The United States and Canada may be the only two countries in the world that don’t require cars to use amber lights for rear turn signals. Aside from the fact that the federal government has yet to say that things need to change, there isn’t a strong case for them to. This lack of interest shows that there needs to be more consistency, even within brands, between the different car brands and types that make up our market. In a Medium post, Jack Tigras wrote about what happened and named almost all of the colors of turn signals that are available for common cars. Tigras’ data includes 249 cars from 2023, but it doesn’t include cars made by small companies like McLaren and Ferrari. There are about the same number of car brands that only use amber rear lights as there are that don’t, but most companies use both based on the nameplate and trim level. Tigras says that Volkswagen changed the amber lights on the latest model Jetta to red during the facelift more than three years ago, while Ford chose to use amber signals to make their higher-end F-150s stand out. Premium models, like the Platinum, have amber lights that are actually LEDs, while lower models have red lights that flash. Over 48% of new cars sold last year had tail lights that were a different color. Out of the 249 models on the list, 121 had this feature. But this goes beyond just being nice to look at. Studies by the NHTSA show that amber turn signs can lower the risk of accidents by about 5% in some situations. These mostly include times when a car’s headlights are partially hidden, like when it’s turning, changing lanes, or pulling out of a parking spot. Amber lets you know what the goal is when warning lights come on, a brake light fails, or a driver pulses their brakes. On the other hand, red signs make things less clear, and studies have shown that this makes it more likely that two cars will collide. It’s not clear why red signs are used, so why are they used at all? One theory is based on money: car companies could save money by using fewer light colors. However, some models that get red flags in the US get yellow warnings in other countries. That doesn’t make sense, though, since production complexity drives up costs. Even though red turn lights don’t always do what they’re supposed to, automakers probably like how consistent they look. Also, there won’t be any rules about turn signs on this side of the Atlantic as long as lawmakers keep things the same.
