All the lights in your vehicle serve the purpose of making your drive on public roads easier and safer. When headlights illuminate the way ahead for the driver, sidelights also known as parking lights makes your car more visible to other drivers on the road during the time when it’s not dark enough for main lights or you’ve parked your car at a place where traffic runs. When the side lights are turned on, two rear taillights, the number plate lights and those at the front of your car must be illuminated to make your car visible when parked.
Since your license plate light which is attached above the rear license plate frame in a downward direction, is displayed behind the vehicle you’re driving so it is most likely that you won’t know that a problem exists until it’s too late and you stuck in unlawful situation. It’s therefore crucial to check and visually inspect the license plate or number plate light before driving specially at night.
Warning lights can be quite confusing for many drivers, and hardly all drivers can understand these messages. While many of them are self-explanatory or illuminates with a corresponding message, others can just leave some drivers in awe. Of course, the lighting warning message indicates problems with your VW Volkswagen or Skoda vehicle’s light but with a total of three different bulb-themed light bulb warning messages, there could be confusion as to which light is having problem unless you already know which light correlates to which symbol.
There are total three bulb-themed warning lights in your Volkswagen and each of which corresponds the message of different issues.
If the light symbol on your dashboard comes out with a message of check number plate lighting, it means that one of the light bulbs on your license plate has burned out. In majority of the cases, it’s the halogen bulb that fails or a LED bulb in case if it was retrofitted in your vehicle.
Symptoms of check number plate lighting warning
- Light is flickering on and off
The number plate light should ideally be turned on with the headlights including the main lights or the parking lights. This is a solid light which should either come ON or go OFF and not meant to flick. However, in many cases, the number plate light will flicker, and this is commonly due to a loose wire or connection that powers the license plate light. This symptom is extremely distracting to other drivers on the road and catchy for a “fix it ticket” by the police so it is a good idea that you simply turn on the headlight and walk around to the rear of your vehicle to make sure number plate light is solidly illuminated, if it flickers, then it’s the time to contact mechanic for a quick fix.
2. Light does not turn with the parking the lights
This is the most obvious signal that the number plate light has gone bad if it does not lit up with the parking lights. There could be different reasons such as a problem with a relay switch, a loose connection or a simply the number plate light bulb. In 99% of cases, it is the bulb and a simple replacement can make a good quick fix for it.
If your car has factory fitted LED license plate light units when, you’ll need to replace whole unit with new if it has conventional halogen bulbs – simple bulb replacement will do a job, there is no need yo buy new housing unless it is damaged, cracked and lets moisture inside the unit.
Replace your halogen or LED Number Plate Light Bulb
Since in most cases, it is the light bulb and most number plate lights are same, you can definitely do the replacement yourself if you feel confident and know exactly where the light is located, but contacting an auto parts store such as xenons4u or scheduling an appointment with a expert mechanic well-versed in servicing VW Volkswagen and Skoda can provide satisfactory services and can help you get the right light bulb for your vehicle.
And ofcourse number plate lights are factory fitted on all vehicles vw golf mk4 mk5 mk6 mk7 passat polo 6r 6c caddy amarok tiguan touareg transporter multivan and so on. there is no expection because without license plate lights you won't be able to use car on the public roads.
License plate or number plate lights are more important than most people assume so when you notice that light is not working, immediately contact your mechanic to replace the light bulb as soon as possible.
