I've been having an issue with the front right parking light (amber peanut one) for several months now. Sometimes it turns on, sometimes it doesn't unless it's given a sharp whack with the palm of my hand.

When I first saw it was out, I removed the bulb and noticed the filament was intact and after reinstalling it the bulb turned on. It not working is intermittent.

Around that time, my '10 Fit was due for scheduled maintenance so I told the dealership about the issue (of course the light turned on when I went to demonstrate) but they were unable to replicate the issue. Months pass.

Now I just came back from the dealership to have the passenger death bag replaced with a non-exploding model and brought up the light again. This time I was able to demonstrate the palm whack technique to turn it on.

After four hours (?!), the dealership came to the conclusion it was the bulb, replaced it, and gave me the old bulb too. The filament still looks okay. I was also presented a bill for ~$12 for one bulb. To the service adviser's credit, when I balked he immediately said he'd write it off, gave me my key and sent me on my way.

So I'm wondering, was the bulb the issue? The socket (my hypothesis)? Or something else? The only way I can think to test if is resolved is wait a while and see what happens.

There's got to be a way to see if there's a faulty/corroded wire in the bulb, bad socket or short somewhere else. Any thought's?

 

I'm not sure what Occam would say about this situation but I do know that a lot of GE-era Fits have electrical issues. I've personally burned through a bunch of minor and major lights on my '12 Fit Sport, and it's still under 50K miles. I do drive everywhere with my lights on all the time, but still. My friend who is a fellow Fitter told me that it's common for the GEs.

 

Thanks for responding. I'm curious whether the bulb connections can be tested to see if there's some short within the bulb itself. I have no idea how this could be done. However, if the new bulb doesn't exhibit the past bulb's behavior then maybe it was the bulb after all. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯