A couple of weeks ago, the car lost its second taillight. Same one, in fact, driver’s side brakelight. This time, after replacing the bulb (standard 12VDC 1157 dual-filament) I did some research into LED replacements. After all, LEDs are longer-lived, can be as bright or brighter, and turn on faster for a teensy bit more reaction time for people behind you.

After a bit of Amazon research, I found the Vision X HIL-1157R:

It’s a drop-in replacement, same shape, should fit most vehicles. However, our car (2005 Allroad) doesn’t like it. Audi, in their finite wisdom, chose to have additional circuitry to check for blown lights, and beeps incessantly if it finds one missing. The LED bulbs don’t satisfy the test circuit, so hellish beeping is the fate of anyone who tries this.

So I’m out $20 and have a spare pair. Email me, I suspect they’d work in cars without the check circuit.