RED Turn Signals/Hazards : WHY ?!?

[Brian Austin]

Flashing red lights on school buses are their own thing.  They are understood to mean STOP, especially if the little STOP sign on the swing arm deploys.  ?

[RW033]

6 minutes ago, 1972coronet said:

I agree that those are truly obnoxious. WTH do those main / centre lamps do then ?? Just along for the ride ? Not exclusive to that KIA ; I've seen those asinine lights on the Chevy Bolt as well. 

What's even worse than driving behind one of those Logan's Run junks ? The Oldsmobiles with that STUPID bright RED "fog" light on the rear bumper ! 

Or how about the Buick Cascada that seemingly forgot that they need lights showing with the trunk open so they put a second set inside the trunk lid…

[peteski]

59 minutes ago, Brian Austin said:

When white tail light lenses came into fashion I thought they looked odd.  I thought tail light lenses in the US were supposed to reflect red.

No, only the reflectors on the rear end have to be red (when illuminated with external light reflect red).  The reflectors can be part of of the taillight lens (when the rest of the lens is either red or clear), or they can be totally separate from the taillight.  For example my '85 Caddy has red lens taillights with no rear facing reflectors. The red reflectors are actually thin rectangles mounted in the rear bumper.  But just to confuse things even further, those red taillights which have no reflectors facing rear of the car have small reflective areas on the sides to act like side markers. Many cars which have clear taillight lenses, have separate red reflectors mounted elsewhere. Manufacturers use many different combinations to be compliant with the laws. 

[peteski]

26 minutes ago, 1972coronet said:

If a school bus is stopped by the side of the road and its lights are flashing red , what should you do ? 
1.) Come to a complete stop and wait for the lights to stop flashing

That was a very poorly phrased question (ambiguous).  One (you) could interpret it as directionals, or the school bus warning lights ( I don't know what is the official name for those).

Phrased this way would have been not ambiguous:

1.) Come to a complete stop and wait for the school bus' flashing red warning lights to stop flashing

[Brian Austin]

Actually those little trunk lights are kinda cute.

How well did the bumper-mounted tail lights in the '70s hold up?

Here is some info and context relating to those Kia/Chevy Bolt lights you guys don't like.  ?  https://www.thedrive.com/news/41945/why-some-cars-have-silly-bumper-mounted-brake-lights-and-turn-signals

[Brian Austin]

Australian car sites are fun.

[Tabbysdaddy]

4 minutes ago, Brian Austin said:

Australian car sites are fun.

That looks so wrong.

[peteski]

13 minutes ago, Brian Austin said:

Actually those little trunk lights are kinda cute.

How well did the bumper-mounted tail lights in the '70s hold up?

Here is some info and context relating to those Kia/Chevy Bolt lights you guys don't like.  ?  https://www.thedrive.com/news/41945/why-some-cars-have-silly-bumper-mounted-brake-lights-and-turn-signals

There is some very good information on that site. Like a link to https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2004-title49-vol5/xml/CFR-2004-title49-vol5-sec571-108.xml

[peteski]

3 minutes ago, Tabbysdaddy said:

That looks so wrong.

But that makes them legal in Australia Unless Australia has some sort of exceptions for antique American cars.

[Tabbysdaddy]

11 minutes ago, peteski said:

But that makes them legal in Australia Unless Australia has some sort of exceptions for antique American cars.

I don't think many places have exceptions. From what I've seen, a common remedy is rewiring the reverse lights to be the turn signals and changing the bulb to an amber one. Then adding clears somewhere for the reverse lights. It isn't as noticeable a change as the cars pictured.

[Brian Austin]

Note the '59 Australian Chevy with accessory indicator.

Edited August 9, 2024 by Brian Austin

[martinfan5]

1 hour ago, RW033 said:

I’m well aware of the regulations and there’s no reason they couldn’t have incorporated them into the existing lights in the quarters - to me it looks more like they were being different for the sake of it - or thinking outside the quarters ?

 

Not everyone is aware of federal regulations, and unfortunately, my mind reading device has been in the shop for a long time, it never seems to work right, so I had no way of knowing you know them , ya know?

[Rob Hall]

On the topic of low mounted rear turn signals and taillights..remember the GM A-body wagons of the 70s-80s (both Colonnade era and downsized era)...they had the rear lights all in the rear bumper..same with the El Camino of those generations...always thought those were odd...

10 hours ago, RW033 said:

Or how about the Buick Cascada that seemingly forgot that they need lights showing with the trunk open so they put a second set inside the trunk lid…

IIRC, the first gen Audi Q7 SUV has the replicated lights also because of the lights in the hatch...some other SUVs may also.  The Q7 had a strange hatch design the wrapped over the rear quarter ends. 

Edited August 9, 2024 by Rob Hall

[RW033]

12 hours ago, martinfan5 said:

Not everyone is aware of federal regulations, and unfortunately, my mind reading device has been in the shop for a long time, it never seems to work right, so I had no way of knowing you know them , ya know?

No worries, mine is too. Definitely didn’t intend for my response to come off that way…

[martinfan5]

2 hours ago, RW033 said:

No worries, mine is too. Definitely didn’t intend for my response to come off that way…

Its all good, Ive replied that way myself at times,  I was hoping you would catch the humor in my reply as I meant it.

[1972coronet]

I was finally able to get a photo of the Ram and its tail lamps I was referring to earlier ; the red lamps with amber flashers ! 

[peteski]

3 hours ago, 1972coronet said:

I was finally able to get a photo of the Ram and its tail lamps I was referring to earlier ; the red lamps with amber flashers ! 

Well sure, but if you look closely, the directional and backup lights are in thin clear/silver areas of the red taillight.  You can do that with LEDs

 

2019 Dodge Ram

Edited August 10, 2024 by peteski

[1972coronet]

8 hours ago, peteski said:

[If] you look closely, the directional and backup lights are in thin clear/silver areas of the red taillight.  You can do that with LEDs

Exactly. It's a really slick setup. 

[Rob Hall]

My Cadillac does something neat with LEDs for the front turn signals..there are long thin 'light pipes' on the front edge of the front fender that illuminate white as DRLs and parking lights but flash amber as turn signals.. 

[peteski]

Yes, nowadays many cars use light pipes with LED illumination for many slick-looking lighting schemes.  When a directional is turned on, the DRL LEDs on that side are turned off not to wash out the amber  light.  It is all thanks to those 30+ computers in your car controlling everything.

 

No such fancy features on my '85 Caddy.

Edited August 10, 2024 by peteski

[peteski]

However, I should have added that the '85 Caddy does use fiber optic cables as lamp monitor.  All the head and tail-lights are monitored.  A fiber optic is installed near each bulb, and the other end is in front located in the little protrusions on the top of the front fender, and in a little "console" over the back  window.  At night (or even in during the day for the taillights) you can quickly see if all the bulbs are working.  Pretty clever setup (I've seen the lamp monitor system also used on other GM higher-class cars).

[Tabbysdaddy]

2 hours ago, peteski said:

Yes, nowadays many cars use light pipes with LED illumination for many slick-looking lighting schemes.  When a directional is turned on, the DRL LEDs on that side are turned off not to wash out the amber  light.  It is all thanks to those 30+ computers in your car controlling everything.

 

No such fancy features on my '85 Caddy.

I think I see cornering lamps.

[peteski]

3 hours ago, Tabbysdaddy said:

I think I see cornering lamps.

Well, yeah, it's a Caddy after all - a luxury vehicle.  No LEDs anywhere (unless I retrofit them). Now that you brought that up, cornering lamps seem to have disappeared from modern luxury cars. At least the ones I see driving around.  Sure, they have proximity sensors up the wazoo all around, but nothing that illuminates the sides.

It actually has driver's memory seat, digital dash gauges,  4-wheel disk brakes, and stabilizer bars front and rear.  4-wheel disks were pretty rare on luxury cars of that time.  Of course it is FWD, but Eldorados have been FWD since the '60s.

[Rob Hall]

17 minutes ago, peteski said:

Well, yeah, it's a Caddy after all - a luxury vehicle.  No LEDs anywhere (unless I retrofit them). Now that you brought that up, cornering lamps seem to have disappeared from modern luxury cars. At least the ones I see driving around.  Sure, they have proximity sensors up the wazoo all around, but nothing that illuminates the sides.

My CT6 has cornering lamps, built into the light tubes.  My '00 DTS had them also..it's a nice feature to have.  The CT6 is loaded w/ goodies..AWD,  heated and cooled and massage seats (memory for both front seats), auto settings for headlights, wipers, HVAC, NAV, heads up display, Apple Car Play and Android Auto, camera rear view mirror, cameras on the side mirrors for parking,  power shades for front and rear sunroofs, rear window power shade, power folding mirrors, etc.. all the usual modern luxury car features..alas, no CD player, but I stream from my phone and use Sirius XM instead.    I'd like to have an '80s Fleetwood Brougham or Eldorado convertible as a weekend cruiser.   Sooner or later I'd like a CTS-V w/ a manual or a CT5-V Blackwing w/ a manual for a fun car. 

Edited August 10, 2024 by Rob Hall

[Tabbysdaddy]

13 minutes ago, peteski said:

Well, yeah, it's a Caddy after all - a luxury vehicle.  No LEDs anywhere (unless I retrofit them). Now that you brought that up, cornering lamps seem to have disappeared from modern luxury cars. At least the ones I see driving around.  Sure, they have proximity sensors up the wazoo all around, but nothing that illuminates the sides.

It actually has driver's memory seat, digital dash gauges,  4-wheel disk brakes, and stabilizer bars front and rear.  4-wheel disks were pretty rare on luxury cars of that time.  Of course it is FWD, but Eldorados have been FWD since the '60s.

I had a '78 Coupe Deville, it was nice. It had the fiber optic stuff, neat setup. It also had a 425. My van uses a fiber optic cable for the ashtray light.