Corvette with red rear indicators

DAZP93

Last night on my way home from work I was behind a 2007 Corvette heading through Rochedtown in Cork. I obviously switched off the radio and wound down the window to have a listen to its lazy V8, I admit I got a little excited.

The point is there was no amber coloured indidcator light on the back of the car and when the indicator was switched on the rear tail light flashed (red)..as a sort of substitute to the conventional amber flashing lights we are used to. I am fairly certain that there was no amber bulb/light there at all as this very same method of indication was used on the other side of the car.

The thing is I failed an NCT years back for not having the correct shade of amber on my indicators..Is this Corvette breaching some kind of regulations etc?? Not that it realy bothers me, I still knew what direction he was heading in when his indicator was flicked on, just looked realy unusual from behind!

keithclancy

DAZP93 wrote: »

Last night on my way home from work I was behind a 2007 Corvette heading through Rochedtown in Cork. I obviously switched off the radio and wound down the window to have a listen to its lazy V8, I admit I got a little excited.

The point is there was no amber coloured indidcator light on the back of the car and when the indicator was switched on the rear tail light flashed (red)..as a sort of substitute to the conventional amber flashing lights we are used to. I am fairly certain that there was no amber bulb/light there at all as this very same method of indication was used on the other side of the car.

The thing is I failed an NCT years back for not having the correct shade of amber on my indicators..Is this Corvette breaching some kind of regulations etc?? Not that it realy bothers me, I still knew what direction he was heading in when his indicator was flicked on, just looked realy unusual from behind!

Yeh .. same over here in the Netherlands.. seen lots of these Chevy Rape Vans driving around the place with Red Indicators (Also have special sized plates as the yank places are square) and for my APK (NCT) I failed on a faded amber bulb ... although the guy in the APK center just changed it and then passed it :pac:

Must be some kind of exemption.

ironclaw

American cars nearly all do that. Its actually quite clever. The rear brake light is normally pulsed and used as the indicator. By the letter of the law however, they should be European orange. My boss's Dodge Charger had to be retrofitted with orange blinkers on the sides and rear.

However, if a retrofit wasn't feasible or possible, it may be exempt.

Pat Mustard

I just cut and pasted the following reasons for failure for indicators from page 45 of the NCT Manual, from the NCT website.

1 Missing, not fitted symmetrically or not clearly visible.
2 Not working or faulty.
3 Not flashing constantly between 60 and 120
flashes per minute (flashing type).
4 Insecurely mounted.
5 Lens broken or missing.
6 Contains water / moisture.
Post-June 1964
7 Not amber in colour.
Pre-July 1964
8 Front indicators – not amber or white in colour.
9 Rear indicators – not amber or red in colour.
10 Where only one indicator (on each side) is used for front and rear:
(a) Not amber in colour.
(b) Does not extend six inches beyond the outline of the vehicle
(semaphore type only).

Maybe I am missing something, but it looks like you are right.

Pat Mustard

keithclancy wrote: »

Chevy Rape Vans

keithclancy wrote: »

Must be some kind of exemption.

Yeah, that seems to be the most obvious answer. You would think that it should be written into the NCT Manual somewhere, though.

Davidth88

I had a very nasty accident because of these red flashing indicators.

I was pillion on a bike, the driver of the bike went to overtake a car who he thought was braking , turned out he was turning right !!... The brake lights were the indicator.

The guy driving the bike I was on broke his leg in two places , I escaped with a broken toe and a nasty gash in my leg ( toe was where I had my foot caught in the back wheel of the bike )

It was an American driver/car , we were near a USAF base in England .

DAZP93

OSI wrote: »

It's not really, the indicators on most cars are orange for a reason, to make them as obvious as possible. The flashing tail lights as indicators is just another example of American car manufacturer cost cutting.

FACT..!! Thats the only conclusion we can draw from this one I'd say..Those yank tanks are generaly built to a budget it has to be said :rolleyes:

DAZP93

OSI wrote: »

Wanna suggest any other reason they would opt not to use the proven to be safer amber turn signals, other than opting for the cheapest legally mandated option?

Ehm..no..I was agreeing with you, hence "FACT"

Mycroft H

OSI wrote: »

It's not really, the indicators on most cars are orange for a reason, to make them as obvious as possible. The flashing tail lights as indicators is just another example of American car manufacturer cost cutting.

Not really cost cutting, rather the way they've been doing it for years.

ironclaw

BX 19 wrote: »

Not really cost cutting, rather the way they've been doing it for years.

Exactly. Just because its European law doesn't make it more or less correct. Same would apply in the US, flashing amber would confuse them like us. However, I'm not for a moment suggesting that we allow red and amber. Keep it the same.

Your eye is more sensitive to red anyway.

Mycroft H

ironclaw wrote: »

Your eye is more sensitive to red anyway.

True, there is a reason that stopped emergency vehicles have flashing red strobes fitted along with the blue strobes.

keithclancy

ironclaw wrote: »

Exactly. Just because its European law doesn't make it more or less correct. Same would apply in the US, flashing amber would confuse them like us. However, I'm not for a moment suggesting that we allow red and amber. Keep it the same.

Your eye is more sensitive to red anyway.

I think your eyes are more sensitive to contrast rather than color.

red indicator on red is harder to see than amber next to red.

zilog_jones

ironclaw wrote: »

Same would apply in the US, flashing amber would confuse them like us.

No it wouldn't - amber indicators are allowed on the rear in the US like here. Most "imports" sold in the US (stuff from Europe or Asia) have amber rear indicators these days.

aujopimur

The interupter brake light type indicators were in use on Europian cars in the 50s/60s,
In my own case I've retro wired an fitted yellow indicators on classic cars in order not to confuse drivers who are unaware of red indiators.

Big Nasty

Any car registered on or after 1/1/1980 should have amber indicators fitted. What is normally done is to stick amber bulbs in the reverse lights and rewire them to work as the indicators and fit an additional light for reversing down near the bottom of the bumper cover. That way you don't need to change the lenses or anything.

I would imagine the 'Vette you saw was freshly imported and hadn't seen an NCT yet.

firefly08

zilog_jones wrote: »

No it wouldn't - amber indicators are allowed on the rear in the US like here. Most "imports" sold in the US (stuff from Europe or Asia) have amber rear indicators these days.

There are still a lot of European cars in America with red indicators now.

And yes they are a lot less visible than amber, especially when you consider that indicators are almost always used in conjunction with brake lights. The pickup trucks are the worst, they have these tiny rear lamps that serve as both brake and indicator lights. If you look closely you see one of the brake lights pulsing faintly, but it's barely noticeable even on some fairly modern vehicles.

But it hardly matters since they only use them on special occasions anyway.

mloc123

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VTd-0_9-64

I don't know how I feel about these.

mailforkev

Best US rear indicators at the moment are the current Mustang with the sequential rear bulbs.

Edit: Damn, mloc123 beat me to it!

Del2005

ironclaw wrote: »

Exactly. Just because its European law doesn't make it more or less correct. Same would apply in the US, flashing amber would confuse them like us. However, I'm not for a moment suggesting that we allow red and amber. Keep it the same.

Your eye is more sensitive to red anyway.

Lots of American cars have amber turn signals. In the few States I've been to the majority are amber, the red turn signals are usually on cars/trucks not sold outside the USA.

With there being fewer manufacturers and part bin sharing the US red turn signal won't last much longer.