Showerthoughts @lemmy.world FuryMaker @lemmy.world 8mo ago

Why haven't car manufacturers standardized automatic brake lights when a built in accelerometer detects deceleration?

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I personally think cars should have two brake light switches. one for when you're pressing the pedal at all, and one for when you're slamming on the pedal.

that way the people behind you know if you're just slowing down a little or actually braking.
- Actually, a least some cars (probably more than you think)/have some sort of "emergency" breaking signal, which often result in the usual breaking signal blinking for a while. You need to seriously slam the brakes to see it though. E.g: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j_osu1WgGMU
  
  There is also a nice technology connection video talking about braking lights for electric cars and in general, which can be dangerous.
  
  I rented an electric car recently (Mach-E) and almost exclusively drove in single-pedal mode.
  
  Thought a lot about this video as I was driving.
  
  I've seen some people play with the programming of BMWs. I was really impressed with one I saw that had 3 levels of lighting. It didn't affect the actual brake lights but instead utilized the rear fog light. Normal braking was just the normal lights. Moderate braking turned on the rear fog lights. But when he slammed the brakes, the rear fogs flashed.
  
  I was also pissed to be in traffic that allowed for all 3 modes in a few miles.
  
  if you have an adequate following distance you never need to brake hard
  
  That's frequently not the choice of the driver. An adequate follow distance provides a luxurious amount of space for someone to merge into, forcing you to slow to extend the follow distance, which allows more people to merge... etc.
  
  nope
  
  ... What?
  
  There is no situation when one is obligated to tailgate
  
  I'm not sure you read what I wrote.
  
  I am sure of it
  
  Then... what? You're coming back days later to "no u" a comment that lays out pretty explicitly an exception to what you're presenting as a blanket rule. Do you... disagree? Are you just inexperienced enough with driving to not have had that happen to you? Adjusting to driving conditions takes time - even if it's only for 6-7 seconds per incident, that's still time where you're forced to follow far too close to another car without an ability to prevent the situation from arising. You seem like you don't understand that, sometimes, other people can be responsible for the situations you are put in through no fault of your own. Or, you're a sith. A driving sith.
  
  ...
  
  Darth Subaru.
- I know cats that blink the middle light if you brake hard.
  
  EDIT: I'm not fixing that typo
  
  Upvote for typo.
- Most modern cars now put the hazards on automatically when the driver brakes hard.
  
  Source? I have never seen a single car that does this.
  
  First time surprised me my because I didn't know the car had the feature. Slammed the brakes harder than normal and hazards flashed at double time. Driving a 2010 Alfa Romeo 159.
  
  I have seen several - if you press hard enough to Activate ABS on dry road, you most likely will see the hazard lights on
  
  It's a fact.
  
  I'm a truck driver in Germany, and even my Volvo truck turns the hazards on under hard braking.
  
  In Europe it is required for vehicles decelerating faster than 6m/s² and I believe some vehicles might activate their fog tail lights too.
  
  I don't know what the system is called but it's been around on a lot of cars for a while now. Our car does it (2016 Nissan Qashqai) - the hazards came on automatically when I had to brake hard on the motorway, and everyone else's hazards came on too - it was exactly the reason I knew how I knew I had to instantly brake hard due to all the cars ahead hazard lights coming on with the brake lights.
- I seem to remember that when BMW first rolled out LED taillights they did something like this — they were brighter when the driver absolutely slammed on the brakes. No idea if that was a concept or in production cars though.
- I reach for the hazard lights any time I'm about to break hard or if someone in front has done something that will make me slow unexpectedly.
- I try (if I have time myself to do it without hitting someone and am just in front a mess) to "wake people up" a bit by rapidly tapping the brakes before hitting them hard (to hopefully make my brake lights flash).
  
  You can buy special brake light kits to do this automatically.
  
  I feel like I looked into that once upon a time and it was illegal in my state (Ohio).
  
  I have seen something like that though, at times it's a bit too much IMO. I've seen some that trigger for pretty gentle braking so there's just a strobe light distraction in front of you over relatively minor things.
- Two colors, amber for slowing, red for hard braking.
  
  I always figured red and red strobing would make sense, since amber is used for turn signals. Not sure if that would fly for epilepsy and such though, but there are plenty of other bright flashy/flickery lights when driving as it is.
- They get brighter based on how much you push the brake

115 comments