Factory fitted LED failure: who pays?

[gr1nch]

Hi,

Should Mercedes (and other car companies) be responsible when the expensive LEDs fail in their cars, or should it fall to their customers who have to foot all the cost, including the exorbitant labour charges due to inaccessibility that they've designed in (presumably because they think they will last a lifetime)?

I've an all LED car, an W222, and it was sold on the basis IIRC that the lightbulbs never need replacing. One, a non-critical but visible one has permanently failed (it could be the wiring I suppose).

At my usual main dealer (Listers Grimsby) the LED part I was quoted was £16 but with labour £900, then upon asking them to reconsider they said £600! At a different main dealer they quoted £60! Now it has gone up to £24 for the LED with labour and VAT near enough £200.

I declined their offer to replace the bulb, which is in the driver's door handler, for the time being.

 

[Ted]

Just my very humble opinion.
An led is not a bulb. It’s an electronic device with a (nominal) lifetime of thousands of hours, and shouldn’t fail in the lifetime of the car.
Any other opinion by manufacturer or agent is a cop out.

Edit: to add to that, I don’t think that in 2025, incandescent bulbs should be used in any part of a motor vehicle.

 

[rf065]

I declined their offer to replace the bulb, which is in the driver's door handler, for the time being.

I had all my door handle LED's and also the ones in the mirrors replaced under the original warranty as they all failed before 3 years.
I was told the replacements had been redesigned as the originals were not up to dealing with pressure washers, the new ones supposedly are, well they've now lasted 5 years so far?

 

[190]

Just my very humble opinion.
An led is not a bulb. It’s an electronic device with a (nominal) lifetime of thousands of hours, and shouldn’t fail in the lifetime of the car.
Any other opinion by manufacturer or agent is a cop out.

Edit: to add to that, I don’t think that in 2025, incandescent bulbs should be used in any part of a motor vehicle.

LEDs shouldn't on average fail in the lifetime of the car if driven at the correct current i.e they are correctly designed. If some do fail the issue would be made an order of magnitude easier and cheaper if they retained the same fitting as the original incandescent bulb so that it was a simple LED "bulb" replacement. Not much chance that was ever going to happen when form over function rules the design process.

 

[MSG2004]

LED light do fail, mine has, water ingress to rear left tail light
I posted a thread about 4 weeks ago about driving back from the hospital and the left side indicator warning came on -
then I stopped and started the car and it worked. Then a few days ago
#I posted another thread, "leaking rear LED light"

New light cluster the one on the fender as its in two parts is priced at 400 quid OEM - shop around its about 320.

I was considering starting a warning to all thread and decided against it and now just read this thread

Another warning - extended warranties won't cover "lights - locks and windows" IIRC I was with Warranty Wise and bought top
cover. As the chappy at Warranty Wise told me re exclusions talking at the speed of light - I thought too LED's
don't go wrong - no wonder the extended warranties won't cover them. I've had the car from new a GLE almost 9 years old and
less than 24k on the clock and FSHMB - years ago under warranty I had water ingress on one of the door mirrors replaced under warranty, a LED light.

The other day I was watching a YouTube vlog from USA - a 2018 Ford F150 pick-up trucks rear indicate was leaking and and stopped the car from running with hundreds of warning messages. The cost to replace the light was 1400 dollars for light shell then the bits inside it, and a rear, small loom costing 5600 dollars inc labour at a non-franchised dealer.

 

[MSG2004]

Just my very humble opinion.
An led is not a bulb. It’s an electronic device with a (nominal) lifetime of thousands of hours, and shouldn’t fail in the lifetime of the car.
Any other opinion by manufacturer or agent is a cop out.

Edit: to add to that, I don’t think that in 2025, incandescent bulbs should be used in any part of a motor vehicle.

Please see my previous post
LEDs do go wrong and they can mess up the car.
It should not cost a thousand pounds to fix a faulty/leaking rear tail light on a gle. ie 400 for the part
and I guess 1.5 hours about knowing MB at approx 240 an hour - it was 220 an hour when I last checked about 18 months ago - God forbid the grant lap playing up as the front lamps cost close to 2k for the lamp according to my quick search I may be wrong

 

[ALFAitalia]

Like anything else...its a mechanical man made thing and it can fail....and if it's out of warranty (or more importantly no longer covered by the 2015 consumer rights act)...then you have to pay....UNLESS you are lucky enough to get goodwill...or you can prove that its a common or known fault on the particular model you have. All obvious really. No one likes to pay....but we drive cars and that's how it is. Assuming it's the car in your bio then it's 8 years old.....sh1t happens.

From Google...

LED lights typically last around 50,000 hours, or about 14 years if used for 10 hours each day. However, the actual lifespan depends on several factors, including how often and how long you use them.

Factors that affect lifespan

• Heat: Excessive heat can damage the electronic components inside the LED.
• • Moisture: High humidity can reduce the lifespan of LED bulbs by up to half.
  • Electrical current: LEDs running on currents that are too high can degrade faster.
  • Installation: Incorrectly fitted LEDs can degrade faster.
  • Usage: More frequent use can reduce a bulb's lifespan.