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Unused tail light on trunk lid?

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While driving behind me this morning, my wife noticed that the lights on the interior of the trunk lid light assembly never come on in any of the modes. I searched video on Youtube and could not see anything that shows these actually coming on. What are they? Is this just a piece of plastic to continue the look of the outer tail light assembly?

Sorry if this is well known, I tried searching but only found info about condensation in tail lights...
 

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On EU cars the light at the right arrow functions as a Reverse light.
On US cars they both function as a Reverse light << not 100% sure! can someone confirm?

I recall years ago that when Chrysler exported the Eagle Vision TSi to Europe, they replaced one of the two white backup lights with a red rear fog light to comply with EU specs. Could that be what's going on here? Anyone know how the EU rear fog lights are implemented?
 
Interesting video but it never showed the fog lights or cornering lights as near as I could tell. The video was made in a December 2012 so maybe that car didn't have those lights?

All cars had/have the cornering lights back then, and fog lights used to be included in the Tech Package and so were also more common back then. Interesting fact: Both front cornering lights come on when you put the car in reverse.
 
All cars had/have the cornering lights back then, and fog lights used to be included in the Tech Package and so were also more common back then. Interesting fact: Both front cornering lights come on when you put the car in reverse.

Cool, I didn't know that.

So did you see the fog lights or cornering lights come on in that video.?

I have seen some people post that the cornering lights are too dim to be useful. While I concede that they could be brighter, I find them useful when making sharp low speed turns, like in parking lots or turning into driveways. I'm glad they are there.
 
So did you see the fog lights or cornering lights come on in that video.?

No, I didn't see them come on either.

I have seen some people post that the cornering lights are too dim to be useful. While I concede that they could be brighter, I find them useful when making sharp low speed turns, like in parking lots or turning into driveways. I'm glad they are there.

I find that they come on a bit too late when I'm turning. I wish they would automatically come on with the corresponding turn signal in addition to by themselves with a steering wheel turn. They definitely could be brighter.
 
I'm not sure that I am understanding the replies to the thread. From what I can tell in the video (and my car) is that the white light on each end of the chrome trim on the trunk lid are the reverse lights. The lights I am questioning is the white lights that are right where the arrows are pointing -- the interior lights that seem to extend from the interior brake light on the outer taillight assembly. Are you saying those are rear fog lights? I don't have tech package and a late VIN (42XXX), so I don't have DRL or Cornering lights. It looks like there is something in the plastic housing, I just can't tell if its for looks or they actually are lights that I don't know how/can't turn on.
 
I'm not sure that I am understanding the replies to the thread. From what I can tell in the video (and my car) is that the white light on each end of the chrome trim on the trunk lid are the reverse lights. The lights I am questioning is the white lights that are right where the arrows are pointing -- the interior lights that seem to extend from the interior brake light on the outer taillight assembly. Are you saying those are rear fog lights? I don't have tech package and a late VIN (42XXX), so I don't have DRL or Cornering lights. It looks like there is something in the plastic housing, I just can't tell if its for looks or they actually are lights that I don't know how/can't turn on.

@golf - i think your observation is correct. those additional white/clear lights don't do anything. i have Tech and it looks the same as yours when braking. i think it's just a cosmetic look. does the Model S even have rear fogs?
 
@mknox I've seen an S reversing in the UK and only one of the reverse lights was on so I imagine the fog is in the other one.

Thanks. I've heard of it done that way before. I was kinda hoping Tesla would have modified the red reflectors toward the bottom of the bumpers (that are on the NA cars at least) into the fog lights, but maybe there's some kind of height requirement.
 
I would have thought the same because as far as I'm aware the only stipulation regarding the fog light is that it is reasonably far away from the tail/brake lights. I'm sure there's a specific rule but I don't know it in detail.

The reversing light that was on didn't seem very bright to me. It looked like two LEDs, blueish white. It was a sunny day when I saw them but still, if I wasn't looking for it I feel I may not have noticed it. Funnily enough in the UK a reversing light isn't even required so it wouldn't matter anyway but safety wise I feel it could be more obvious.
 
@mknox I've seen an S reversing in the UK and only one of the reverse lights was on so I imagine the fog is in the other one.
Exactly, I can confirm this for my car (European). Actually I'd love to have two reversing lights because that single light is pretty dim and doesn't help much when reversing in a dark driveway. The new Mercedes S has a cool feature in this regard: A bright strip of LED lights down low on the rear diffusor. I imagine that this illuminates the rear view camera image pretty well.
 
On BMWs, there are "sudden stop" lights in the back that illuminate when you use a lot of brake force for a sudden stop... perhaps this is what it could be? Never been behind a Tesla during a sudden stop, so I wouldn't know...

While driving behind me this morning, my wife noticed that the lights on the interior of the trunk lid light assembly never come on in any of the modes. I searched video on Youtube and could not see anything that shows these actually coming on. What are they? Is this just a piece of plastic to continue the look of the outer tail light assembly?

Sorry if this is well known, I tried searching but only found info about condensation in tail lights...
 
I'll have to double check tonight, but I'm fairly sure that the lights being pointed to in the picture are red running lights on the US model, which turn on with the headlights.

Peter

True - they are running lights that turn on with the headlamps. When the headlamps are not on they don't light up.

They are powered via a connection that plugs into the back of the lights in question. We tap the power to them to drive the brightness of the rear lighted T to match the running lights when they're on.

Here's a photo of them on.

_DSC5003.jpg
 
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True - they are running lights that turn on with the headlamps. When the headlamps are not on they don't light up.

They are powered via a connection that plugs into the back of the lights in question. We tap the power to them to drive the brightness of the rear lighted T to match the running lights when they're on.

Here's a photo of them on.

Hey Peter and artsci - I am not talking about the outer lights in the trunk lid light assembly, but the white track lights that are interior to the lights that you are showing lit up. If you look inside the assembly, there seems to be a light/plastic strip on the interior of the running lights (red) that you are showing as lit up on the trunk lid. They seem to be a continuation of the interior "C" on the outer tail-light assembly.