Operation Rear Reflectors
12-12-2004, 08:01 AM
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My dealer told me that my MY05 would come standard with the red reflectors. Is he wrong? I thought that he was giving me the truth since I was offering to pay for them as optional equipment.
12-12-2004, 08:14 AM
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The US MY05 cars will come with body color inserts.
It's likely that the earlier production MY04 cars came with the reflectors painted over. The likely scenario is that the DOT approval of the reflectors was assumed by BMW but at the last minute, they found out they weren't acceptable by the regulations. Since the black inserts probably didn't exist at that time, they simply masked out the reflectors on early production cars until a supply of black inserts could be manufactured and delivered.
Once the black inserts arrived, they began to use them (less expensive) instead of masking the reflectors.
My March '04 production car came with black inserts that clearly don't have any reflective surface behind the black...
It's likely that the earlier production MY04 cars came with the reflectors painted over. The likely scenario is that the DOT approval of the reflectors was assumed by BMW but at the last minute, they found out they weren't acceptable by the regulations. Since the black inserts probably didn't exist at that time, they simply masked out the reflectors on early production cars until a supply of black inserts could be manufactured and delivered.
Once the black inserts arrived, they began to use them (less expensive) instead of masking the reflectors.
My March '04 production car came with black inserts that clearly don't have any reflective surface behind the black...
12-12-2004, 08:33 AM
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Originally Posted by KansasWiz' date='Dec 12 2004, 11:01 AM
My dealer told me that my MY05 would come standard with the red reflectors.? Is he wrong?? I thought that he was giving me the truth since I was offering to pay for them as optional equipment.
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Thatz the fact!! Jack!!
beewang
12-12-2004, 09:00 AM
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Originally Posted by beewang' date='Dec 12 2004, 12:33 PM
[quote name='KansasWiz' date='Dec 12 2004, 11:01 AM']My dealer told me that my MY05 would come standard with the red reflectors.? Is he wrong?? I thought that he was giving me the truth since I was offering to pay for them as optional equipment.
[snapback]68292[/snapback]
Thatz the fact!! Jack!!
beewang
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[/quote]The US version of the Mazda MX6 has stock reflectors in exactly the same location. Wonder why they were legal for Mazda but not BMW?
12-12-2004, 09:10 AM
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Originally Posted by nickferr' date='Dec 12 2004, 01:00 PM
[quote name='beewang' date='Dec 12 2004, 12:33 PM'][quote name='KansasWiz' date='Dec 12 2004, 11:01 AM']My dealer told me that my MY05 would come standard with the red reflectors.? Is he wrong?? I thought that he was giving me the truth since I was offering to pay for them as optional equipment.
[snapback]68292[/snapback]
Thatz the fact!! Jack!!
beewang
[snapback]68304[/snapback]
[/quote]The US version of the Mazda MX6 has stock reflectors in exactly the same location. Wonder why they were legal for Mazda but not BMW?
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[/quote]dont forget, all 3 Series coupe's since MY99 have red rear reflectors in the same place as the E60 would, i cant understand why BMW NA put the black covers
12-12-2004, 09:17 AM
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Forgive for for sounding churlish, but they are only reflectors.
And there are reflectors housed within the rear light clusters anyway.
From some of the postings I thought someone found the star in India in there.
And there are reflectors housed within the rear light clusters anyway.
From some of the postings I thought someone found the star in India in there.
12-12-2004, 09:26 AM
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There are specific specifications that dictate lamps, reflectors, etc. on US cars. It's not just about them being there, it's about how large of an area they are, how high off the ground they are, how far apart they are, etc.
In this post, I linked to the .pdf version of the US Government specifications on lights and reflective devices. (You'll need to click the .pdf link to see what it says about the reflectors. The "Reader's Digest" version I posted pertains to only DRL's which was the subject of that thread...)
If anyone can actually understand it, please let us know!
In this post, I linked to the .pdf version of the US Government specifications on lights and reflective devices. (You'll need to click the .pdf link to see what it says about the reflectors. The "Reader's Digest" version I posted pertains to only DRL's which was the subject of that thread...)
If anyone can actually understand it, please let us know!
