$8 fix that's probably impossible on new cars

A lot of "advances" in car tech absolutely suck, but a genuinely good one that's been around for a long time is the fast click when one of your turn signals is out. Some genius figured out that hey, all we have to do to alert the driver one of the turn signals isn't working is have the click inside the car run at double speed when engaged. This is genius because a) it did not require adding a light to the gauge pod, b) it alerts the driver visually with a fast blink, c) it audibly alerts the driver with a fast click. Like I said, genius...

...unless you own a new car, then you're screwed.

Before getting into that, the passenger side front turn signal went out on my car, which of course I was alerted by from the fast click. I get back to the house, take the bulb out of its housing, then turn on the signal to make sure I have the correct one that's out. The stupid bulb started working again. Okay, that's good, but I'm not about to trust that. I went out and bought a pair of replacement bulbs anyway, which are now in the trunk in case I need them. And from what I could tell, the wiring looked okay, so, yeah, I'll just keep on keepin' on.

Most turn signal bulbs are about 8 bucks for a pair. That's highway robbery since they were under $3 for a very long time, but at least it's something that can be bought without taking out a loan for it. Yes, I did spend almost 8 bucks for the pair I bought.

Changing a turn signal bulb on a car used to be stupidly easy up until around the mid-1990s. After that, changing a bulb became annoying but doable. And that's the way things stayed until the late 2010s.

From the late 2010s to present is when factory installed LED exterior crap started appearing. Now instead of just replacing a bulb, the entire assembly requires replacement.

And for super stupid cars, dealer service is "required" because the internal computer of the car gets all sorts upset if you dare disconnect a wire anywhere just to replace a stupid light. Gotta "reset" the computer for that stupid light, don'cha know.

Thankfully, the car I have doesn't have a single LED lamp anywhere on the exterior, and that includes the CHMSL a.k.a. third brake light. Every single light is a regular bulb.

I may seriously consider going with something pre-2012 for my next car for whenever that time comes. And this is not just to avoid LED, but also to have a car where I can, y'know, be able to actually fix it myself. I'm obviously not a master mechanic, but I do know how to do bulbs, lubricate the window tracks with the right stuff twice yearly, and so on.

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