Hi All,
Our 2009 V50 has a persistent issue with the front right headlight that we would appreciate some advice on.
Within about a week of changing the bulb, we get a ‘low beam failure’ message and the light goes out. We’ve changed the bulb several times but the issue reoccurs.
has anybody else experienced this issue and if so, how did you resolve it?

 

Do you have halogen or HID bulbs? if HID there could be a problem with the ballast.

 

Does the bulb fail when it goes out (as in broken filament)? (This is assuming halogen lights). One thing many folks do wrong when swapping bulbs is to touch the bulbs glass with their fingers, which dramatically shortens the lifespan. Not sure it shortens it THAT much, but FWIW...

If it's a HID bulb, hoonk's suggestion is most likely gold.

 

Thanks for your reply. They’re HID bulbs. Could you explain the possible ballast problem please?
Many thanks!

 

If you can - swap the ballasts side to side to verify there is a problem with your right one. A HID ballast is similar to the ballast on a fluorescent light fixture. A HID bulb has no filament - the gasses inside are excited by the voltage from the ballast - like a fluorescent bulb.

 

Hi,

I went through the same issue. The front right low beam kept failing every week, even after I changed the bulb multiple times. At first, I thought the bulbs were just faulty, but then I realized the real problem was the Xenon HID igniter.

Replacing the igniter fixed the problem completely. For my car, the part I used was the AL Litronic Zündgerät 4, which acts as both the bulb holder and the igniter. You can check it out here: https://xenons4u.co.uk/al-litronic-z...r-igniter.html

Make sure your V50 has Xenon HID low beams and verify the part number matches your headlight. Once installed, I haven’t had any issues—no more repeated bulb replacements or warning messages.