Disappointing fused led lights for 2023

1051 Views 9 Replies 7 Participants Last post by kastle, 3 mo ago

kastle

Discussion Starter · 3 mo ago

I'm not sure how many others have noticed this, but many of the led lights in the 2023MY outbacks are no longer user serviceable. I wanted to change out the dome light bulb in my car as it's pretty dim, and noticed that the owners manual cryptically says to contact the dealer for service on many of the led bulbs like the dome and map lights.

I thought that was strange so popped the dome light cover to see why, and see that they now don't use bulbs at all, just what looks like a surface mount led in the light recess:

Fixture Auto part Automotive exterior Composite material Gas

Same for the map lights. Pretty disappointing, I'm guessing it's just a cost saving measure, but a pretty crappy one if you don't happen to like the color or brightness of these built in lights. Anyone know is there are any other options for replacing these leds?

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walker

· #2 · 3 mo ago

For the dome light, the part from a 2020-2022 is probably the same shape and connectors on the inside - that might pop right in place of that one, and uses a little bulb that can be replaced.

the map lights are the same on the earlier gen6 As yours.

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dukey33

· #3 · 3 mo ago

Not surprising. LED bulbs are retrofit for old incandescent applications.
If manufacturing from the get-go as an LED, why bother with all the clips and sockets of the old tech?

Try taking out the fixture and see what the back looks like. The diode may be serviceable.

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HyRax

· #4 · 3 mo ago

All the LED downlights in my house are sealed units. If one breaks, you replace the whole unit - there are no lamps to replace. They're cheap to replace, but I get OP's point - seems to be the way of the future now.

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kastle

Discussion Starter · #5 · 3 mo ago

Just noticed that the vanity lights are still fuse bulbs, so I'll try just replacing those instead if I need more light. Probably a better solution for the front since the dome light is so far back anyways.

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Maddog128

· #6 · 3 mo ago

This Youtuber has a 22 OBW, and he's swapped out a number of different incandescent bulbs with LEDs, including the vanity and puddle lights. Not shown in the video, but interestingly at around the 3min mark he mentions replacing the dome light with leds....so maybe you could replace with a 22MY dome light assembly and swap with LED bulbs then?

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Gila Hiker

· #7 · 3 mo ago

HyRax said:
All the LED downlights in my house are sealed units. If one breaks, you replace the whole unit - there are no lamps to replace. They're cheap to replace, but I get OP's point - seems to be the way of the future now.

(not a car comment) Just replaced 4 chain pull ceiling fans with bulbs with DC motor and LED (mostly) sealed units. One was simply the LED board with a cap. What a difference! Instead of humming AC motors, you get the sound of blades cutting through air. LEDs dim perfectly without flickering. Just hope that if I live long enough to replace a 50,000 hour LED sealed unit, it will still be available!

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TheHozOpp1

· #8 · 3 mo ago

I have replaced every bulb I could with LED ones in my 22 Wilderness. The only ones I couldn’t change were the map lights and the tailgate mounted light. All other lights on my car were serviceable by swapping bulbs. This includes the puddle lights and marker lights in the headlights and tail lights. My dome light was a festoon bulb IIRC, and my trunk light I replaced with a Diode Dynamics LED strip. Signals require one load resistor on each side to prevent hyperflash.

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kastle

Discussion Starter · #9 · 3 mo ago

Maddog128 said:
This Youtuber has a 22 OBW, and he's swapped out a number of different incandescent bulbs with LEDs, including the vanity and puddle lights. Not shown in the video, but interestingly at around the 3min mark he mentions replacing the dome light with leds....so maybe you could replace with a 22MY dome light assembly and swap with LED bulbs then?

Thanks, I placed an order for a set of LED vanity bulbs, I think it's actually going to work out better since I primarily want something that can help me read in the car, in the front seat, and I see now that a brighter dome light isn't actually going to help me much.

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kastle

Discussion Starter · #10 · 3 mo ago

Just to wrap up my post with a quick follow up - I ordered a set of 6 led vanity lights from Amazon, and just popped them in this afternoon. As no doubt most of you have read from previous posts about replacing the interior lightbulbs, the difference was literally night and day. Super bright, but not blindingly bright. Lights up the front seat areas perfectly for me. For the $7 or so it costs for the pack of 6, it's a no brainer upgrade if you want brighter lighting in the front seat area. In case anyone wants to order the same bulbs, they're amazon item id B081DHQLHK. No idea if these are particularly good vs. the million other similar bulbs on Amazon, but they seem to work well in my opinion.

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