Whats with the trend of rear reflectors?

[audivwdave]

So are the standard taillights not good enough anymore so they have to add some tacky ass red reflectors on the bumpers and rear sides now? Reminds me of a pedal bike when I was 8.

[space]

Still not safe enough

[mimalmo]

[Digital K]

suppose its so you dont hit it when.... i dont know....tail lights are missing?

[thull]

It keeps designers on their toes

Honestly though, the shoulder is one of the most dangerous places to leave a car, and the easier to see a broken down car the better. Some definitely aren't great to look at, but neither is the rest of the car in a lot of cases lol

[skyline513]

Don't forget the really awesome ones on the new carollas!

[Sven7]

It keeps designers on their toes

...and gives them one more bullshit thing to add onto an otherwise clean design.

But I'm sure it's for safety, in case you're parked on the street or whatever. A similar reason to why they made the mid-rear tails.

[zurno]

Probably has to do with the tail lights not meeting the requirements we have for reflectors, so they just slap those on.

The Malibu might have those thrown on the side with a light in them to meet that requirement, there apparently has to be light on the side of the car since like the early 70's.

[John2.0T]

I've noticed this too... definitely sad to see.

the new subaru legacy is honestly the worst one i've seen...



the entire rear bumper is ruined. I've seen a few on the road and they would look SO much better without those reflectors.

My A4 has a reflective strip in both taillights... they are clearly visible from a distance, and they dont look like shit.

[megafr0]

I've noticed this too... definitely sad to see.

the new subaru legacy is honestly the worst one i've seen...




the entire rear bumper is ruined. I've seen a few on the road and they would look SO much better without those reflectors.

My A4 has a reflective strip in both taillights... they are clearly visible from a distance, and they dont look like shit.

Yeah its so ugly. From the front it looks like an 04-09 Nissan Maxima.

I love Nissan Maxima's but the 04-09 ones are ugly as sin. Best was 2000-2003, new ones look decent too but NO MANUAL!!! Only CVT...

[Sunshine]

I think it would be more tactical to put the reflectors "inside" the tailights that way you cant really see them unless the car is off because the actual tailights themselves would show. That way when the car is off, and parked on the shoulder the reflectors would work..idk

[Sven7]

They already put them inside the tails. I guess the regulations put them down farther on the bumpers?

What I don't understand is why they didn't place the Legacy's reflectors between the tailpipes on the "diffuser".

[BlackVR]

The prefacelift Legacy looks sooo much nicer without those reflectors

[FrankD]

I am not a fan of the reflectors outside the head/tail light trend... I deleted mine (front & rear) w/ satisfactory results.

Before:




After:

[Topher]

I generally dislike reflectors, but I don't think the Legacy one looks bad. Would it look better smoothed, yeah, maybe. But I don't mind it.