Yellow breaklights, illegal?

gurramok

I was driving home there and ended up spotting 3 cars all with yellow breaklights ahead of me at different times of my journey, all old Renaults.

One was French reg, the other 2 Irish reg(RHD), is there a stipulation that breaklights have to be red?
They look weird, like as if hazard lights and upper middle light(yellow) come on when slowing down each time.

I've never seen anything like it before!

colm_mcm

red bulbs are the cheap solution.

gurramok

So breaklights can be any colour then?

Anan1

gurramok wrote: »

So breaklights can be any colour then?

No, they have to be red. My guess is that the cars you saw had dodgy electrics, illuminating the hazards when the brakes were used.

LarWright

Were the cars actually French, i.e. Peugeot or Citroen?? The amount of those you see with breaklights stuck on, or hazards stuck on when they break is unbelievable.

I would say that by law they have to be red (maybe someone can find it in the road legislation)... If they can fail you in an NCT test for your indicators not being the right colour amber, I presume that the break lights would be the same... It would certainly be more dangerous, at least with indicators, they flash, so you can tell!

L1011

I see Renaults with issues like the brakelights pulsing instead of the indicators flashing every single day at this stage...

Raiser

Fair play to anyone that has the sheer patience, resolute determination, utter resilience, incredible strength of mind, endless maintenance money, lack of self-respect and abundance of self-loathing to enable them to actually buy and run a French built car

javaboy

Raiser wrote: »

Fair play to anyone that has the sheer patience, resolute determination, utter resilience, incredible strength of mind, endless maintenance money, lack of self-respect and abundance of self-loathing to enable them to actually buy and run a French built car

Somebody on another thread is looking for advice on buying a Megane...

Spud83

From here

At the back:
Two red lights (commonly known as tail lights)
Two red brake lights
Two red reflectors
Number plate lighting
Direction indicator lights (amber only)

junior_apollo

My last two cars have been Citroens... never even the slightest problem... Not sure what ye are driving but I love both that I've had and would deffinately look at another...

At the end of the day aslong as they not Micra's then the world is a better place...

javaboy

alanmurphy83 wrote: »

From here

At the back:
Two red lights (commonly known as tail lights)
Two red brake lights
Two red reflectors
Number plate lighting
Direction indicator lights (amber only)

Also (from the rules of the road):

A high mounted rear brake light may be fitted.

You can have a rear fog also. Any other additional lighting is controlled.

LarWright

junior_apollo wrote: »

My last two cars have been Citroens... never even the slightest problem... Not sure what ye are driving but I love both that I've had and would deffinately look at another...

At the end of the day aslong as they not Micra's then the world is a better place...

I didn't mean to single out Citroen's, or Peugeot's... BUT, the majority of cars I see on the road with faulty lights are French... I drive a German car, and they're not exempt from mishaps (An old one I had kept blowing passenger dipped beam bulbs).

I will say that a few Alfa's / Fiat's seem to suffer from lighting "issues" too.

I'm not a Japanese car fan by any stretch of the imagination, and I certainly wouldn't buy a Micra, but they must be doing something right. It's rare you see any with problems...

seamus

Raiser wrote: »

Fair play to anyone that has the sheer patience, resolute determination, utter resilience, incredible strength of mind, endless maintenance money, lack of self-respect and abundance of self-loathing to enable them to actually buy and run a French built car

My peugeot has cost me thousands less than the fiat I first had. Never had any major maintenance costs with it.

Most of the cars I see with lighting issues are BMWs. Though that may be just that the drivers are too ignorant to actually use the lights as opposed to any technical faults.

L1011

javaboy wrote: »

Also (from the rules of the road):

A high mounted rear brake light may be fitted.

Odd that the ROTR says "may" when its European law required since 98....

cashmni1

Raiser wrote: »

Fair play to anyone that has the sheer patience, resolute determination, utter resilience, incredible strength of mind, endless maintenance money, lack of self-respect and abundance of self-loathing to enable them to actually buy and run a French built car

And what do you drive......let me guess......a little German number??

pete4130

Driving through Phibsboro last Oct/Nov late during the dark evenings, the car in front of me, an older Renault again I think had his lights on. The strange thing was his brake lights were on constantly, not his tail lights. The brake lights would go off when he applied the footbrake where they would turn off and both his indicators would stay on constantly. Confusing to say the least.

Raiser

javaboy wrote:

Somebody on another thread is looking for advice on buying a Megane...

Poor sod - he'd be better off giving that money to Christina Gallagher for her house of prayer

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055219293 + http://www.christinagallagher.org/en/

seamus wrote: »

My peugeot has cost me thousands less than the fiat I first had. Never had any major maintenance costs with it.

With all due respect, this argument has a fundamental weakness - saying that Car X is better than a Fiat is akin to saying that you prefer Situation X to the situation where you got your Testicles stuck in a rusty vice.

Cashmni1 wrote:

And what do you drive......let me guess......a little German number??

Currently on second Honda, but a Mazda before that, am a convert to Japanese thinking for a long time now - so much so that I'm considering sawing 75% off each table-leg in the Gaff.

LarWright

Raiser wrote: »

am a convert to Japanese thinking for a long time now - so much so that I'm considering sawing 75% off each table-leg in the Gaff.

Classic

Esel

Raiser wrote: »

With all due respect, this argument has a fundamental weakness - saying that Car X is better than a Fiat is akin to saying that you prefer Situation X to the situation where you got your Testicles stuck in a rusty vice.

Define Situation X.

L1011

Raiser wrote: »

With all due respect, this argument has a fundamental weakness - saying that Car X is better than a Fiat is akin to saying that you prefer Situation X to the situation where you got your Testicles stuck in a rusty vice.

Translation - Raiser has not driven a Fiat made since 2004. :rolleyes:

Modern Fiats, particularly diesel ones, are amongst the most reliable vehicles sold in Ireland. There is a reason that the majority of the worlds car manufacturers license Fiat's diesel engine technology.