SW17LS

Its not just the cost of the LED unit itself, its the whole assembly, the sensors, the computer.

mmarshall

Well, like a lot of other things involved with getting a vehicle nowadays, it's basically a crap-shoot. On vehicles with LED hardware, you are paying more up front and betting on the generally better reliability and longer life of LED/HID vs. Halogen systems, against the generally higher replacement costs for the LEDs/HIDs if you DO have trouble, an accident, or failure.

SW17LS

And then there's the function of what you're getting. The Multi-beam LED headlights on my S560 are amazing, and thats without the bulk of the multi-beam features. A single halogen, HID or LED bulb system can't compare.

Och

iTrader: (3)

Exactly. The option to equip the car with these types of headlights costs thousands, so one should expect to pay thousands to replace them should they get damaged. These headlights have so much tech and components that require a lot of engineering and precision manufacturing, and comparing their cost to the replacement of a halogen bulb is absolutely daft. Someone who doesn't appreciate such tech is free to get a car with basic halogen headlights, and someone who appreciates the benefits of latest headlight tech should assume the risk of potential expense.

There is not enough information in the original article if the headlights were damaged as a result of manufacturing defect, rock chips, or any other mechanical impact. Being that the car is in Canada, perhaps cleaning the ice off the headlights improperly could have caused this?

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

pretty thankful we don't have to do state inspections in CA, but we do have the strictest smog law in the whole continent!

sucks about the story but it is pretty typical owning a luxury product. as for the subaru, i do agree that subaru did a poor design for headlight bulb replacement so i understand the dealer charging at least 1 hour of labor to replace them. not sure why in Canada they just throw away the entire headlight housing...something's fishy there for sure!

Evitzee

Wait until we get full bore autonomous driving shoved at us. What do you think maintenance and repair will be on these systems? And certified it is all calibrated and properly done? Which is why most people will not be able to afford a private vehicle any longer. But I think that is the plan from the Masters of the Universe, get people out of private vehicles and into trains, busses, biking or walking.

avhart

Excellent idea! More people should thing like you lol.

avhart

You may have something there...