Amber turn signals spotted

My 85D still has red turn signals. I'd bet on a modification of the car.

Didn't know this before. Ugh. I much prefer amber turn lights b/c I notice people in my area seem to notice them more. In our VW, I would have my turn signal on and get honked when I change lanes as if I had never signaled. This doesn't happen in my Toyota. Granted, we also are talking about a coupe vs. an SUV, but I noticed it very often that I kept checking to see if the bulb was burnt out on the VW.

Yeah, those would be the non US lights. I wish they would just use them here too.



Amber / Yellow rear blinkers / turn signals | Forums | Tesla Motors

MikeK said:

Greetings,

I know that there was a lengthy thread about amber turn signals some time ago. I believe the conclusion was that they were not available nor would they be.

And yet. The other day, I saw a Model S on the road with normal plates (not dealer or manufacturer plates), and it had amber turn signals. The inner portion of the stationary section of the brake lights (the part that doesn't move when the trunk opens) was flashing amber as the car was waiting for a turn.

Has Tesla made a change? Did somebody retrofit Euro lights?

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Was the lens a different color like on EU models or possibly just the bulb?

Musterion said:

Was the lens a different color like on EU models or possibly just the bulb?

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Would have to be a separate assembly. In North American models, both the inner and outer sections brighten up simultaneously for brake/turn signal use. With the different EU charge connector on the side, I'm not sure how this could have been done.

mknox said:

Would have to be a separate assembly. In North American models, both the inner and outer sections brighten up simultaneously for brake/turn signal use. With the different EU charge connector on the side, I'm not sure how this could have been done.

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Are not the Canadian models using the orange turn signals like in Europe? in that case there seems to be more than one or two Canadian bought cars that have migrated to the US..... just a thought.

Nope. Canadian cars have the same U.S. style lamps.

mknox said:

Nope. Canadian cars have the same U.S. style lamps.

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There goes my thought.

amber lights are undeniably superior. its a safety issue.

hopefully tesla does it in US

I want a set for the rear of my car. can anyone determine if there is a wiring difference, or is this plug and play?

Lloyd said:

I want a set for the rear of my car. can anyone determine if there is a wiring difference, or is this plug and play?

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Personally, I hate those amber rear turn signals, but to each his own, I guess. I suspect that the wiring is the same, but the car's firmware would have to be modified and the lamp assembly would have to be modified as well. Currently, both the inner and outer section of the lamp illuminate in red and both segments will flash with the turn signal. With the amber setup, the outer segment on both sides will illuminate red with the brakes, and the inner section will flash amber with the turn signal (while the brake light will stay on steady).

Can't you just change the LEDs in the housing to yellow ones?

AmpedRealtor said:

Can't you just change the LEDs in the housing to yellow ones?

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If you changed the LEDs to yellow on the inner section, all that would do is cause the lamp to light up red on the outer section and yellow on the inner section at the same time whenever the brake is applied or the turn signal is activated. You have to change the logic such that only the inner section flashes with the turn signals and only the outer section stays on solid with the brakes.

For the first time I checked this out following one of many Teslas in the vicinity. I'd have to see how the amber works in person, because I guess it would be a tradeoff with some of the extra flashing power when hitting the brakes, where I see you get two rings lighting instead of just the outer one. There was a story I remember reading somewhere on the forum where a guy saw amber lights facing him in the fog and was convinced he was going to have a head-on collision because he only equated amber color with the front of the car, but it was just a normal car on the side of the road with rear (amber) blinkers on. Not sure if I recall the story completely as I can't find it now, but apparently people in North America are used to seeing walls of red lights.

Well it comes down to US regulations for rear blinker size. That is why the Euro (and other international models) have the blinkers on the fixed outer part of the rear taillights. In the US, we are required to have a larger size/space coverage. So Tesla used the entire light/brake-light for the blinker. We are stuck. I always prefer the amber blinkers. At least we have the amber side markers that is a European standard and not specified in the US.

Blu Zap said:

Well it comes down to US regulations for rear blinker size. That is why the Euro (and other international models) have the blinkers on the fixed outer part of the rear taillights. In the US, we are required to have a larger size/space coverage. So Tesla used the entire light/brake-light for the blinker. We are stuck. I always prefer the amber blinkers. At least we have the amber side markers that is a European standard and not specified in the US.

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Quite a few years ago, I was looking into retrofitting a car I had with Euro-spec headlights and tail lights. What I learned was at the time in Canada, EU-spec lights were acceptable, but just not mandatory. For the most part, Canada simply follows US DOT requirements. I've seen some North American versions of cars with pretty small lighting surface areas (Volvo comes to mind) and wonder just what this size requirement is. I would have thought it would have more to do with luminosity than with surface area.

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Musterion said:

There was a story I remember reading somewhere on the forum where a guy saw amber lights facing him in the fog and was convinced he was going to have a head-on collision because he only equated amber color with the front of the car, but it was just a normal car on the side of the road with rear (amber) blinkers on. Not sure if I recall the story completely as I can't find it now, but apparently people in North America are used to seeing walls of red lights.

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That was me (or at least I had a similar experience). It was a car on the right hand shoulder and all I could see were yellow flashing lights. In the "old days" I would have realized the car was facing me, but with the introduction of amber rear lights as well as forward lights, I couldn't be sure and just assumed I was looking at the back of some newer car with amber rear flashers. Then suddenly the headlights came on and is scared the crap out of me when he started to move. Not the end of the world for sure, but I simply see the value in being able to distinguish the front from the rear of the car. I actually do prefer "segmented" tail lights where the brake and turn signal are separate elements because that way the brakes stay illuminated on both sides of the car even when a turn signal is on. I just don't see why the flasher needs to be amber. I personally don't find amber any easier to see, and often find it distracting.

mknox said:

Quite a few years ago, I was looking into retrofitting a car I had with Euro-spec headlights and tail lights. What I learned was at the time in Canada, EU-spec lights were acceptable, but just not mandatory. For the most part, Canada simply follows US DOT requirements. I've seen some North American versions of cars with pretty small lighting surface areas (Volvo comes to mind) and wonder just what this size requirement is. I would have thought it would have more to do with luminosity than with surface area.

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See my post here (and in fact there's a whole thread about this already): Amber rear turn signals? - Page 22

strider said:

See my post here (and in fact there's a whole thread about this already): Amber rear turn signals? - Page 22

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Yep, as usual I digressed again :redface: Back to amber turn signals on US cars and how that might work...