Patent ID: 7636037

Claim:
A vehicle lighting apparatus comprising: a plurality of semiconductor light sources that are connected with each other in series; a switching regulator for supplying an electric power from a power source to each of said plurality of semiconductor light sources; a forward voltage detection circuit for detecting a forward voltage of each group by dividing said plurality of semiconductor light sources into groups; a failure detection circuit for detecting the failure of the semiconductor light sources belonging to said each group based on the detected output of said each forward voltage detection circuit; a first voltage detection terminal; a second voltage detection terminal mutually connected to the first voltage detection terminal; a first failure detection wiring connecting the semiconductor light sources belonging to one group and said first voltage detection terminal; and a second failure detection wiring connecting the semiconductor light sources belonging to another group and said second voltage detection terminal, wherein the first voltage detection terminal and the second voltage detection terminal are arranged between said groups and connected to the forward voltage detection circuit to detect voltage of at least one of said group.