Mutter, mutter...dummy tail lights

[Herrie]

PM them on our year-end function - Pathmaker.

[Gerrit Loubser]

Many thanks John. It turns out that it is actually an Australian legal issue, not a South African one.

It is an SA regulation as well; the tail lamps need to both be visible when viewing the vehicle at an angle of 45° from the rear.

[Stefaansie]

Hi

My older GQ does not comply with this regulation. Grants GQ is 1 year older than mine and he has the tail lights in the bumper.
Been pulled over once, but the cop only looked at the broken spot light in front for a second too long for my liking.

I don't think there are too many cops out there that notice all the smaller technical stuff.

But to have both sets working would be cool.

[Herrie]

I got both working!

[Kagiso II]

- kannie wees'ie Kobus .. joune lê inni Botswana Seronga pad .. dannie ??

[Alex Roux]

I got both working!

Ditto, Ben from BG Auto fit makes both working.

[Clem]

Many thanks John. It turns out that it is actually an Australian legal issue, not a South African one.

It is an SA regulation as well; the tail lamps need to both be visible when viewing the vehicle at an angle of 45° from the rear.

Gerrit, not sure that is right. Below is the regulation. It requires that at least one pair of lights be visible in the manner that you said but it does not state that all the lights on the vehicle must be visible in the manner that you say – there appears to be nothing that prevents a second pair of lights being fitted which do not comply with the 45° angle requirement. See below.

Stop lamps

169. (1) No person shall operate a motor vehicle, other than a trailer drawn by a tractor or a tractor, on a public road unless it is fitted with at least one stop lamp on each side at the rear of the motor vehicle, and in the case of a motor cycle one stop lamp at the rear, which shall--

be visible from the rear and shall be unobscured within angles of--

45 degrees measured across the width of the motor vehicle on either side of a line parallel to the longitudinal centre-line of the motor vehicle and passing through the centre-line of each stop lamp; and

15 degrees measured vertically on either side of a horizontal line parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the motor vehicle and passing through the centre-line of each stop lamp but if the height of the stop lamp above ground level is less than 750 millimetres, such angles, measured below such horizontal line, may be reduced to five degrees;

be fitted at a height of not less than 300 millimetres and not more than two comma one metres above ground level, measured to the centre of the lamp: Provided that additional stop lamps may be fitted above two comma one metres;

be fitted equidistant from, and on each side of, the longitudinal centre-line of such motor vehicle;

when in use, emit light the colour of which shall be red and the intensity of which shall be greater than that of the light emitted by the rear lamp on the motor vehicle and shall be visible in normal sunlight at a distance of not less than 30 metres to a person of normal eyesight;

be so connected that, if the motor vehicle is in motion, such lamp shall come into operation as soon as the operating device of the service brake or similar brake of the motor vehicle or, in the case of a combination of motor vehicles, of the drawing vehicle, is activated; and

be maintained in a clean condition and in good working order.

(2) A motor vehicle which is being towed by a breakdown vehicle shall be fitted with a separate temporary set of stop lamps which is coordinated with the working of the stop lamps of the breakdown vehicle while such motor vehicle is so towed.

[Gerrit Loubser]

Clem, the regulation says the same thing that I said. You need two lights to both be visible at a 45 deg angle, but you can add others that are not visible. It still is fhe reason why several manufacturers have to resort to adding those vulnerable lights in the bumpers (and change the higher mounted lights into dummys to save cost) in markets such as SA and Aussie.

[Clem]

Clem, the regulation says the same thing that I said. You need two lights to both be visible at a 45 deg angle, but you can add others that are not visible. It still is fhe reason why several manufacturers have to resort to adding those vulnerable lights in the bumpers (and change the higher mounted lights into dummys to save cost) in markets such as SA and Aussie.

Gerrit, okay, I didn't understand the above underlined bit from your previous post in which you equated the Australian and South African legal positions, which seems not to be correct. If you look at the Australian ADR13 para 6.10.5, it appears that you may not have a tail light that would not be visible at a 45 degree angle. So as I understand it, leaving the upper lamps connected would be illegal in Australia but would be legal in South Africa. In other words the dummy lights are less a cost issue than an Australian legal requirements issue. Or so it would seem.

[Gerrit Loubser]

I really don't know the Aussie regs at all, but what I meant is that cars such as the Patrol have to have the tail lights in a location where they are visible from a 45 deg angle to be sold in SA, so Nissan had to do it that way to homologate the Patrol for sale in SA. The reason why they did not fit the additional lamps is best known to Nissan, but I bet cost played a large role there.