I wanted to make a quick post to help clarify a common issue we see at the shop. Usually it starts by a customer calling with the concern that one or possibly both headlights are not working yet they or their regular mechanic has replaced the bulbs to no avail. What some don't know is that certain Subarus such as Legacy Outback, Tribeca, some Bajas and later model Foresters use a separate bulb for low beam and high beam and the low beam bulb is sometimes a little hidden so it's not as obvious. In the picture you see the back of the headlight after the dust cover has been removed. The bulb on the bottom with the green and black wires is the high beam bulb while just above it resides the low beam bulb. This particular headlight assembly is from a 2002 Legacy and would look the same for a 2000-2004 Outback. This is the setup that seems to cause the most confusion although we've fielded calls from frustrated customers on all of the dual bulb cars.
   One other question we often get is about bulb life. Most of the time it's "why do my headlight bulbs keep blowing?". There can be many reasons but I'll go over what I consider to be the most common as people sometimes want to over complicate this due to the fact that electricity is involved. Repeated bulb failures can almost always be traced back to two things, a bulb of poor quality (made in China) or the fact that the vast majority of Subaru drivers leave their headlights on 100% of the time because the car will let you due to the fact that unlike other cars the headlamp relays are no longer powered when the ignition is turned off. A convenient feature yes, but problematic in the grand scheme of things. Leaving the light switch in the on position is a bad idea for two reasons. The first of which is that it creates an extra strain on the battery when cranking due to the fact that the headlamps are drawing current. In the winter this can lead to a no start condition pretty quickly, especially on a car with a marginal battery. But most importantly in relation to the bulb question is that it simply decreases the life of the headlight bulb by running the bulb at full wattage since every bulb has a life expectancy at it's rated output. This also produces quite a bit of heat at the electrical connector for the bulb resulting in either melted connectors or most often melted wires which even a high quality bulb can't survive with for very long. This is the reason why Subaru uses a DRL or daytime running light by illuminating the high beam at a lower wattage so you still have the safety feature of your car being visible to other drivers without the added strain on the electrical system. Replacing most of the bulbs on your Subaru is a relatively simple procedure but if in doubt always remember to check your owner's manual or give us a call and we'll be happy to help. Thanks for reading.
  Juston