Low Beam Burn Out

The low beams on my Hyundai Sonata burn out frequently. Every 4 to 6 months I have to replace one (they alternate). The mechanic who replaced them the last time checked the circuits and said there is nothing wrong.

The car’s voltage needs to be checked. The alternator charging rate may be too high. This wouldn’t be good for the battery, and the electronics, either.

Halogen lamps don’t last very long if they’re touched by bare fingers. The oils in the skin get deposited on the lamps which causes hot spots shortening their lives. Ask the person who changed the lamps if they took the precaution of not touching the lamps with their bare fingers. If they didn’t, that’s why they don’t last very long.

Tester

To add to Hello’s suggestion, let me add that many auto part stores will check the charging voltage of the alternator for free. You can even do it yourself with a simple volt meter. Measure the voltage at the battery with the engine running. You might want to have someone rev it up a LITTLE to see if it goes up.

Another possible issue would be water getting to the lamp or a poor connection due to a bad socket.

A customer of mine had the same problem in his Kia Optima. Since the headlights go out with the key in the off position and the parking lights go out when the key is removed he left the headlight switch on all the time. He would come in to the shop every 4-5 months needing a headlight bulb replaced. After checking that the voltage was ok I had him start turning the headlights off before he shut off the car. This has so far been successful. It has been 11 months since a headlight was replaced. My thought is this: When the headlight switch is left in the on position the headlights turn on when the key is turned to on, when the key is turned to start the headlights go out, when the key is released when the engine starts the headlights return to the on state. Immediately following start-up the alternator is pushing almost maximum charge to recover from the starter draw. I think the on/off/on of the lights with the high voltage seen right after start up cause the bulbs to fail at a faster rate. Just a thought.
~Michael

Well when you change the bulbs make shure that you dont toch the glass of the bulb because the oils frome our skin will creat a hot spot that will cause the bulb to burn prematurly.