Audi & VW LED "pulsing" indicator design influence on Volvo

[GreenBrick]

Originally Posted by Spike56

Heated washer nozzles! Already in play!

For rear lights???

[canis]

Originally Posted by tofufi

The UNECE (NOT EU) legislation on lighting that we follow in Europe (as well as other UN countries) mandates maximum and minimum candela values for lamps such as indicators, headlamps etc.

There is also legislation (UNECE Regulation 48) about the angles at which these lamps can be seen. The problem with the legislation is that there is no minimum distance between stop lamps and rear indicators.

Reversing lamps must be visible at 45 degrees outwards from the lamp (to the left and right of the vehicle), but there's no requirement to be able to see them at 90 degrees.

Thanks for this correction. It wasn't quite 90 degrees, but perhaps was greater than 45. Whatever - never had this problem before.

Perhaps a better example would've been an offside indicator at a mini-roundabout. Indicators are the real bug-bear, that tiny little amber LED amidst an enormous christmas-tree bauble of shiny plastic throwing sunshine/streetlamp/other headlights/reflections in all manner of directions. Plus they're drowned out by the headlamps themselves.

They're just not visible enough.

[tofufi]

Originally Posted by canis

an offside indicator at a mini-roundabout. Indicators are the real bug-bear, that tiny little amber LED amidst an enormous christmas-tree bauble of shiny plastic throwing sunshine/streetlamp/other headlights/reflections in all manner of directions. Plus they're drowned out by the headlamps themselves.

They're just not visible enough.

No disagreement.

Write to the DfT and ask them to lobby on the EU and UNECE working groups they attend. The UK has a big influence in Europe (at least for a few more months) in these areas and if there's enough public complaint something could get done

[Spike56]

Originally Posted by GreenBrick

For rear lights???

If it can be done at the front, why not? Already have heated screens! Shouldn't be difficult to slot a low voltage heater in line.

[GMcL]

Few things I'd like on my car:

• A cooling steering wheel
  I have a heated wheel, why not a cooling one for these blistering desert summers
• Headlight heaters for LED
  LED's don't generate much heat at the front like old halogen bulbs. In winter the snow and ice just builds up in front of them
• Rear wiper on S60
  Can't see a thing out the back window when rain and spray get going

In terms of sequential indicators, I don't see the problem, it's just another signature item. On some cars you have to pay extra to activate it.
Volvo have "Thor's hammer" signature DRL's. Why bother with that when a simple strip of light would do the same job ?

[Arnold Layne]

I've noticed a couple of new Volvos recently that definitely have "audi style" pulsing LED indicators. One was a new V90 which had long horizontal lower strip of LED lights in addition to the upright part of the light, and it had a pulsing indicator that moved along the length of the lower horizontal LED strip. The other one was a saloon, but I was too far away to see if it was an S90 or S60. So I guess the 2021 models must now have incorporated this feature. I'm off to look at the Volvo website to see if I can glean anything...

[T5R92011]

Originally Posted by Arnold Layne

I've noticed a couple of new Volvos recently that definitely have "audi style" pulsing LED indicators. One was a new V90 which had long horizontal lower strip of LED lights in addition to the upright part of the light, and it had a pulsing indicator that moved along the length of the lower horizontal LED strip. The other one was a saloon, but I was too far away to see if it was an S90 or S60. So I guess the 2021 models must now have incorporated this feature. I'm off to look at the Volvo website to see if I can glean anything...

These will definitely fail in 10-15 years. Hopefully entire lamp clusters will be cheap then (doubtful). My last Volvo S40 T5 started to have issues with the LED brake lights, despite replacing components on the PCB. In the end I paid £45 for a replacement rear light unit, which is significantly more than the cost of a regular brake light bulb. A rather irritating issue if Im honest. And when you see that a lot of modern cars every single bulb inside and out is LED, it means we're going to need to be very handy with a soldering iron when problems arise.

[93240se]

On my 1959 PV I had red tail, brake & indicator lights on one housing. I have modified them to have old indicator become the brake light, separate from the tail light. Then added separate orange indicators that are visible from both side and rear. Similarly changed side / indicator lights to Orange bulbs and fitted separate white side lights. Just to make everything clearer for other drivers..
Regards, Richard

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Arnold Layne

I've noticed a couple of new Volvos recently that definitely have "audi style" pulsing LED indicators. One was a new V90 which had long horizontal lower strip of LED lights in addition to the upright part of the light, and it had a pulsing indicator that moved along the length of the lower horizontal LED strip. The other one was a saloon, but I was too far away to see if it was an S90 or S60. So I guess the 2021 models must now have incorporated this feature. I'm off to look at the Volvo website to see if I can glean anything...

Indeed a horrible gimmick , I'm surprised to see volvo following the heard . Most unlike them ...