Model 3 has small brake lights

[TEG]

3 and S braking:

 

[insaneoctane]

Photos and videos still make braking and signals look very dim/small. Anyone seeing them firsthand say they are much brighter in person?

 

[Zaphod]

In the photo above your post, they don't look any more dim than the other cars in the picture to me anyways.

 

[Jayc]

Photos and videos still make braking and signals look very dim/small. Anyone seeing them firsthand say they are much brighter in person?

Have to agree. I see no reason for allocating the outer ring for parking light and the tiny middle section for brakes. Brakes have to make maximum impact under adverse weather to a distracted driver following you, the worst case scenario should be considered. No point in looking at a snap taken on a dry clear day and thinking it looks bright enough. Tesla Model 3 may have the next generation self drive tech but it will still depend on the car behind it being able to stop in time in an emergency without rear ending it.

 

[TEG]

Make me ponder if outside airbags would make sense someday. If the cameras and sensors see a car about to rear end you, why not have a flap open and deploy a jumbo airbag behind the car right before impact?

 

[TEG]

Hmm... Search turns up:

 

[BluestarE3]

Make me ponder if outside airbags would make sense someday. If the cameras and sensors see a car about to rear end you, why not have a flap open and deploy a jumbo airbag behind the car right before impact?

Oh, great. Now I can't get this out of my mind:

 

[Runt8]

It does seem weird to me that the biggest lights on the back are the ones used least often. Seems like the outer ring should be brakes and the inner line turn signal.

 

[TEG]

It does seem weird to me that the biggest lights on the back are the ones used least often. Seems like the outer ring should be brakes and the inner line turn signal.

Yep... They did that on S, but not on 3 for some reason.

 

[TEG]

They don't seem very bright from the side.

 

[TEG]

Model S has these extra 3 side LEDs... (?):

 

[DrivingTheFuture]

Is it just me, or do the brake lights look really weak? As in, not safe....

I've seen the vehicle in person from 6 inches away ... They seemed plenty big and bright

 

[BluestarE3]

I've seen the vehicle in person from 6 inches away ... They seemed plenty big and bright

Are you sure it wasn't those big fat raindrops acting as prisms making the lights look bigger and brighter?

 

[DrivingTheFuture]

Are you sure it wasn't those big fat raindrops acting as prisms making the lights look bigger and brighter?

That or the adrenaline pumping through my veins from stumbling upon such a blessed surprise...

 

[RayW]

DOT approved, that's the only thing that matters

 

[alseTrick]

View attachment 231712

They don't seem very bright from the side.

It's stupid. Plain and simple. Anyone disagreeing is lying to themselves.

 

[DrivingTheFuture]

S and 3 braking:
View attachment 231613

Interesting to notice that the brake lights on the small SUV in front of Model 3 are about same size...

 

[TEG]

https://www.nhtsa.gov/DOT/TP-108-13.pdf

...The photometer shall be located at a distance of 100 feet from the test device. If the lamp is tested in combination with a taillamp, the appropriate data sheet shall be completed, including minimum ratios required between the signal lamp and the taillamp...

...The maximum photometric intensity must not occur over any area larger than that generated by a 0.5º radius within a solid angle defined by the test point range...

It looks like they only care about things within 20 degrees of straight back.

 

[BluestarE3]

S and 3 braking:
View attachment 231613

On the Model S, why isn't the right (passenger side) brake light illuminated the same way as the one on the left when (if?) the brakes were applied?

 

[TEG]

I think it is, but the light is pointing away (straight backwards and to the right.)