Amber side marker lights - legal?

Gregor Samsa

I got a 2010 Volvo V50 just before Christmas. In the front light cluster, there are amber side marker lights, powered by W5W (5W number plate) bulbs. When I got the car, it had these bulbs in, but they were blown.

Are these legal for use in Ireland? They’re not the same lights that are used for the indicators, and they shine more to the side than the front.

Some bad pics:

colm_mcm

Yes they’re legal. It’s a Volvo thing.

Gregor Samsa

colm_mcm wrote: »

Yes they’re legal. It’s a Volvo thing.

Cool. I have to say, I’ve never noticed them being on other cars before. I’m obviously not as observant as I think I am! I did see something similar on a Honda (Accord maybe) tonight.

colm_mcm

Most manufacturers don’t bother. They’re not a requirement in all markets. Think there’s side markers on the back too, on the side of the light cluster.

Gregor Samsa

colm_mcm wrote: »

Think there’s side markers on the back too, on the side of the light cluster.

There is indeed, but they’re red. Our S-Max has them at the back sides too. It was the amber that threw me a bit.

bazz26

BMW 5 Series had them too up to a few years ago. They are legal but not mandatory here.

hi5

Land Rover discovery from the 90's and the latest one too.

kirving

If you look at the back of the car from the side, you'll probably notice a part of the light that is a bit brighter than the rest of it.

Both are to help visibility when driving or reversing out from side roads at night.

Both are also a legal requirement in the US, my guess being because they have many more corssroads in their cities than we do here.

The difference with Volvo and some other manufacturers, BMW E60 5 series being a notable example is that they have designed the car from the outset to include these lights as part of the main headlight assembly to be compliant with the US market.

Mercedes haven't done so on many of their models until recently, and so have an additional side reflector and lamp often mounted elsewhere on the front wing.

zilog_jones

I think the thing to note here is that they are specifically side marker lights, which are not the same as front position lights, aka parking lights or sidelights which all cars have - these need to be white over here, whereas side marker lights are amber.

I've seen a good few older Japanese cars ('90s Civics, etc.) with cleary US-spec aftermarket front headlight clusters, including amber parking lights - they are technically non-compliant for use here, but I wonder if the NCT actually care?

5500

The new Honda Civic also has these markers in orange on them too, I think it looks crap and as if it's an indicator stuck on

Nate--IRL--

5500 wrote: »

The new Honda Civic also has these markers in orange on them too, I think it looks crap and as if it's an indicator stuck on

I wonder would it be legal to modify it to be an indicator?

Nate

5500

There's kit's out already to do so eg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4cGWRsxhW0

I doubt you would cop much/any hassle with the above

Nate--IRL--

Hmmmm, might do just that. Thanks.

Nate

colm_mcm

They’re called a switchover LED -so you’ll find loads of examples on eBay/aliexpress/whatever for universal fitment.

weadick

Volvo have had them for yonks, I like them personally.

colm_mcm

They were quite the talking point when the first gen S40 came out.

weadick

colm_mcm wrote: »

They were quite the talking point when the first gen S40 came out.

Wonder why Volvo got rid of them on later models?

boombang

I believe there is some requirement for amber side reflectors front and rear in the US. Most modern non-US brands integrate these with their front and rear clusters, but most older cars had them as awkward looking add one. However, I'm not sure how closely related these are to the items identified by the OP.