I shaved my entire rear end of my cavy and put led strip taillights in there. Just got a ticket for modified taillights. BUT, I have been told by a sherriff that they are visable and follow CA law. Any opinions to help me plea my case?

not dot approved

Their not DOT approved, and to be frank, their not all that visible. Hence, illegal. Not only are they not visible from the side of the car, but there are no reflectors. Two major no-nos right there. Why did you shave the entire tail light anyways . . .

cant fight cali nick.
but they look great!



-Www.IznTrbl.Com-

crystal/jacob have some on their car for reverse tho

it's only for reverse.

those led tails are not DOT approved
j

^^^^ whats only for reverse? am I missing something?

see the led light bar in the bottom of the tag box on the bumper?? (white)
that's the reverse light
j

oh ok, makes sence now

Yeah DOT is the only thing I can think of cause so many new cars have LED tails from the factory.




Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.

Exodus 259 wrote:Their not DOT approved, and to be frank, their not all that visible. Hence, illegal. Not only are they not visible from the side of the car, but there are no reflectors. Two major no-nos right there. Why did you shave the entire tail light anyways . . .

it depends on state laws....like in WV you dont have to have the tails visible from the sides (unless thats a new law). my brother put some caddy tail lights on his z24 and they work. neither his car nor the caddy lights were visible from the side.

but he said that to pass WV inspection he would need to do something about red reflectors. and he had other tail lights that he had to get rid of because they werent DOT approved and he didnt want to get in a wreck and then have to pay for both cars just because of ^^^.

but those lights look great on your car. and thats exactly what im looking for to put on my sunfire. do you have any other pics? and what brand are they and where did you get them? how bright are they? anything else you can tell me about them?



-----I'm such a NEWB!-----
---caleb

theres tons of S-10's around here that have led strips and no one says any thing i guess its just the state ur ing

There are DOT approved LED strips out there. They have the red reflective prismatic lens. As stated above, though, most states require them to be visible from the sides, so you would need to put something on the sides. There is also usually a minimum size requirement, but usually a 6" or better strip will pass. There is a company out in CA somewhere called High Tech Products. They make tons of LED strips and shapes designed for flush mounting. A lot of them have extra thick lenses to facilitate shaping into a body panel. They are quite cool when done right. You could put a small strip or pair of strips on the quarter panel, then the two that you have.

I think it all comes down to the officer wanting to be a prick
j

Man.. alright. I DO have reflectors though. They are not in that pic but I put 5 on. : ) But I get the point. I'm just gonna undo the welding on the outside and throw some Black lenses in there.

Nick Carney wrote:Man.. alright. I DO have reflectors though. They are not in that pic but I put 5 on. : ) But I get the point. I'm just gonna undo the welding on the outside and throw some Black lenses in there.

It's not just about having reflectors on your car. In order for the tails to be legal in most cases, at least one set of lights has to have the reflector as part of it.
I'd seriously look into this before you go undoing your work.

Well I know for a fact that the lights on there are not DOT aprroved.

He lives in California... the state that'll give you a ticket if your car looks too fast. Bah.

nick: any word on the brand of lights, etc?



-----I'm such a NEWB!-----
---caleb

Naw. There a led strips we sell at work for accent lighting. Not sure what brand. I ordered the new tails today though. I'll post a pic when I install them.

Don't know about CA, but here in MI there's 4 main requirements:
1. At least 24" off the ground (looks like yours would fail, or close at least).
2. Be visible in broad daylight from the rear and 90* to the side. (Again a fail)
3. Have integrated reflectors (one of the main topics above).
4. Be Red.

Call the local sherif and have them lookup the laws for you, then design around that. I wouldn't do anything else until you've done that.

Here is how I fixed it. Now hopefully the judge will reduce my damn fine.


Thanks for everybodys input.

Plead 'no contest' and tell the judge you have corrected the situation since you were told incorrect information.

Leave it at that and see how it goes.


BTW, I am not an attorney and do not take credit or fault for how my advice works... lol

Haha thanks.

Well as long as you fixed the problem and they work, you should just have the case dropped.