OK folks...I'll bite. But basically I am ROTFLMAO...according to a post by Stloli, BMW NA said the reason that the E60 in USA has black/color coded reflectors is to distinguish it from "Yuro-pean" cars!....Anybody buy that? What a crock!!!

Who does BMW USA think we are?
Somebody screwed up somewhere. We get cheap plastic inserts...ohh I am sorry..now they are BODY COLOR CODED! Whoa! I can't get to sleep waitin for this UPGRADE!!!

Am I alone here or is this a crack in the armor? If we were talkin about a chevy or
kia it would make sense. But shortcuts like this are way out of charecter. Whats next? Maybe an ABS sticker next to the 550i on the decklid!

Sheesh!

 

Hey, give BMW a break. Go to the M3 board and all the people over there are painting their reflectors body color. There are even several companies that sell them prepainted. BMW probably saw that and said, ok, Americans don't want any more reflectors than necessary, so we'll paint these ones that aren't required in the USA. BMW must be throwing their hands up in exhasperation at us fickle Americans. BTW, I don't think a painted piece to replace the reflector is any kind of a shortcut and it probably costs them more than a reflector does. Just pay the $20 and put them on....Jeez.

 

$25 not a big deal.. Just get it and upgrade it yourself... I kind of like it this way... it makes my car "that much better" than the one next to me with the black or body color inserts cause they dont know about changing those out.

 

As I understand it, BMW had some problem with the USDOT in importing e60s with the red reflectors. They were never able to solve the problem, so they have "improved" on the plain old black inserts in 2004 with body colored ones for 2005.

 

Nah I dont think that wasnt the case... the E46 has them... and are lower both E60 and E46 are within DOT spec AND they HAVE DOT numbers on the reflector for that matter AND are being sold in the US BMW accessories catalog!!!

SOoooo its probably to make money off us or to save it for the next "face lift" version of the E60 just to say HEY LOOK WE IMPROVED THE CAR THIS MUCH MORE...

 

It is not an issue with USDOT.....please read my post in the following link:

Click here for another red reflector thread

 

It is not an issue with USDOT.....please read my post in the following link:

Click here for another red reflector thread
[/quote]
rodybmw is right on the mark. Nothing in CFR Title 49, Section 393.26 or the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) 571.108 would lead to any conclusion that BMW could not or did not meet US standards, unless and only unless they did not have the correct reflective material. And since the red reflectors offered by BMW are meeting these US standards also based on the approved markings, that argument is also not valid. Hence. it is a conscious decision on the part of some element(s) within BMW to deliver US spec E60s without red reflectors.

 

I don't know, there must be some problem with the reflectors. Someone posted a photo a while back showing that some early E60 actually had the reflectors painted black instead of just black plastic inserts. Why on earth would BMW go to the trouble & expense of making this part different on US cars? The only thing I can think of is supply problems but this should be solvable and wouldn't explain the body colored inserts. Maybe they did some market-survey that showed Americans don't buy cars with reflectors.

 

I blame the Democrats.

 

No that was in South Africa not in the US