1997 Chrysler Town and Country: headlights failing or too dim

Filed Jun 12, 2006 · Lights · 100,000 miles · NJ

The headlight acrylic covers have become so clouded that the lights are so dim that the highway is unsafely illuminated during night driving. Switching between high and low beams doesn't make much of a difference. These are original chrysler installed assemblies, and should certainly last longer than 7 years. Its like trying to look through a windshield that has become less and less transparent. The problem is not with the replaceable lamps, but with the head light assemblies in which they are mounted. Chrysler should replace these without cost to the customer.

Filed Jan 5, 2006 · Lights · 97,000 miles · MI

The clear plastic lenses on the front of my headlight assemblies were defectively designed as the plastic is especially prone to damage by uv light, heat, cold, &/or road chemicals. The plastic after a few years has come to be fogged or hazed or cloudy looking... And upon close inspection also has thousands of tiny cracks throughout each lens. Our vehicle is a 1997 chrysler t&c which we purchased in 2000. By 2002 we noticed the headlights at night were getting dimmer and it got progressively worse until about 2004 when I bought brighter bulbs to try to compensate for this. It did not help at all. The damaged lenses causes severe diffraction of the light coming from the bulbs creating essentially a pair of very bright "night lights" on the front of the car. By 2005 vision was limited to 25-50 feet at night depending on weather conditions. This made night time driving extremely dangerous and so we stopped driving it at night at highway speeds. In late 2005, after checking the cost of having them replaced and finding that it would be $400-500 per light, I decided to replace them myself. At local auto parts stores the part alone is $219-255.88 each plus tax. I then searched the internet where I found and bought them from www.yourautopartstore.com. The sku numbers are hl 3163 and hl 3164 and the total was $221.24 including shipping for the pair. I installed and aligned them myself. It is my feeling that this crucial part should never deteriorate with time, and that the cost of replacement should be borne by the manufacturer for designing these defective, and expensive to replace parts.

Filed Feb 24, 2005 · Lights · 80,000 miles · TX

The plastic headlamp covers on my chrysler minivan have become fogged or hazed or otherwise become cloudy and will not allow light transmission required for safe nighttime driving many cars have this problem, and the manufacturer builds the headlamp unit as a single assembly costing $400 to $500 for each light to replace the clouded plastic.

Filed Nov 11, 2004 · Lights · OH

Plastic lens covering the headlights on my 1997 chrysler town & country has become clouded over the past two years and continues to become more so as time passes. This greatly reduces the amount of light that the headlights put out and therefore makes driving at night hazardous . I was told by my dealer that the replacement of these lens are very expensive, over $500.00. I love my town and country, its great for vacations but I feel that driving it at night is a danger to myself, family, as well as other drivers on the road.

Filed Sep 20, 2004 · Electrical · 29,875 miles · AZ

While driving 45 MPH electrical system failed. As a result, headlights/windshield wipers, and horn failed. Vehicle was taken to the dealership, and mechanic determined that electrical wiring harness failed, and it will cost $1300 at consumer's expense to fix it. *ak the harness was installed at the factory under the battery. The battery corroded and acid leaked onto the harness which caused varying electrical problems. Nm

Filed Jul 30, 2004 · Lights · MO

The headlight lenses on my 1997 chrysler town & country have become hazy and somewhat opaque, greatly reducing vision at night. The hazing seems to be internal to the plastic headlight lens and due to tiny cracks. I have never used abrasive cleaners on the lenses. This hazing has occurred gradually over the years and is due, I believe, to the selection of a poor manufacturing material, (some sort of plastic). My headlights have become so dim that it is probably not really safe to drive the van at night. I am looking into replacing the lenses but they are fairly expensive. I also have a '97 chrysler cirrus that has the same type headlight lens and it is showing signs of the same problem, just not to as great a degree as the town & country.

Filed Jun 11, 2004 · Lights · 63,100 miles · NC

The plastic lens covering the headlights on my 1997 chrysler town and country has become clouded [opaque] over the past two years and continues to become more so as time passes.this greatly reduces the amount of light that the headlights put out and therefore makes driving at night hazardous.my local chrysler dealer wants greater than $600 to replace these and told me this was not covered under my extended warranty [still in effect].my seach at local salvage yards for the part was unsuccessful because,I was told,these chrysler plastic lenses all tend to get cloudy[opaque]as they age. Therefore if there are a lot of these clouded headlight lenses out there,it sure makes night driving unsafe for us chrysler owners and all others using the highways at night.and as the replacement part is so expesive,many may not replace it.

Filed Apr 15, 2003 · Lights · 80,000 miles · FL

The head lights were very dim, due to the the plastic headlamp housing, which impaired the consumer visibility. *jb

Filed Jan 12, 1999 · Lights · NY

Headlights are very dim, even high beams are not bright.dealer has no answer.

Filed Jan 5, 1999 · Lights · NY

Driver is not able to see the road clearly because of the headlights. The headlights are too dim in areas where there are no street lights. The problem has been reported to the manufacturer. *ak