Why Red?

[240260280z]

Most people don't seem use their turn indicators but when they do, why do some manufacturers cheap-out and not use orange plastic lens'?

I never understood the safety issue being outweighed by penny pinching?

Most of the world uses yellow for separate turn indicators and the human eye is much more sensitive to colours near yellow than red.

Am I missing something or is it just cheap-arse manufacturers?

[Arne]

I don't think it's just being cheap. Seems to also be a style-over-function thing. Plenty of expensive cars recently (think BMW, Audi and Benz) have been going all red, and not just here in the US. Amber rear lights seem to be hard to blend in stylistically, so for a while it was clear lenses with amber bulbs, and now red lenses, or even more odd, clear lenses with red LEDs.

As confirmation of the style thing, I have heard that some years of VW Passats with red LED read signals can actually have the control module re-coded to make them flash amber with no other changes. So the red was an intentional decision on VW's part. No idea why.

[Walter Moore]

I know that historically U.S. made cars nearly always used combination brake/turn signal lights in the rear. It was even an issue when you wanted to use a European car with separate turn signals as a tow vehicle because the standard wiring harness on most small trailers was made with only four wires. One for running lights, two for the combination stop/turn lights, and one for ground. You had to buy or make a module to adapt from the six wire system to the four wire system.

Doesn't the U.S. specification 240Z have combination lights, or does it just have red lenses with separate turn and brake lights? (I have never followed my car, since I am the only one in the house who will drive a car with a manual transmission...)

Edited June 15, 2011 by Walter Moore
4 + 2 = 6, not 7

[Arne]

Doesn't the U.S. specification 240Z have combination lights, or does it just have red lenses with separate turn and brake lights? (I have never followed my car, since I am the only one in the house who will drive a car with a manual transmission...)

Yes, the US 240Z does have combined lights, which added all sorts of complexity to the circuits. I actually changed mine. The top lights are now brake only, while the lower are combined.