German cars & permanent indicators?

B0bbyEwing

Wondering what this phenomenon is that I'm seeing around on our roads lately. May be just to our area or not, I've no idea. I live a sheltered life & don't venture out much to other areas.

Every time I've seen this the car has always been a 'German' make. I say German, I'm sure someone will come in & say BMW, VW aren't German & they're actually made in Antartica but I've never known of anyone to call them anything other than German so I'm going with that.

Basically the indicator light is permanently on. Not permanently blinking but permanently illuminated.

These so far that I've seen have all been driven by male drivers who pretty much all (I know we're not supposed to group people up but...) look the same.

Never saw this thing years ago but seeing it a lot now. What's the deal?

Alanp

Possibly some kind of mod..?

Ditzy_Mitzy

It's a piece of customizing done by the owners - or a man with a laptop - in order to make the cars resemble US market versions with permanently-illuminated, orange marker lights.  The indicators still work as normal, but the bulbs' resting state is lit rather than dark.  

With many German cars, the alteration is as simple as accessing some sub-menu in the car's computer and changing some regional setting to 'US'.  Other cars will require more complicated amendments.  

God only knows why people do it, however.  I've also heard that in America, owners of German cars are wont to remove their home-market red indicators and fit amber ones to look more European.  That's either ironic or a case of the grass always being oranger on the other side...

facade

The front & back ones, or just the sides?

Lots of little trucks seem to have the side indicator repeaters stuck on.

I presume this is some Bright Spark's idea to increase safety, by getting rid of the drivers who don't look properly and assume the little truck is turning so pull out in front of it and get killed.

(Rather like increasing safety by having ultra bright red lights shining into your eyes at eye level whenever a car is stationary when even the stupidest numptie would have legislated for them to time out a few seconds after the car becomes stationary...)

US cars always used to have the indicators stuck on at the front all the time, and flashing when indicating, maybe there is a simple mod that you can do with those hookey ODB tools to activate California mode or something.

Mildly_Miffed

facade said:

Lots of little trucks seem to have the side indicator repeaters stuck on.

Amber side marker lights are a legal requirement on all vehicles over 6m in length - and have been for MANY years.

(Rather like increasing safety by having ultra bright red lights shining into your eyes at eye level whenever a car is stationary when even the stupidest numptie would have legislated for them to time out a few seconds after the car becomes stationary...)

...or the driver could put their handbrake on, rather than sit with their foot on the brake pedal.

I'm not sure having brake lights "time out" is the right answer.

Grey_Critic

Indicators on a BMW - That is a myth surely.

Before anyone decides to do the same I would suggest having a look at Construction & Use - something people either do not know about or ignore. 

paul_c123

The Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989

Colour of light shown by lamps and reflectors

11.—(1) No vehicle shall be fitted with a lamp [F1or retro reflective material] which is capable of showing a red light to the front, except–

(a)a red and white chequered domed lamp, or a red and white segmented mast-mounted warning beacon, fitted to a fire service control vehicle and intended for use at the scene of an emergency;

(b)a side marker lamp or a side retro reflector;

(c)retro reflective material or a retro reflector designed primarily to reflect light to one or both sides of the vehicle and attached to or incorporated in any wheel or tyre of–

[F2(i)a pedal cycle;

(ii)a trailer drawn by, or a sidecar attached to, a pedal cycle;

(iii)a solo motor bicycle or motor bicycle combination; or

(iv)an invalid carriage; or]

(d)a traffic sign.

ButterCheese

If it's a new "craze" to mod them in this way then it's entirely stupid.  It is illegal not to have a flashing amber indicator light for a start.  Why you'd want a solid one (that will cause confusion and possibly destraction to other drivers) is beyond me.  But hey, that's the way it goes.  Don't let legality and safety get in the way when you want to look like a US gangster

Keep_pedalling

ButterCheese said:

If it's a new "craze" to mod them in this way then it's entirely stupid.  It is illegal not to have a flashing amber indicator light for a start.  Why you'd want a solid one (that will cause confusion and possibly destraction to other drivers) is beyond me.  But hey, that's the way it goes.  Don't let legality and safety get in the way when you want to look like a US gangster

The indicators still flash but the idle state is on rather than off. 

Grey_Critic

***The indicators still flash but the idle state is on rather than off.  ***

But is that allowed - paul_c123 shows an extract from C&U but they are far more than Comprehensivethan shown here - I recall that when flashing indicators were first introduced there was a lot of confusion as people were used to the old semaphore indicators. 

Remember whan Volvo first had daylight running lights or we had the old dim/dip? People kept flashing them mistakenly thinking they had turned their side lights on in error. 

Mildly_Miffed

Since when did illegality restrict the modifications some people choose to do...?

Traffic policing is spread too thin and delegated to camera.

That RVLR extract isn't the relevant one, though, since we're talking about amber not red. Amber to the front is not strictly speaking explicitly illegal under that particular section.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989/1796/regulation/11