legionofdoom

Just came across this while investigating clearing my headlights -

"In North America, amber front and red rear sidemarker lamps and retroreflectors are required. The law initially required lights or retroreflectors on vehicles made after 1 January 1968. This was amended to require lights and retroreflectors on vehicles made after 1 January 1970. These side-facing devices make the vehicle's presence, position and direction of travel clearly visible from oblique angles. The lights are wired so as to illuminate whenever the vehicles parking and taillamps are on, including when the headlamps are being used. Front amber sidemarkers in North America may or may not be wired so as to flash with the turn signals."

Is this just talking about the lights on the side of the car or does that include the amber piece on the front headlights? Does that mean clearing my headlights is going to cause me to potentially get pulled over and/or fail inspection? Anyone with any experience or any more knowledge? Thanks.

legionofdoom

FYI, here's the link -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turn_signal

Road Rage

You raise a good point - I have asked this one occasionally, and while I am not a lawyer, I could see a situation where someone who has modified an OEM system with all sorts of the mods out there (like LED conversions, "clearings", etc) might very well be susceptible to liability if a sharp-eyed cop and/or attorney noted it. Now, I believe it would have to be shown that the mod was the proximate cause of the mishap - I do not think the mod in and of itself establishes that liability. Any Clarence Darrows out there care to weigh in?

I have a 3G TL, and also an S2000, and I use the JDM clear side marker turn indicators (not to be confused with the complex front light assembly) with an amber bulb.

GeraldB

Based on another thread I tried to research this on line. If I understood what I read, Virginia requires the turn signals to meet Federal standards, Federal standards require them to meet SAE standards, and SAE standards are not available free on line. So... I still don't know the answer. However I wouldn't expect a police officer to care. I'm gonna consult my State safety inspection station and if they pass clear lenses with colored light I'll consider it safe enough, even though I suspect whoever wrote the standards would expect amber to show at all times.

legionofdoom

True, I think I'd be more worried about passing inspection than getting pulled over. The information I've found so far is definitely very vague as well. Can anyone who has had their headlights cleared for a good amount of time speak up as to their experiences? Any issues with inspections/police?

LacViet

As far as I know, the front has to have the side amber reflective piece and/or side light marker with reflective piece(blink or no blink with signal light) to be legal, and the back has to have the side red reflective piece and/or side light marker with Red relective piece (again blink or no blink with signal light) to be legal. This is the reason why Lexus RX, and aftermarket clear taillight Euro style can get away with. The front signal light must be amber in color and the back signal light can be either amber or red. As long as you meet these requirement, you should be ok.

1StGenCL

Im pretty sure clearing out your lights is illegal even with an amber bulb. I believe the law says you need a certain size amber reflector on the front of your car which you have gotten rid of. If you didnt need one at all, none of the auto manufactors would put one in. Look at the older civics with the completely clear headlight and then one little amber reflector just floating in there.

I did have clear corners on my old CL since it was new almost and never had a problem in jersey or in florida i wouldnt worry

legionofdoom

No problems passing inspection? Thanks.

Laxplaya11385

1stGenCL is correct. You need either a reflective amber piece in the actual headlight itself or somewhere on the bumber.

For instance the Civic, as you mentioned, has cleared corners, but has that little amber piece in there:



Or in the case of some BMWs, they have cleared headlights, but have an amber piece on the bumper:


Either of these scenarios are legal. Anything else is illegal. Thus, if you did clear the headlights on the TL, it would be illegal. I believe some people on the forum (05TLTony and others) have modded the headlights by leaving a small amber piece in the headlights:

I'm not sure if this will pass inspection, but you'll definitely have a better chance.

As for cops. I don't know how many cops are actually looking for that, but im' sure there's one or two out there that is/are. Bottom line is that having cleared headlights would definitely not pass inspection. (That's why you gotta find someone who'll inspect for a lil extra $$ )

subinf

Damn CA needs amber reflectors also. If you saw my post before I did the edit I was wrong with what I originally said - although this applies to "other vehicles" so maybe we still have a chance?

ililillilillilil

SO, just put a magnetic or stick on reflecter on your car b4 inspection & take it off afterwards.

mecca88

hahaha.. that's true but most of the time you are caught in the act.. the police are out there looking for you, not the other way around.

drdamian

but do the cops actually look to see if you have reflectors.. i would assume that if the police officer didn't have a TL then he wouldn't know to look for amber reflectors...

legionofdoom

Thanks for all the replies. Been looking around and still haven't found a production vehicle without some sort of amber piece up front. Wonder how detail-oriented the inspection guys would be (although I would think clearing the headlights would immediately bring attention to them because they look so sweet). Might head down to the gas station that did my last one and see what they have to say. Good to know what I might be getting myself into before doing it...

subinf

you could always argue that the amber bulb will provide enough reflection to meet the state requirement.

drdamian

i dont know about what its like where you live, but here in Philly the state inspections areperformed by most mehcanics... i don't have my lights cleared yet, but when i do i will go to the dealer (because they offer free inspections when you get regular service). Or, if they fail me, my local mechanic is family friend and im sure he wont even notice something is different.....

Ka0tik

just do it, policeman pull you over from behind, and the vast majority of the time they will not even look at the front of your car

legionofdoom

I'm actually not that concerned about being pulled over. It's more about the inspection ramifications...

drdamian

When i was about 16 i had a prelude, i had the entire front windshield tinted 35%... Right over the inspection sticker and everything. Then i had another strip of 5% strip going accross the top of the windshied... A cop pulled me over once and he looked through the windshield to see if my VIN matched up and he didn't say anything about the tint.. either he didn't noice, or he didn't care...

ding069

it is illegal, but most people, cops and inspection stickers don't even think to look for it.

ililillilillilil

just the plate. they won't complain about the lights unless u r a total ricer with crazy bulbs.
i got pulled over last night for no reason. they were just trying to catch me riding dirty anyway, i made sure he couldn't
i'd worry more about dark tints & blacked out lights

TheAcAvenger

Would putting a reflective piece of amber on the bumper cut it?

legionofdoom

I think so but you'd have to find a way that it didn't look like crap...

subinf

It would in CA, I assume other states have similiar laws.