What is it with German Tailights in the US

In article >, Dan J.S. wrote:

> You have to slam U.S. every where you can?

Are you going to try to deny the **** poor US lighting regs and the fact
there are tons of morons driving around with fog lamps on?

> And to answer the OP question, the rear taillights on newer imports (and
> some domestics) are LED. Depending on how you look at the LED (your viewing
> angle to the LED), it can look brighter or dimmer.

I have noticed the same thing as the OP. However, I've learned enough to
tell what is what on these cars and daniel is correct, it's rear fogs
and obvious bulb misapplication.

Of course my favorite was the SUV I saw with Amber _brake_ signals and
red _turn_ signals.

On Wed, 4 Jan 2006, Alex Rodriguez wrote:

> I think the bright rear light you are seeing is a rear fog lamp. Some
> cars have two rear fog lamps, but many only have one. Not sure the
> reasoning for that.

Dual rear fogs mimic the appearance of brake lamps, thereby making the
brake lamps less conspicuous. Single rear fog lamp (on driver's side)
doesn't have that problem.

Proponents of dual rear fogs argue that they supply distance information
not available from a single rear fog. That, however, would only be true if
dual rear fogs were always mounted at the outer extremities of the rear of
the vehicle, and they almost never are.

On Wed, 4 Jan 2006, Dan J.S. wrote:

>> If what you're seeing is brake lamp intensity on the left side and
>> taillamp intensity on the right side, even when the driver isn't
>> applying the brakes, it's mostly because idiot US drivers don't know
>> when to use (and when NOT to use) their rear fog lamp. So, seeing a
>> switch with an indicator light, they turn it on, reasoning "I don't
>> know what this is, but I must've paid for it, so I'm gonna use it!
>> Ahyuck!" Same reasoning gets applied to front fog lamps, which get left
>> in the "on" position all the time.

> You have to slam U.S. every where you can?

So sorry to offend your delicate little sensibilities. Here, let me make
it allllll better for you:

AMERICA! AMERICA! RAH-RAH-RAH! YEAH, WOOOOOO! YEAH! YOO-ESS-AYY!
YOO-ESS-AYY! WE'RE NUMBER ONE! WOOOOO! YEAH! WE'RE RIGHT AND THE STUPID
REST OF THE WORLD IS WRONG! PAX AMERICANA! YOO-ESS-AYY! FOUR MORE YEARS!
WOOOOOOOOOO!


DS

"Daniel J. Stern" > wrote in message
n.umich.edu...

>
> If what you're seeing is random (sometimes brighter on the left, sometimes
> on the right), then it's probably just bulb misapplication. There are
> still European-vehicle dealers (not to mention the aftermarket) selling
> brass-base American-type bulbs such as 1157, 67, 97, etc. where
> European-type nickelplate-base bulbs such as P21/5W, R5W, R10W etc. are
> called for. The US-type bulbs cause eventual problems in sockets intended
> for the European-type bulbs. Also, some European vehicles specify an R10W
> taillamp bulb, but an R5W (which is considerably dimmer) fits the same
> socket and looks identical, so misapplication is easy. The reverse of this
> situation (R5W called for, R10W installed) is equally possible.
>
>> And I am not talking about old clunkers, I have seen several virtually
>> brand new BMWs with very significant differences in apparent brightness
>> from side to side.
>
> The most likely explanation is the rear-fog one.

I think the most likely issue is the use of the improper bulb, the correct
european style (7506, 7528) part numbers are a couple of bucks more
than the incorrect (1156, 1157) part numbers, and it never
ceases to amaze me how stupidly cheap people get when
confronted with a choice.

Bernard

Daniel J. Stern wrote:

> On Wed, 4 Jan 2006, Dan J.S. wrote:

>> You have to slam U.S. every where you can?

> So sorry to offend your delicate little sensibilities. Here, let me make
> it allllll better for you:
>
> AMERICA! AMERICA! RAH-RAH-RAH! YEAH, WOOOOOO! YEAH! YOO-ESS-AYY!
> YOO-ESS-AYY! WE'RE NUMBER ONE! WOOOOO! YEAH! WE'RE RIGHT AND THE STUPID
> REST OF THE WORLD IS WRONG! PAX AMERICANA! YOO-ESS-AYY! FOUR MORE YEARS!
> WOOOOOOOOOO!

Mais au moins ils ne sont pas français

Arif Khokar wrote:
> Daniel J. Stern wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 4 Jan 2006, Dan J.S. wrote:
>
>
>>> You have to slam U.S. every where you can?
>
>
>> So sorry to offend your delicate little sensibilities. Here, let me
>> make it allllll better for you:
>>
>> AMERICA! AMERICA! RAH-RAH-RAH! YEAH, WOOOOOO! YEAH! YOO-ESS-AYY!
>> YOO-ESS-AYY! WE'RE NUMBER ONE! WOOOOO! YEAH! WE'RE RIGHT AND THE
>> STUPID REST OF THE WORLD IS WRONG! PAX AMERICANA! YOO-ESS-AYY! FOUR
>> MORE YEARS! WOOOOOOOOOO!
>
>
> Mais au moins ils ne sont pas français

C'est vrai! Les voitures françaises sont encore plus mauvaises que
l'Américain ceux.

nate

--
replace "fly" with "com" to reply.
http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

On Wed, 4 Jan 2006, Arif Khokar wrote:

>> On Wed, 4 Jan 2006, Dan J.S. wrote:

>>> You have to slam U.S. every where you can?

>> So sorry to offend your delicate little sensibilities. Here, let me
>> make it allllll better for you: AMERICA! AMERICA! RAH-RAH-RAH! YEAH,
>> WOOOOOO! YEAH! YOO-ESS-AYY! YOO-ESS-AYY! WE'RE NUMBER ONE! WOOOOO!
>> YEAH! WE'RE RIGHT AND THE STUPID REST OF THE WORLD IS WRONG! PAX
>> AMERICANA! YOO-ESS-AYY! FOUR MORE YEARS! WOOOOOOOOOO!

> Mais au moins ils ne sont pas français

Amen. *clink*

In article >,
Brent P > wrote:
>Of course my favorite was the SUV I saw with Amber _brake_ signals and
>red _turn_ signals.

Could it have had rear crash damage incompetently repaired?

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Timothy J. Lee
Unsolicited bulk or commercial email is not welcome.
No warranty of any kind is provided with this message.

On Wed, 4 Jan 2006, Nate Nagel wrote:

> C'est vrai! Les voitures françaises sont encore plus mauvaises que
> l'Américain ceux.

There have, of course, been a great many hopelessly crappy American car
designs. No debate there. Thing is, there are also a great many hopelessly
awful German car designs, a great many hopelessly awful Japanese car
designs, etc. The German junk stays in the German home market. The
Japanese junk stays in the Japanese home market. Likewise, the American
junk rains down upon the American market. (Proof: Virtually nobody outside
France and Benelux buys French cars.)

DS

On Wed, 4 Jan 2006, Bernard Farquart wrote:

> I think the most likely issue is the use of the improper bulb, the
> correct european style (7506, 7528) part numbers are a couple of bucks
> more than the incorrect (1156, 1157) part numbers

Oops, minor nit: your 7506 and 7528 aren't bulb type numbers, they're
Osram's reference numbers. 7506 = type P21W. 7528 = type P21/5W. 1156 and
1157 are type numbers.

> and it never ceases to amaze me how stupidly cheap people get when
> confronted with a choice.

Sometimes they're not even given a choice! One of the main reasons why
'90s Jettas seemed to have so many problems with faulty rear lamps was
that VW *dealers* were selling 97s instead of R10Ws, 1156s instead of
P21Ws and 1157s instead of P21/5Ws. It wasn't helped by the *entire* North
American aftermarket listed the American types, and our '90 (made in
Germany) listed the American types in the owner's manual. Those cars, like
most European cars, really need the European nickel-plated bases and
crescent-shaped base contacts.