Position of front indicators

[smallgun]

Talking to my grandson about cars last night (he's becoming a right petrolhead). He asked the question " why are the indicators on the front of the car right next to the headlights"
I was unable to answer his question but said I would try to find out, anyone out there know the answer?

[FussyFez]

It's a great question. With modern lights becoming so bright, I genuinely struggle to tell if certain modern cars are indicating until we're on top of eachother.

Certain DRL's dim when indicating bit not dipped beams.

Why can't they place them further away from the 10million lux xenons?

Always been a fan of mirror indicators personally.

[Johnnytheboy]

FussyFez said:

It's a great question. With modern lights becoming so bright, I genuinely struggle to tell if certain modern cars are indicating until we're on top of eachother.

I agree - old fashioned 'orange glass' indicators are so much clearer.

[Asterix]

O/T but I always found the old Landys to be closer than you thought at night...

[g3org3y]

FussyFez said:

It's a great question. With modern lights becoming so bright, I genuinely struggle to tell if certain modern cars are indicating until we're on top of eachother.

Certain DRL's dim when indicating bit not dipped beams.

Why can't they place them further away from the 10million lux xenons?

Absolutely, I'm sure I've moaned about it in the past.

Even worse is when the indicator is integrated in the headlight assembly.

Can be very difficult to see with a quick glance on approaching roundabouts for example.

[kambites]

I don't generally find the front ones as bad as rears where the indicators are mounted in the centre of the brake lights. Who could possibly have thought that was a good idea?

[Monty Python]

Cost - saves having to make a separate lens/reflector unit, wiring plus mounting.

[Cyder]

Monty Python said:

Cost - saves having to make a separate lens/reflector unit, wiring plus mounting.

Kerching.

And styling don't want their fancy curves and artistic lines buggered up by having to put separate lamps everywhere.

[CrutyRammers]

Yep, cost and style, and functionality be damned...

[marshalla]

Some of it is constrained by Construction and Use rules on positioning and visibility of lamps.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989/1796/sched...

[alangla]

kambites said:

I don't generally find the front ones as bad as rears where the indicators are mounted in the centre of the brake lights. Who could possibly have thought that was a good idea?

Seems to work OK on buses & trucks, but they tend to have multiple versions of said unit (e.g. 3x brake/tail/indicator, either LED or tungsten each side) - it's just crap design & testing from the car manufacturers. It's still miles better than the American approach of using the brake/tail light as the indicator - one blown filament & a big chunk of the info to the car behind is gone. (In saying that, the 3-step red LED on the back of the Mustang looks good)

[cj2013]

Surely the Escort MK5 is a good example of 'fixing' the issue on higher trim levels?

(Cosworth, RS2000 etc.)

[silverfoxcc]

Agree ntirely, sp when the light is inset into the headlight unit, and cannot be seen from the 'opposite side' eg approaching a threeway mini roundabout and the guy on your right at 90 degrees to your is positioned so you cannot fathom if he is going left or around, so you have to slow right down to give him the benefit of the doubt, and preserve your exterior paintwork!!