Hi, I have a 2013 Fiesta Titanium with factory fit puddle lights on the underside of the powerfold door mirrors. Two questions really, 1. what bulbs are they and 2. Is it straight forward getting inside to replace the bulbs?

Thanks all.

They are not bulbs - they are high intensity white LEDS built into the bottom of the mirror. Very effective :-)

They are very effective but one isn't working. I assumed they were LED's but the built in bit you mentioned is a worry. Surely it's a replaceable part? Can I not buy a couple of LED bulbs of eBay and fit them myself?

Ahh stuff it, off to Ford at lunch. It's new, they can sort it. Suppose I was kind of hoping I could upgrade the bulbs at the same time but need more info first. For the mo I want it working as it's new and shiny and it'll just do my head in, lol.

Just in case anyone is interested for comedy purposes. I took the car to local Ford dealer during my lunch break at their request. Only a quick job to check out it they said.

After eventually removing a finger from their collective bottoms someone emerged 2hrs later (twice they had to update and calm me because they could see me changing colour with the rage) only to tell me the light wasn't working. Wow, that's awesome, give the man a gold star.

Anyway, a complete new mirror unit and about (I say "about", I'll book a hotel room and provisions) 2hrs Friday next week just to get two tiny LED's working. Seems absurd but glad it's under warranty. I'm annoyed but it's a new car and I expect everything to be in order while it's under warranty. A timely reminder as to why I don't feel the love for main dealers. I'll look forward to part two.

Lets hope my titanium x I pick up in sept does not have that problem

Probably should post an update. All easily sorted under warranty at local dealer. Whole mirror unit replacement so any Titanium/X owners out there - take care of those mirrors

Mine has failed on my Fiesta S, nearside puddle light !

So just to confirm if the puddle light fails its a warranty job !

Many thanks

Hi Paul,

Yes, IT IS a warranty job. Mine was the offside one also. This kind of work probably isn’t the kind they want to be spending time on but if it isn’t working and should be, then it’s their problem. I could have left it but I would have hated that, especially on a new car. Certainly in my case they opted to replace the entire mirror unit. The first visit aside with all the messing about trying to diagnose the fault it actually only took half an hour in the end to carry out the work. It was sort of frustrating as I hoped it was an easily replaceable standard fit LED bulb so I could put brighter ones in, lol. Anyway, yes it is a warranty repair. Hope it goes well, let me know and if I can help with any more info.

Phil

Don't know if the Fiesta is the same now, but in my Focus there are factory LEDs in the interior lights and and number plate light. I thought about replacing them with brighter ones, but the car's handbook says they are "non-servicable units" and must be taken to a dealer if they fail. Now that's all well and good when it's under warranty...

I'd say there's no harm in having a nose and checking to see but if you are unsure someone on here can usually help.

Some are easily accessible anyway and you'll know quickly enough what your dealing with. The Fiesta isn't too bad, not quite as flexible as my previous 11 plate one though. I know the LED DRL's and puddle lights aren't intended to be owner serviceable components, and I can certainly confirm that for the puddle lights at least. Everything else largely seems fair game - interior lights, number plate, footwells, glove box, dipped, indicators, reverse, brake/tail etc etc are all easy swap out/upgrade bulbs, okay, maybe not indicators ;-) The only exception that springs to mind is an H15 main beam - it is owner serviceable bulb but it's just a poor bulb with limited upgrade options.

You could well be right though and I suspect there is an increase in complete ready built supplied components like wing mirrors, where even the LED's are integrated. They're just built to a price and supplied ready made for Ford to bolt on. I have swapped a fair few bulbs on my previous and current Fiesta but I'm sure a simple W5W bulb or similar would have been more straight forward for my local Ford dealer than having swap out an entire mirror unit.

However, while they'll just claim the cost back from Ford it's still wasted time for the local dealer on what could have been a straight forward bulb swap out repair, even by me.

Assuming reasonable reliability across the bulk of cars sold, Ford is invariably financially better off to get some components in ready made like wing mirrors - and a couple of integrated LED's is always going to be that bit cheaper than a swap out bulb, housing and wiring. There will have been a bean counter who worked it out beforehand and it influenced a design change with the latest model. Annoying but that's economics I guess.

By the time it's out of warranty I'd hope there will be plenty of cheap components on eBay or down the local knackers yard or I'll be in the latest and greatest Fiesta of the moment.

Just an afterthought but in some respects while it's a nuisance (especially post warranty) I'm glad I'm not in one or two other brands of car, some are shocking.

Took the car to my dealer today and YES it needs a new wing mirror unit - part ordered and should be fitted next week. Sounds like an expensive job but fortunately under warranty. Wonder if this is a known fault

Question - does anyone know if the wing mirrors are heated when you press front windscreen heater button ? ( was in my old Focus)

cheers

i know the wing mirrors where heated on titainium models not sure about the others

On my 2010 Zetec S the heated mirrors come on with the rear screen.

Took the car to my dealer today and YES it needs a new wing mirror unit - part ordered and should be fitted next week. Sounds like an expensive job but fortunately under warranty. Wonder if this is a known fault

Question - does anyone know if the wing mirrors are heated when you press front windscreen heater button ? ( was in my old Focus)

cheers

The frustrations of fully integrated components. They probably hate customers like us as it's wasted engineering time for them but a new car is a new car and everything should work just so :-) They'll get their money back but I bet your right, I bet including fitting and parts it must be costly and an annoying exercise for the dealer. It'll be the kind of thing you can get on the cheap on eBay or down the knackers yard in a few years but just now, I'm glad it's under warranty.

Cant believe , but my other puddle light has now failed - there must be a design fault here ?

Dealer ordering a fresh one

anyone else had two failures ?

My 2013 Titanium is going in for the O/S puddle light repair, at the end of the month. When I took it in for it's 2nd year service, I did mention:

• Drivers side puddle light does not work
• 1 hinge of centre arm rest lid, had broken (lid is a bit flappy, so annoying!)

Unfortunately none were repaired at the time of service, but was advised to bring it back in. Apparently they said they will need to Fiesta for 2 days while the repairs are carried out. This O/S puddle light failing lark, has to be a design fault! I have only owned her since the end of January 2015, and noticed the O/S puddle light never worked. Only a minor thing, however it's not the point. It should be working ^_^

Hi Phillip, thanks for the heads up on the 'puddle lights'. :)

I took delivery of my new Titanium X on the 5th March this year and, up until I read this thread 30 minutes ago, it had never crossed my mind to check if the puddle lights were working but I'll get straight on that tomorrow.

I never realised that, like the LED DRL's which are 'built-in' to the front headlights, the puddle lights were also integrated into the side mirrors and not designed to be serviced by the owner.

I would also imagine that, when a puddle lights fails, the complete mirror unit has to be replaced under warranty and so, that should also apply to a failed DRL light?

Depends if the led can be unplugged or removed from the bottom of the housing, I can't quite see it on the pics I have with the cap removed.

Yes the headlamp would need replacing if the LED fails, the rear centre brake light is also unserviceable.