Euro S550 tail lights - why clear?

Sorry if I have overlooked a thread on here, but, why was the manufacturing requirement for the Euro S550 tail lights to be clear?

I mean, I don’t see BMW, Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, or any other sport vehicles having to have clear tails if overseas.

Also, while on the Euro subject, why were the Euro S550 mirrors designed to be so big?

Just wondering and feel free to educate me on the Euro S550’s.

I read somewhere that the mirrors had to be larger to meet the European specs not sure on the clear tails.

The Australian Tail lights are also clear, they don't have to be however I personally prefer them clear. However the larger Mirrors are definitely a European Spec. requirement, I prefer the US mirrors !

:There is no reason why the tail lights are clear, you would need to ask Ford why they did it :shrug:

It's probably because euro turn signals are required to be amber. So they probably figure that all clear looks better than two red bars and one amber bar.

nrc said:

It's probably because euro turn signals are required to be amber. So they probably figure that all clear looks better than two red bars and one amber bar.

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This.
https://www.acarplace.com/2018/01/index/


Edit: since the tail lights use LEDs instead of incandescent bulbs, it's tricky to get an amber color to show through a red lens due to the narrow color bands of LEDs. In Europe, some car manufacturers use a green filter in front of a certain color amber LED to allow the light to shine through as amber. This material is apparently not allowed by the US DOT. Probably cheaper for Ford to just slap clear lenses and different color LEDs into the tail lights, than re-engineer the housing to allow for the filter.

One of many differences between home market and the export spec mustang. Note the front indicators too, strut brace, diff, springs, dampers, tune, rhd headers, trim options, the drl on the 15-17 etc.

The export car is a single export market spec designed to meet the requirements of all export markets, not specifically euro/Asia/Africa/Australia etc

The mirrors are larger because they have to meet a minimum glass area requirement and to house a turn signal.

Cobra Jet said:

Sorry if I have overlooked a thread on here, but, why was the manufacturing requirement for the Euro S550 tail lights to be clear?

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I wish I could find the animated GIF that shows this, but can't right now. :frusty:

The export/euro taillight turn signals do the triple sequence in red, like those in the US, and then the outer most segment changes from red to the required amber. I assume that its easiest to do that color change with clear lens.

Is this the behavior you're seeing on the Mustangs where you are?

WaltA said:

The export/euro taillight turn signals do the triple sequence in red, like those in the US, and then the outer most segment changes from red to the required amber.

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No they don't. On the export cars only the outer bar blinks. In amber. Brakes use only the two inner bars.

There has been a lot of speculation over why Ford came up with the clear tails. Nobody knows exactly why except that they wanted to make one design that they could homologate in all export markets. So if only one country does not allow a red housing for a blinker (even if it blinkes perfectly amber) then that was already enough to switch to clear.

There are multiple countries that do not allow sequential blinking, so that had to go as well.

Btw making red tail lights blink amber is no problem at all. I run a set of modified US tails on my car that actually blink sequentially in amber.

I think I have heard that the cars are homoligated for the Russian market, don't quote me on that though.

Ericc B said:

No they don't. On the export cars only the outer bar blinks. In amber. Brakes use only the two inner bars.

There has been a lot of speculation over why Ford came up with the clear tails. Nobody knows exactly why except that they wanted to make one design that they could homologate in all export markets. So if only one country does not allow a red housing for a blinker (even if it blinkes perfectly amber) then that was already enough to switch to clear.

There are multiple countries that do not allow sequential blinking, so that had to go as well.

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This is the only reason I can think of........other than the fact they went clear just to be different.

It's now the only thing I want Ford to fix on the next-gent/next facelift car. Heck, even Peugeot offer triple red tails!

I wasn't initially a fan of the clear tail lights.

I've since changed my mind and think they look particularly good on the darker colours.

Having said that, would love to have sequentials.

Mazman said:

I think I have heard that the cars are homoligated for the Russian market, don't quote me on that though.

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I knew it! Russian collusion! :doh:

Mazman said:

I think I have heard that the cars are homoligated for the Russian market, don't quote me on that though.

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Hey, there's gotta be a million other websites that cater to that kind of pervy stuff. :threadjacked: