The indicators in your car are a crucial safety feature. They let other motorists know when you want to change directions or when there’s a hazard somewhere ahead on the road.
They are so crucial to the extent that you’ll be pulled over and fined for driving with failed indicators.
The most common failure happens from fender benders. While some incandescent indicator bulbs still burn out, this is very rare as they tend to have very long lifespans.
Why Are My Car Indicators Flashing Faster (Hyperblinking)
Blinkers that blink faster than usual indicate a system problem that affects the overall circuit resistance.
Since the inception of blinkers, cars have used resistive elements to flick the lights on and off. Therefore, any change in resistance will affect how fast the flasher module works. This is an artifact of old mechanical flashers that turns out to be great feedback on problems in the system.
To understand hyper flashing, we first have to know how car indicator circuits work.
How Do Car Blinkers Work?
When you activate the switch on your indicator control stalk or by pressing the hazards button on the dashboard, the circuit to the selected indicators (or both in case of hazards) is activated.
Usually, these would stay on were it not for an extra component in the circuit called the flasher. So your car could either be running a mechanical flasher or a digital solid-state chip controller.
The Operations of a Mechanical Flasher
A typical mechanical flasher consists of:
– A flexible metal connector made of two metals with different expansion rates that’s spring-loaded
– A heating element (often a wire) wrapped around the flexible metallic connector
When you turn on the indicators:
- Current flows through the entire circuit, but your headlights don’t turn on because the resistive heating element consumes all the power. The amperes getting to the indicator bulbs is not enough to light them up
- As the heating element soaks the current, it starts heating the metal contactor strip
- Since it has two metals of different expansion rates, the strip will curve towards the side with the metal that expands fast.
- As it curves, it makes contact with a terminal that makes the electric current bypass the heating element and flow straight to your indicator bulbs.
- The indicator bulbs go on.
- Since there is no current to the heater element, the metal alloy contactor strip cools down. Then, the spring pulls it back to place, breaking contact with the bypass circuit.
- This puts the heating element back into the circuit. It soaks current, turning off the bulbs, and heats up again.
- The process will repeat for as long as the indicators switch is on.
Note: Some mechanical flashers use an electromagnet core to attract the contact strip. The concept is still the same, though.
The Heating Element on the Flasher Relies on Resistance
Since the heater element relies on resistance to heat up, any drop in resistance somewhere along the entire circuit means it has more current at its disposal. Consequently, it will heat up faster.
The entire cycle happens faster than average, making your blinkers blink faster than usual.
While this flaw wasn’t intentional, it turned out to be helpful. Drivers could tell when one or more of their blinkers isn’t working without necessarily walking around the car to do a visual inspection. Then, all you had to do was turn on your indicators in turn and check if they’re hyper blinking.
Modern Cars Use Smart Solid-State Circuits to Control Blinkers
With modern cars moving away from incandescent indicator bulbs to LED strips, manufacturers have to adapt since LEDs can turn on with minimal current.
This means the small amounts of current mechanical flashers pass through even before making full contact could still turn on the indicators.
The alternative is a solid-state PWM (pulse width modulated) circuit that flashes the circuit on and of a predetermined number of times as long as the indicator switch is on.
However, since the market is used to the traditional hyperlinking as a sign of a fault, such systems have a sophisticated or straightforward current sensing circuit that constantly monitors the entire circuit’s resistivity and current draw.
If it dips below the threshold, it signals the PWM circuit to enter hyper flash mode, emulating what a traditional mechanical flasher does.
Smart circuits could go further as pinpointing the fault and displaying it as an understandable message on your infotainment system or central car computer.
Check this too: How to Reset an Airbag Light and Code
What Problem Will Make My Car Blinkers Hyperflash
Now that we know why blinkers blin faster, it’s time to look at some of the problems that could lead to such a scenario.
A Blown or Damaged Bulb
Bad bulbs are the most common causes of hyper flashing. When the bulb is blown, it affects the current balance in the circuit by taking off one load. As a result, the flasher units receive more power and flash the remaining bulb faster.
Luckily a quick visual inspection with the blinkers should help you identify which indicator light isn’t working. Remember to check fender and side mirror blinkers, too, if your car has those.
ProTip: Inspect the bulb that isn’t working and confirm that it’s damaged. You can bench test it by connecting it directly to a 12V power source and check if it lights up. If it does, chances are the fault is somewhere else in the circuit.
If your car uses incandescent bulbs, all you have to do is buy the exact replacement bulb for your unit. However, don’t buy replacement LED bulbs as the housing and the system weren’t designed with these in mind. Also, LED indicators rarely blow out. You might have to replace the entire flasher light unit if they do since most tend to be integrated.
A Bad Connection
When there’s a bad connection, chances are one or more blinker bulbs will be taken out too. This is why you should first bench test the indicator bulb that’s not working before rushing out to buy a replacement.
A break in the circuit will take out one or more of your indicators. Possible failure points include:
- A blown fuse or a damaged relay
- A bad ground connection
- Loose terminals in the circuit
- Corroded and partially damaged wiring
Sometimes, your blinkers could be hyper flashing even though all the bulbs are OK. In this case, the problem is definitely somewhere else in the wiring.
Checking the fuses and relay is simple. First, get a schematic of your fusebox and pinpoint the correct fuse and relay.
Further troubleshooting tips to follow include:
- Visually inspect the terminals and harnesses to the affected blinker bulb
- Clean off any debris, dust, and dirt
- Tighten any loose connections
- Turn on the blinkers and use a multimeter to check if power flows through the terminals.
If there’s no power, the problem is somewhere along with the wiring. You’ll need some automotive wiring skills or time to trace the wiring find the break, and fix it. If you are not confident of your capabilities, get a professional to do it.
A Faulty Blinker
Finally, though rare, a problem in the blinker could make it work faster than usual, making your blinkers hyper flash. Replace the flasher if you see no problem after thoroughly troubleshooting the rest of the circuit.
Why Is My Turning Light Still Blinking Fast With New Bulbs On?
Remember when we talked about overall circuit resistance being crucial in ensuring blinkers work at the right speed?
Well. Getting the wrong replacement bulbs will lead to lower than expected resistance making your mechanical flasher work faster, or a digital one go into hyper flash mode.
This is the exact reason why LED indicator lights hyper flash if you don’t change the flasher module after the upgrade.
Don’t improvise. Go for the same indicator bulb recommended by the manufacturer.
Check this too: What Are The Best Headlights For Night Driving?
Can You Get Pulled Over for Hyper Flash?
Yes. You can be pulled over for hyper flash. First, chances are one of your blinker bulbs is out. Second, this is a traffic offense anywhere in the world.
As for fast blinkers with all bulbs working, the US Federal Court recognizes traffic pullovers for fast blinkers. Properly working indicators should have the proper interval between on and off episodes.
Indicator lights flash and do not stay solid because they’re more prominent and hard to miss, even if someone else on the road is distracted. In addition, Hyperlinking could cause the illusion of a steady light, which is dangerous.
It’s ever so dangerous in the US, where most cars combine blinkers with brake lights.