22,774 complaints, 1,197 vehicles. Lighting complaints are mostly headlight assemblies — premature failure, condensation buildup, projector lens fogging, LED module failures. Several manufacturers had documented headlight design problems in the 2010s where the assemblies just don't last. Honda Civic projectors, Toyota Camry headlight clouding, Ford Focus headlight failures. Some of these are recall-worthy; most are not. Just ownership cost. Other items in the category: tail light condensation, third brake light failures, fog light wiring problems. The expensive failures here are the projector LED assemblies on luxury cars — Mercedes, BMW, Audi LED matrix headlights run $1,200-$3,500 each at the dealer when they fail. Versus a $80 sealed beam on an older car that anybody can change in 5 minutes. Modern lighting is sophisticated and expensive when it goes. The vehicles ranked below are where lighting complaints dominate the pattern.
Lighting problems
22,774 owner complaints filed with NHTSA. 243 active recall campaigns.
Lighting problems by manufacturer 27 makes with aggregated detail
Drill into a single manufacturer's lighting record across all model years. Each page below carries data on the worst-affected year-models, active recalls, and editorial commentary from one of our contributors.
Worst-affected vehicles Top 25 by complaint volume
Most-recalled vehicles For lighting components
Recent owner reports 12 most recent in this category
There is a known problem with the DRLs burning out, which poses a safety issue. Many people have had this problem causing an expensive repair out of warranty. The entire headlamp assembly has to be replaced.
The passage side headlight has moistures in it. They said run the engine for 30 minutes so it will dissolve and it didn't. And now the headlights not working and its $2,000 to get it replace.
The contact owns a 2018 Nissan Altima. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed at night, the halogen headlights failed to function as intended and were dimmed, which reduced the visibility of the roadway. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a collision center, where the headlight assembly and…
While driving vehicle at night on [XXX] to Richmond, VA my headlights both stopped working completely. The only way I could see was by turning on my high beam headlights. The high beam headlights worked fine. There was no warning lights, no sounds, the interior lights and everything interior was working normal. It was just the low beam…
It has been an ongoing issue for years concerning the dimness of the headlights on this vehicle. Virtually impossible to drive at night , can’t even see the lane markings with lights on dim. The cause was determined to be leaky seals creating corrosion. I replaced the bulbs myself and it made no difference. No recall was ever granted in spite of…
Brights stopped working. They do not turn on, even though you pull the lever, and the dash light comes on
Cadillac Escalade was struck in a rear end collision in Georgia. Driver of trailing car stated that the Escalade "suddenly stopped". After reviewing dash cam footage from the trailing car it can be seen that the Escalade was very slowly decelerating for ~4 seconds before suddenly stopping, the trailing driver did not react to the initial…
Turn signal causes excessive glare effect on the side repeater cameras during nighttime use. Driver is unable to view blind spot camera feed properly when engaging in a lane change.
If you're shopping a luxury car with adaptive matrix headlights, factor in the eventual cost of replacement. Those things ain't $80 anymore.