4 ms·

US car regulations are weirdly inconsistent. Sometimes they are incredibly strict. You can't have a convex left side mirror and the right one has to carry a stu

by fsh 10mo ago

US car regulations are weirdly inconsistent. Sometimes they are incredibly strict. You can't have a convex left side mirror and the right one has to carry a stupid warning label. Importing non-antique foreign cars is practically impossible. But then, some obviously unsafe features, such as indicators in the same color as the rear lights, are perfectly legal.

barrkel 10mo ago
The non-convex side mirror almost got me into an accident the first rental car I drove in the US. I was expecting to see more of the road than I did.
aurareturn 10mo ago
such as indicators in the same color as the rear lights, are perfectly legal. My goodness this drives me crazy. Why do cars do this?
- sznio 10mo ago
  Less lights is less cost. On European streets the easiest way to detect an American-designed car is that they only have one reverse light, the bare minimum. Only suitable as an indicator to the driver behind you. Ever considered trying to reverse into a parking spot without any streetlight nearby? Reversing blind is awesome! In any European car you get two lights, not in the center but in the corners so you can actually see stuff in your side mirrors while parking.
  - PinguTS 10mo ago
    For a long time many German made car like from Audi, Seat, VW, BMW hat just one reverse light. On the left side is the fog light and on the right side is the reversing light.
    - consp 10mo ago
      This is correct, though wat probably is meant is that US cars (or dual designed cars) have two spots with only the right one filled in the EU and a separate fog light with only the left one filled. I had a Ford Fiesta with only one reverse light and put in another to get a bit more light when reversing and my assumption is this is more common on US designed vehicles (though the Fiesta was designed in either the UK or Germany but you get the jist).
      - bombcar 10mo ago
        Of course now it’s basically a non-issue as all new cars have a night-vision camera when in reverse.
  - potato3732842 10mo ago
    >on European streets the easiest way to detect an American-designed car is that they only have one reverse light, the bare minimum. Only suitable as an indicator to the driver behind you. Ever considered trying to reverse into a parking spot without any streetlight nearby? Reversing blind is awesome! A bunch of Japanese compacts and subcompacts do it too and it was basically unheard of on any vehicle from any continent until the last 15yr or so when backup cameras proliferated. Confirmation bias is a hell of a drug.
kelnos 10mo ago
I think the indicator color laxness is dumb, but I don't really get when people are so up in arms about it (and yes, I've heard Alec from Technology Connections rant about this many times, and usually agree with the things he says). I have literally never been confused by this. A blinking red light is very different from a solid red light, at least to my eyes.
- pfdietz 10mo ago
  Blinking vs. solid also works for the colorblind, right?
sschueller 10mo ago
These regulations are very odd as the third/center break-light is a US thing that come into Europe.
fransje26 10mo ago
> such as indicators in the same color as the rear lights, are perfectly legal. I saw some of those on some US army vehicles on the German autobahn. And what perfectly illustrated their danger was when they almost got rear-ended while entering the left-lane in front of a passing Audi at mild autobahn speed. Had it been a yellow blinking light, the left-lane driver would have been better alerted to the fact that someone was about to go left. Instead, it was a muted blinking red, at the same intensity as the car's tired red back lights, that looked like nothing more than a defective back light. Such a stupidly dumb design.
ktpsns 10mo ago
I think this is rooted in the common law. That means: literally every single one of the "stupid" security measures is most likely caused by some court case. This seems ridiculous, in particular when contrasted with the German TÜV system, which is very strict.

by fsh 10mo ago

barrkel 10mo ago

The non-convex side mirror almost got me into an accident the first rental car I drove in the US. I was expecting to see more of the road than I did.

aurareturn 10mo ago

such as indicators in the same color as the rear lights, are perfectly legal. My goodness this drives me crazy. Why do cars do this?

sznio 10mo ago
Less lights is less cost. On European streets the easiest way to detect an American-designed car is that they only have one reverse light, the bare minimum. Only suitable as an indicator to the driver behind you. Ever considered trying to reverse into a parking spot without any streetlight nearby? Reversing blind is awesome! In any European car you get two lights, not in the center but in the corners so you can actually see stuff in your side mirrors while parking.
- PinguTS 10mo ago
  For a long time many German made car like from Audi, Seat, VW, BMW hat just one reverse light. On the left side is the fog light and on the right side is the reversing light.
  - consp 10mo ago
    This is correct, though wat probably is meant is that US cars (or dual designed cars) have two spots with only the right one filled in the EU and a separate fog light with only the left one filled. I had a Ford Fiesta with only one reverse light and put in another to get a bit more light when reversing and my assumption is this is more common on US designed vehicles (though the Fiesta was designed in either the UK or Germany but you get the jist).
    - bombcar 10mo ago
      Of course now it’s basically a non-issue as all new cars have a night-vision camera when in reverse.
- potato3732842 10mo ago
  >on European streets the easiest way to detect an American-designed car is that they only have one reverse light, the bare minimum. Only suitable as an indicator to the driver behind you. Ever considered trying to reverse into a parking spot without any streetlight nearby? Reversing blind is awesome! A bunch of Japanese compacts and subcompacts do it too and it was basically unheard of on any vehicle from any continent until the last 15yr or so when backup cameras proliferated. Confirmation bias is a hell of a drug.

kelnos 10mo ago

I think the indicator color laxness is dumb, but I don't really get when people are so up in arms about it (and yes, I've heard Alec from Technology Connections rant about this many times, and usually agree with the things he says). I have literally never been confused by this. A blinking red light is very different from a solid red light, at least to my eyes.

pfdietz 10mo ago
Blinking vs. solid also works for the colorblind, right?

sschueller 10mo ago

These regulations are very odd as the third/center break-light is a US thing that come into Europe.

fransje26 10mo ago

> such as indicators in the same color as the rear lights, are perfectly legal. I saw some of those on some US army vehicles on the German autobahn. And what perfectly illustrated their danger was when they almost got rear-ended while entering the left-lane in front of a passing Audi at mild autobahn speed. Had it been a yellow blinking light, the left-lane driver would have been better alerted to the fact that someone was about to go left. Instead, it was a muted blinking red, at the same intensity as the car's tired red back lights, that looked like nothing more than a defective back light. Such a stupidly dumb design.

ktpsns 10mo ago

I think this is rooted in the common law. That means: literally every single one of the "stupid" security measures is most likely caused by some court case. This seems ridiculous, in particular when contrasted with the German TÜV system, which is very strict.