Amber rear turn signals?

[doug]

Those are basically required by law to be yellow/amber (along with the front indicators) in the USA. The rear indicators are allowed to be red or amber.

Basically IIRC the way turn indicator rules are written in the USA is as follows:

Turn signals:
They can't be white
They must be red or yellow/amber

... later in the rules

Red lights may only appear on the rear of the vehicle.

which forces all of the other indicators to be yellow.

No, white turn signals are ok in the front. I've probably already said this in this thread.
White or amber are allowed in the front. Red or amber are allowed in the rear.

Here's a reference:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=veh&group=24001-25000&file=24950-24953

24953.
(a) Any turn signal system used to give a signal of intention to turn right or left shall project a flashing white or amber light visible to the front and a flashing red or amber lightvisible to the rear.
(b) Side-mounted turn signal lamps projecting a flashing amberlight to either side may be used to supplement the front and rearturn signals. Side-mounted turn signal lamps mounted to the rear ofthe center of the vehicle may project a flashing red light no part of which shall be visible from the front.

 

[TEG]

Yes, the SIDE marker, but I understood it that the REAR indicators also needed to be amber. They're currently red.

Needed? I think many of us wish they used amber in the rear too, but it seems they went with red. Not sure why... It is 'legal', but seems inferior to amber.

 

[AnOutsider]

Needed? I think many of us wish they used amber in the rear too, but it seems they went with red. Not sure why... It is 'legal', but seems inferior to amber.

Sorry, I'll clarify. I was under the impression that EU requirements were such that the rear turn signals needed to be amber. If so, then Tesla will have to change that for the EU markets (and force me to try to source that lens so that I can get it too :tongue

 

[ElSupreme]

Sorry, I'll clarify. I was under the impression that EU requirements were such that the rear turn signals needed to be amber. If so, then Tesla will have to change that for the EU markets (and force me to try to source that lens so that I can get it too :tongue

Yes this. I too will be attempting to source an EU/Amber rear turn signal unit when they become available. I just hope it doesn't require another wire like my GTI did.

 

[Lloyd]

Can we Start an order list for all those wanting to change lenses.

 

[widodh]

Sorry, I'll clarify. I was under the impression that EU requirements were such that the rear turn signals needed to be amber. If so, then Tesla will have to change that for the EU markets (and force me to try to source that lens so that I can get it too :tongue

You can use my home address as a postal hub in case they refuse to sent it to the US

Amber turn signals are soo much more visible then red ones. As a European it's always weird to drive in the US seeing all those red turn signals.

 

[strider]

Tesla has not been forthcoming about providing these for Roadster owners so good luck w/ Model S. With other manufacturers dealers are happy to take people's money so you could have someone in the EU buy a bunch of parts and ship them over but Tesla has balked at this approach.

 

[NigelM]

Tesla has not been forthcoming about providing these for Roadster owners so good luck w/ Model S. With other manufacturers dealers are happy to take people's money so you could have someone in the EU buy a bunch of parts and ship them over but Tesla has balked at this approach.

Perhaps there's a technical reason...it's hard to imagine that Tesla would deliberately not want to make money.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

Amber'd have been better but, red's not so bad at all. It'd have been very cool if Tesla had something distinctive like the ones on the Mustang!

 

[Lloyd]

Porsche will not source the EU spec lenses in the US either. There are companies that have made a few $$ by selling them aftermarket in the US.

 

[Kevin Harney]

BMW will not source any EU parts in NA either.

 

[sp4rk]

Add me to the list of amber rear lights. I have a UK address too.

And I have met the UK folks in the Maidenhead office ... very, very nice conversation.

Here's my BEEF.

Side turn signals. They should be mandated by law. My last car was a Lexus 400h. US model. It had NO turn signal near the drivers door.

But the identical UK model had one. Amazing!

When someone is driving at the same speed next to you on the "freeway" (motorway), and they turn their turn signals on, I want to be able to see something on the side of the car as well.

Anyway, Tesla has that.

My Leaf has amber rear. So I plunk down $99,999.99 and get rear reds? So, anyway, to get the UK/ Euro version, I am all in or I'll rig it somehow.

Then again ... talking about rear lighting ... remember when US law (?) mandated the THIRD brake light in the middle? My attitude on that was ... if you cannot see two, you should not be driving.

I also thought US law read that turn signals front and rear should be at the farthest position from the center of the car.

So, onward and upward ... let's get amber lights!!!

 

[Iz]

This is one area where TM should have used a standard amber for all vehicles regardless of country. I'd be on the order list as well. NHTSA should factor this in when assigning ratings.

 

[AnOutsider]

The sucky part is: how do we get them? As others have pointed out, there are no dealers to go order parts from. I suppose you could wait for crashed Model S's to appear on the "part out" lists, but that's clunky and unreliable at best, morbid at worst.

 

[NigelM]

Around here, you're lucky if anyone uses turn signals for turning....most of the time they use both at once as "shopping" lights, forcing everyone else to go round them.

 

[strider]

Porsche will not source the EU spec lenses in the US either. There are companies that have made a few $$ by selling them aftermarket in the US.

Right. On the Corvette forum we did a "group buy" where a forum member in the EU collected money form folks in the US and ordered them from his local dealer who was happy to take the markup on the parts. That member then mailed them over to people in the US.

The problem w/ Tesla is that they won't sell 25 sets of taillights to someone off the street. As to why, well the cars were certified by the DOT w/ red signals and it could be illegal to change that without getting the car recertified. As to why they would make them different, someone posted about the US requiring a certain amount of area of brake light so they could use smaller lights if the turn signals could work as both brake and turn lights. And it's cheaper to have 1 set of LEDs in there instead of 2 (red and amber).

 

[youlikeadajuice]

I guess I'm in the extreme minority, but I have never had an issue with being able to distinguish a turn signal vs. a brake light coming on. If someone is changing lanes THAT quickly, your response is probably not going to come from a turn signal or brake light...it's going to come from seeing the huge hunk of metal quickly coming into your lane! I do understand that amber turn signals would leave no room for interpretation, but I honestly don't believe that it would make a difference in real life. I'm also of the opinion that we can regulate ourselves to death, we can't protect ourselves from everything!

 

[NigelM]

^ +1. You're not alone.

 

[dtich]

i'm for non-red turn sigs for sure. thanks for asking.

yes, this should be a poll..

 

[AnOutsider]

I guess I'm in the extreme minority, but I have never had an issue with being able to distinguish a turn signal vs. a brake light coming on. If someone is changing lanes THAT quickly, your response is probably not going to come from a turn signal or brake light...it's going to come from seeing the huge hunk of metal quickly coming into your lane! I do understand that amber turn signals would leave no room for interpretation, but I honestly don't believe that it would make a difference in real life. I'm also of the opinion that we can regulate ourselves to death, we can't protect ourselves from everything!

Not sure about others, but I like them more from a purely aesthetic perspective... Though I have seen people tap their brakes and momentarily thought they were signaling.