Your car`s turn signals don`t need to be red, but they usually are. Here`s why. U.S. regulators, the only ones in the world, have rejected the idea that something could go wrong by trying to combine two very different messages with two (or just one!) Thus, car manufacturers on the American market play “now it`s amber, now it`s red” with the color of the rear turn signals: orange this year, red next year, again on amber at the next facelift. Even imports have red tail signals in America, at some point, because stylists will use every tool at their disposal to distinguish this year`s model from last year`s model. Maybe it`s time to think about taking a deep breath and boldly aligning U.S. turn signal regulations with what the rest of the world knew before the Beatles. (b) An operator intending to turn a vehicle to the right or left shall continuously signal at least the last 100 feet of movement of the vehicle before turning. (a) Unless otherwise specified in subparagraph (b), motor vehicles, trailers, semi-trailers or stick trailers shall be equipped with electrical indicators indicating the intention of the operator to turn by affixing flashing lights to the front and rear of a vehicle or combination of vehicles and to the side of the vehicle or combination of vehicles on which the curve is to be made. Red rear turn signals are as American as apple pie, so let`s leave it that way. Shortly after releasing its preliminary results for 2008-09, NHTSA opened a public list asking for comments on the issue. Of course, there are opinions on both sides. But it`s interesting how many ordinary drivers who don`t have an ulterior motive or axe to grind have urged NHTSA to demand yellow signals.

Well. No, actually, and here`s why: there`s a good bunch of evidence that yellow signals do a better job than red signals, but there`s no safety-related reason for the minimum lighting size requirement. This has never happened before. This has to be one of the most fascinating and intelligent articles I`ve read in the last 3 months. Car headlights – their shapes, colors and locations – have fascinated me since I was 5 years old. So nice to see an entire article dedicated to one of my most pronounced childhood obsessions. (c) An operator shall not turn on signals only on one side of the vehicle of a parked or impeded vehicle or use the signals as a courtesy or overtaking signal to the driver of another vehicle approaching from behind. Good question and the answer is, not much. Basically, 545.106 says your car must have turn signals that are “departmentally approved.” Which is strange, since another law tells you everything about what is required for a turn signal in Texas. Which also answers this question – the only color that can legally be displayed on the front of a vehicle is white or yellow – white headlights, yellow turn signals / traffic lights. The only color that can be displayed upside down is red or yellow – red taillights/brake lights, yellow turn signals.

No other colour is permitted and if an authorised colour lamp is visible from a direction which is not permitted, it may not be equipped in this way. All vehicles in the world, except the United States, have yellow turn signals installed. We are the only country in the world that does not have one. It makes us very sad to imagine the world. The turn signals on the back of your car are red, aren`t they? Usually, but not necessarily. “We find no compelling reason to maintain the requirement, but we also find no compelling reason to eliminate it,” the NHTSA report concluded. So they kept it. This was before NHTSA`s own proof that orange signals work best. Maybe there`s a reason now! Then came a more advanced optics that gave us crystalline lenses; The optics were moved to the reflector to create a jewel-like look.

All lenses were no longer lit, but we see bright spots and lines of light very closely, surrounded by dark bands and spaces. The same goes for many LED lights that show bright spots surrounded by dark rooms. LEDs with a small total area can produce high intensities that would require a much larger surface area with a lamp and reflector configuration. With these changes, the minimum lighting requirement is no longer tied to the luminance or intensity of a car light. This is an outdated requirement that now stands in the way of the real safety improvement we could have if all vehicles had yellow rear turn signals. Rear yellow turn signals appeared on cars in the early 1970s and the system seemed to work very well. Then, as the 1990s approached, the rear yellow turn signals began to disappear. As a professional designer since 1978, I believe a number of American automakers have caved in to their interior design departments, pushing for a “less busy” look and putting all-in on red. It`s a shame that fashion matters.

It`s also a bit silly that American cars have to make rear yellow turn signals for international sales and then go through additional production only for the US market. I will use my designer brain and review designer fashion every day with certainty. When it comes to driving safely, function should take precedence over fashion. I hate red back signals. I have no idea why VW is changing it for North America, but has amber for the rest of the world. I had to convert my 2007 Jetta into European lenses. The red rear signal is almost invisible here. You can actually see the yellow signals in the mirrors before seeing the rear signals. (e) A flashing light shall, in direct sunlight, at a distance of: From the article and photos, it seems that the yellow signals date from before the 70s, unless you said it only became fashionable for American vehicles at that time? What a fantastic article. I was kicked out of vwvortex and, perhaps with the Canada-U.S.

scism now, perhaps Transport Canada will mandate the installation of yellow rear turn signals. In addition, the Audi have sequential yellow turn signals in the rest of the world. The biggest problem is the distinction between colors and not surface, because LED signals with a smaller area are much brighter and more visible than signals with incandescent bulbs with a larger area. Why not a white LED with a yellow lens? Hi Ian, we are in the process of moving and bringing our 2005 Jetta to the UK. Did you have to replace the outer lenses to create the yellow turn signals, or did you find a cheaper option? In the UK we also need to provide a right-hand rear fog light, so you also need to replace the interior taillights, have you done that too or where to store your car in the US? Giving automakers a choice between red or orange is an unusual flexibility in an otherwise rigid U.S. auto bureaucracy, but it shouldn`t: The federal government itself has documented that yellow rear turn signals offer a statistically significant improvement in crash prevention. It was not a bad solution; In America, we have yellow or white front parking lights and yellow or white daytime running lights, so everyone in America knows that a pair of fixed yellow lights means you`re looking at the end of the approaching vehicle. The reversing light is a secondary lighting function, rarely used, so putting it on turn signals has much less consequence than brakes and turn signals. Today`s yellow turn signals are often larger and brighter than tiny dark white backup lights. That is your opinion and you are entitled to it.

However, all the data show that orange leads to fewer accidents. In particular, the 2009 NHTSA study is interesting because it focused on identical vehicles, where the only difference was that the color of the turn signal changed from yellow to red or vice versa as a stylistic change so that it could be isolated. More than 5% fewer collisions thanks to this change alone. There have been other studies that agree with the result, and it`s no coincidence that virtually every country outside of the US/Canada requires amber. I truly believe that all new cars and SUVs should all come with orange rear turn signals, because all over the world, the U.S. is one of the few that doesn`t incorporate it into their vehicles, which is a massive mistake on its part. Even without this kind of change, it`s hard to think of actual car designs that lack space for sufficiently large, bright and beautiful red brakes and taillights, yellow turn signals, white backup lights, and perhaps red fog light features. All that is needed is a properly drafted regulation that conforms to science, evidence and facts. We do not have that at the moment.

Thank you for the smartest and best researched article I`ve ever read on this topic.