What Effect Can A Broken Headlight Lens Have On My Headlight?

If you have had your vehicle headlight lens broken for one reason or the other, this will most likely get you worried. Of course, as a responsible driver, you would want to know the gravity of what has happened and if there is any effect this can cause to your headlight or even your driving in general.

The thing is, a broken headlight lens will invariably affect the focusing ability of your headlight. This can make the view of the road to be compromised, so much so that you may veer off the road or drive uncontrollably off the road. The light coming out of the headlight area would most likely look jagged and this may not give you the best of visibility, especially at night.

How a broken headlight lens can have an effect, if it can be fixed, how to fix it temporarily and what you can manage to do when you are in that situation can be found in the rest of the post.

What can a broken headlight lens do?

Most importantly, a broken headlight lens will impair your clear visibility of the road such that accidents become very possible. So, in essence, by driving with a broken headlight lens, you are putting your life and possibly the lives of all others with you in danger. In fact, it may affect the lives of every other road user at the same time too.

In addition, you are bound to fail an MOT test if you drive with a broken headlight lens, not to talk of the fact that you can be flagged down and charged by the police for doing that. When that happens, the least is to get a ticket for reckless driving. You can even cop a fine to be paid if the person in charge feels that’s the best for you.

Can I drive with a broken headlight lens?

Yes, you can drive with a broken headlight lens, but with certain very serious conditions. First, by doing so, you are basically putting your life, as well as the lives of many other road users at risk. Secondly, you can be stopped by the police and charged. Another thing worthy of note is that a broken headlight lens can cost you success at an MOT test too.

Can I patch up a shattered headlight lens rather than replace it?

Yes, you can patch up a broken headlight lens as long as you know how to work your way around it. But you should know that it is better to replace it than to struggle with patching it up. This is because it might endanger your life and those of other road users, too, if you decided to hit the road at night with lights shooting out at odd angles from your headlight unit.

Want to try a quick fix for your broken headlight lens?

To start with, if the lens only broke in one part and you are scared of having uneven light coming out, you might want to use safe, protective material to open up the headlight, even more, to be able to have all the headlight showing without uneven distractions. If the area that is broken does not cause you any uneven lighting, then there is no need to break it more open.

Once that is done, you can apply a surface cleaning compound on the shattered and rugged edges of the lens using a microfibre cloth, in order to smoothen it as well as to improve your visibility of the road ahead. Secondly, you can also smoothen the rough edges using a hairdryer at the low temperature at the rough edges,  so as to improve your visibility too. Finally, you can spray a thin strip of silicone on the rough edges too, with the aid of a spray gun, which will also improve your visibility.

Is a temporary covering recommended around a broken headlight?

Yes, you can use a temporary covering around a broken headlight, only before you get it permanently fixed by the specialists. However, you should be aware that you can only use a covering that is transparent enough to let you see the lights through it. Keep in mind though, doing so constitutes a traffic offence in most places. Again, there is the possibility of being flagged down by the police with a severe penalty or ticket to contend with. This is in addition to the fact that you may put your life at risk as well as those of many others too.

So, looking at the possible consequences, the risks involved in doing so far outweigh any gains you may expect. In essence, drive with a temporary covering on your broken headlights only until you get it fixed properly, and where you are sure the road won’t be too busy enough to get you to cause any issue. There is just no alternative to the truth.

Conclusion

There are certain things that can cost you the MOT test and even a bad driving day, one of which is a broken headlight lens. For this reason, you should ensure that your headlight units are always in order, or else you risk many things ranging from being flagged down and fined by the police to risking needless accidents that may affect not only you but many others too.

Essentially, you should fix your broken headlights as quickly as you can, before anything untoward happens. Notably, getting the headlights fixed is not nearly as expensive as what may occur if you willfully refuse to do what is needed. In any case, if you must drive with a broken headlight lens, it should be just on rare occasions and shouldn’t take you long to get it put in shape.

No matter what you do once your headlight has a broken lens, the best solution to do as quickly as you can is to get it fixed as expertly as possible too. That way, you will be able to prevent any hard-luck stories.