US / Europe light cluster differences

I admit I haven't looked that closely. I'm not sure about the side light requirement. They exist on some cars but certainly not all. Now I'll have to start looking. My Odyssey had lenses that wrap around the fender as does the Prius. My wife's '97 Subaru does as well. Perhaps that is meeting a requirement of which I was not aware.

Also, I'm not sure you want the So. Cal weather of late. They are on their way to record rainfall.

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 22, 2005

Living The Stormy Life
Forecasters said another strong system expected early Wednesday could bring severe winds and drop an additional inch or more of rain on Southern California.

The wild weather came from a series of storms that began battering the state on Thursday, dumping 8.15 inches of rain on downtown Los Angeles.

A total of 33.95 inches of rain had fallen in the city since July 1, when California begins its yearly rainfall measurements. The record, 38.18 inches, was set in 1883-1884.

Of course it is STILL probably a fraction of what you get annually in Cambridge. The problem is they are getting it all at once.

 

Bah, We have about 2 foot of snow and -23 C at the moment. 1st day of spring my backside!

:x

 

I have personal experiance with this. I moved to Europe in 1996 and brought a Honda Civic VX with me. The authorities in France needed me to replace the front headlights (the US spec ones have a different beam pattern and these lights also had the integrated reflectors) and the rear lights. The new tail lights included a rear fog light. The EU regulations require a rear fog light. They also forbid the use of side reflectors. The Germans also require a turn signal indicator on the front fenders or side mirrors. They are not reqired in the rest of Europe as far as I know, but they are included in all EU cars due to the large size of the German market. Some here in the US have swaped out their US spec headlights for the Euro versions for the "better" beam pattern.

 

US headlight standards have been modernized in the last few years. The headlight pattern of my Prius with HID, asymmetrical with a sharp cutoff, is very similar to what I experienced while driving in Europe and to the flush European headlights I had (illegally) installed on my 1985 Audi 5000S Turbo (Audi 100 in Europe in those days).

 

Victor, I am not a fan of Winter either. . . so if you fine folks at the German Aerospace Center have figured out how to make the Spring Equinox arrive 20 day early, PLEeeeeezzzzeeee let me know how so I can bring Springtime here to California too.

Curious: How do you prevent Sun Clocks from showing any warping around Germany?
P.S. Let’s keep this quiet. Wouldn’t want to alarm the Global Warming theorists.

[Broken External Image]:http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/LivingEarth/Images/living_earth.jpg

 

Many cars have orange turn signals in the rear.
I don't think side markers are required, though many cars have them. Pedestrians are often annoyed with cars that don't have side markers.

Many cars have clear reflectors/plastic covers, with the bulb being orange, which would yield an orange light.

 

You are correct, US law was changed to require side marker reflectors or lights effective with the 1968 model year.

I tried to post a photo from the US Toyota website, which shows an orange reflector on the side of the front light assembly, but I was not successful.

You can view it here:

http://www.toyota.com/toyotaConfigApp/imag...s=1066346420000

 

Here are the lights from my car.

 

Victor:

Now you know what I had to put up with in Winnipeg most of the winter. Fun, is it not??

 

I certainly wish that was a law here too. It would make lane changes on the highway much safer. Also would make stationary lane changes at an intersection much safer.

I guess Toyota figured the market for the Prius was predominantly North America so didn't bother to keep the fender signal repeater lamps for us.

Oddly enough, the Canadian market Toyota Echo Hatchback (Toyota Yaris in the UK) does have the fender repeater lamps.

http://www.toyota.ca/cgi-bin/WebObjects/WW...11?index%2ehtml

 

The orange reflector on the side is just that, a reflector which illuminates when light is shined onto it from the side.

The parking light bulb (front position light?) is in the center of the light assembly and it is orange as well.

The photos posted by bentdvr show the orange side reflector, but the orange bulb is not quite as prominently visible.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(victor\";p=\"68266)</div>

Spring doesn't officially start until around March 20th, be patient. Unofficially, here in VT, maybe April 20th

 

No, there is a SINGLE orange bulb centered in the top front assembly. It would be VERY difficult to take a clear picture of it with the lens on. It serves as the turn indicator, parking and position lamps. bentdvr's picture of the amber front side reflector is very good. I planned (but forgot) to see if the turn indicator shines through it as well or if it is opaque (as it appears).

I think, typically, parking lamps and turn indicators share the same lens, if not the same bulb, in the U.S.. There is one on each of the 4 corners of the car and are also 'position' lamps I guess as they WILL be on if your headlights are on, they are the first position on the light switch.

I personally prefer amber indicators as they are more obvious than red ones that share the (red) position and brake light lens.