop about replacing my broken RH fog light on the Beetle - He advised waiting until I had something else that needed the front end pulled off....

 

[Prairieview]

For quite a few years, all design has been accomplished with cad programs consisting of teams of "engineers" who physically have never met one another. Furthermore, the vast majority of these designers never so much as had a paper route as a child.....let alone, actually work on automobiles or much of anything else for that matter.

Quite frankly, they don't give a squat of the outcome. They are in place due to being able to get into and pass the academic hurdles associated with courses in the universities. And, there is a great deal of cheating on exams throughout most of the courses.

I know this for a fact, as I spent a fair amount of time in metallurgy at a tough school (now called "university"). The traditionally-aged students I sat with in these classes could LITERALLY not change a flat tire on the car mommy and daddy bought them.

A full third of them came in to sit for exams and they already knew exactly what questions were on the exam....sometimes a 7-page document. I sat there with sweat pouring down the sides of my head and in my armpits for the full two hours only to see a full third of the students walk out in the first 15 minutes with fully completed exams.

When your products in society are designed by those who don't remotely care about serviceability, this is the crap you get.

 

[BobnOH]

You'll find it much easier the 2nd time. The beetle headlamps are challenging, mine had some of the plastic broke. My back-up lights are out, need to remove some trim to get to them, who needs back-up lights.

 

[pedroYUL]

Some things will always be hard to reach, unless you get rid of AC, bunch of electronics/convenience things and make the nose 2-3ft longer.

I was fortunate enough to never have to deal with the heater core in my mk4, which entails complete removal of the dash and many more things (I've seen the how to). Now I read that my 2015 Passat might like to plug heater cores, just watched a video on those, extremely easy and very inexpensive part.

 

[jettawreck]

It's just sort of typical of vehicles now days. And not just cars/trucks. Motorcycles seem like relatively simply transportation, right? They changing high beam bulbs on a Honda 1800 GoldWing. Or the airfilter. The VW isn't so bad...

 

[compu_85]

I found the lamps on our Passat were super easy to service.

 

[oilhammer]

The amount of ill thought out designs that lend themselves to poor service leads me to believe that many people who come up with them are not on speaking terms with all of their coworkers. Nissan has some models that hide the fuse box in a place that requires the BATTERY be REMOVED for access. Always fun troubleshooting an electrical problem when you cannot have the car's battery hooked up and have to cobble together jumper wires to figure it out.

The Toyotas that stick the air pump under the intake with no filter so over time they just suck in whatever debris ends up down there and it tears up the impeller and sends the chunks into the overly complex and fragile air valve system resulting in a $3500 repair... "but it runs fine, the check engine light is just on".... yep.

Or the Subarus that have wheel bearings that go bad two years out of the factory yet somehow are already so rusted in place that you have to spend half a day beating the crap out of everything and replacing all kinds of extra parts because they won't come apart.

Or the Ford Transits that require control arm removal for ANYTHING associated with the weak transmission or exhaust system, and then you find out the threadlocker they use to put the bolts into the unibody is STRONGER than the metal they make the body from so it just tears it to pieces so you have to saw a hole in the rail and burn them out with a torch and then cut the control arms into little pieces to get it all apart (and these are on newish vehicles, none of them are more than five years old).

I could go on and on....

 

[noob_tl]

I had a colleague once that had spent years on a GM production line. Any time I complained about how difficult a part was to get to, or a maintenance item was to perform, his answer was the same - "It's in the perfect spot as the vehicle comes down the assembly line." DFM (design for manufacture) is the guiding principle, and the repair folks get paid by the hour.

 

[Mozambiquer]

The new beetle is super simple. You just gotta know how to do it. There's a little lever that makes the whole lens pop out the front. Easy peasy.

 

[ToxicDoc]

The amount of ill thought out designs that lend themselves to poor service leads me to believe that many people who come up with them are not on speaking terms with all of their coworkers. Nissan has some models that hide the fuse box in a place that requires the BATTERY be REMOVED for access. Always fun troubleshooting an electrical problem when you cannot have the car's battery hooked up and have to cobble together jumper wires to figure it out.

The Toyotas that stick the air pump under the intake with no filter so over time they just suck in whatever debris ends up down there and it tears up the impeller and sends the chunks into the overly complex and fragile air valve system resulting in a $3500 repair... "but it runs fine, the check engine light is just on".... yep.

Or the Subarus that have wheel bearings that go bad two years out of the factory yet somehow are already so rusted in place that you have to spend half a day beating the crap out of everything and replacing all kinds of extra parts because they won't come apart.

Or the Ford Transits that require control arm removal for ANYTHING associated with the weak transmission or exhaust system, and then you find out the threadlocker they use to put the bolts into the unibody is STRONGER than the metal they make the body from so it just tears it to pieces so you have to saw a hole in the rail and burn them out with a torch and then cut the control arms into little pieces to get it all apart (and these are on newish vehicles, none of them are more than five years old).

I could go on and on....

Cadillacs with the starter under the intake manifold, the Chevy fuel spider under the intake, almost any heater core lol. I don't think it's that they don't talk to each other. I think they just don't care what happens after it is past warranty. If saving 5 cents on a unit means 8 hours extra work for you, that's just great by them.

 

[drucifer]

Not just my 2000 New Beetle, but also our 2015 Golf . I remember the days when an ordinary joe could easily replace headlight bulbs, Now it means a trip to the shop...

Are we talking sealed beam easy?

 

[oilhammer]

Starters under the intake don't really bother me (Toyota belt-driven V8s are like that, too). They generally are not that bad to change, really. And that is hardly the Northstar's biggest issue, LOL.

The early VR6 T'reg thermostat is a fun one: Step 1: REMOVE ENGINE. Taking the cab off of the Ford Super Duty trucks to service things on the engine is kind of extreme, too. It takes about five hours on the 6.4L just to get to a point you can actually SEE the engine. The front end assembly (complete with EIGHT radiators) has to be lifted off with the shop crane, it is so heavy.

Yeah, I'll deal with New Beetle headlights any day, all day.

Here is an Audi A8 getting its oil cooler seals replaced:

 

[Mozambiquer]

Starters under the intake don't really bother me (Toyota belt-driven V8s are like that, too). They generally are not that bad to change, really. And that is hardly the Northstar's biggest issue, LOL.

The early VR6 T'reg thermostat is a fun one: Step 1: REMOVE ENGINE. Taking the cab off of the Ford Super Duty trucks to service things on the engine is kind of extreme, too. It takes about five hours on the 6.4L just to get to a point you can actually SEE the engine. The front end assembly (complete with EIGHT radiators) has to be lifted off with the shop crane, it is so heavy.

Yeah, I'll deal with New Beetle headlights any day, all day.

Here is an Audi A8 getting its oil cooler seals replaced:

We do a lot of ford 6.0,6.4,6.7 powerstroke work. It's not too hard to pull the cab once you're used to it. It takes about 2 hours, that's using a two post lift to pull it off. Just replaced a 6.7 engine that way.

 

[BobnOH]

That's obsene, hope those lights last a long time.

 

[Fahrvegnugen]

I replaced low beam bulb on a newer Subaru 2 days ago that costs $129 at the dealer since you have to remove fender liner to reach into a little hole where you can’t see what’s happening. Well I felt good until I realized I clipped it back in on top of the plug and now I fear risk of a $428 fire. And those different sized plastic body connectors....!

 

[Mongler98]

everything is doable DIY style, you just need more tools and a lot of time now.