Mum's 08 Focus failed it's MOT on headlight pattern, tester reckoned it was just the bulb not seated right. "Great!" thinks I, going to have to take off the bumper and load of other bits under the hood just to change a bulb.

NO! Just one bolt off and out she pops! Brilliant.

So many times in the past I have been utterly bewildered by Ford designers (Granada fusebox comes to mind straight away), so it's a rare occurance when a job is actually easy to do

 

Most cars are the same matey. There a nightmare to work on.

 

I went out to a focus for a fleet company a few months ago, had to change a headlight bulb. They rang me saying it was in ATS (iirc) and they wanted to charge a fortune in labour to remove xyz to get to the back of the headlight lol. Sometimes people just can't see the wood for the trees. All you have to do is undo a couple of bolts at the top of the headlight and pop it forward to gain access. But for some reason some people just think "gotta get to the back of the headlight" and worry about stripping the entire front end off to do so.

Seen it a lot with transits too, drivers saying they can't get to the headlight. 9/10 when you show them it's two bolts (torx but even a ham fisted driver with a flat screwdriver would do it as they have a slot for it too) and pull the light forward and you've got all the access you need it all seems very obvious.

 

I think there should be a law stating the headlamp MUST be able to be removed using simple tools.

Volvo have the right idea on the V50, 2 'L' shaped jobbies that just pull out and the light pops out. Similar on the mk3 Mondeo but you have to take the grille out on a Mondeo.

Try doing things like Renault Meganes and mk4 Golfs..

 

They dont want to make it easy for you when they can make it awkward and charge you Ł50 for the privilege of fitting a Ł5 bulb.

 

Ive changed a bulb on a Volvo V50 too. Piece of piss.

 

Try changing a headlight bulb on a E46 BMW, if you've never done one before I guarantee it'll take you longer than you thought it would

 

LOL, they can be tricky the 1st time, especially if you put the bulb in upside down

 

The guy that was in charge of making things complicated was off that day lol