this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2023
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American manufacturing don't want to have to change anything in their production lines so most American cars have only a red taillight that flashes the same bulk for brakes and turn signal.
It is lazy and unsafe but it would probably cost a few pennies to have an orange turn signal light so it is more profit not to do it.
Meanwhile every nice car out there has a $1000 LED for branding. It has little to do with cost and more to do with manufacturers using lights for style and branding. Folks are very happy to spend more on nice looking LEDs.
All the more reason it should be illegal! It is in other parts of the world.
Thankfully it's changing a bit. I've noticed that newer Ford and Dodge full sized pickups use amber turn signals. I assume that these vehicles don't sell very well in places that require amber turn signals (Europe).
Meanwhile, VW, Audi, BMW, Land Rover, and Mercedes all modify their amber European turn signals to red to sell in the US. For some reason, they go out of their way to make 2 parts instead of 1 for many of their models.
I think it's a styling thing rather than a cost thing now. Back when taillights in the US were a single bulb on each side, cost was a driving factor. Now with complex LED taillights, I think it's something else keeping amber out of our indicators.
Older ones do this too, its just this weird range of years where people tried to get clever with their turn signals.
I've read that it used to be done on purpose to prevent models meant for US to be sold in other parts of the world, and the other way around.
Conversions are not straightforward since on US models there's a single wire that goes to a single bulb and carries both the brake (steady) and turn (blink) signals, while in other places there's a distinct turn bulb with it's own wire.