this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2023
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Even the Tesla Cybertruck's Brake Lights Don't Make Sense::Brake lights shouldn't be confusing, but Tesla's determined to be different with the Cybertruck, for better or worse.

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[–] Ranvier@sopuli.xyz 144 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

Wow, what a dumb design. It actually looks less like it's braking with the brake lights on.

It's also got the whole brake light and turn signal are the same light thing I hate too. Just keep them separate lights with a yellow light for the turn signal.

[–] andthenthreemore@startrek.website 66 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I don't get how that's legal in some parts of the world.

[–] mycatiskai@lemmy.one 34 points 1 year ago (4 children)

American manufacturing don't want to have to change anything in their production lines so most American cars have only a red taillight that flashes the same bulk for brakes and turn signal.

It is lazy and unsafe but it would probably cost a few pennies to have an orange turn signal light so it is more profit not to do it.

All the more reason it should be illegal! It is in other parts of the world.

[–] LemmyIsFantastic@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

Meanwhile every nice car out there has a $1000 LED for branding. It has little to do with cost and more to do with manufacturers using lights for style and branding. Folks are very happy to spend more on nice looking LEDs.

[–] CaptainPedantic@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thankfully it's changing a bit. I've noticed that newer Ford and Dodge full sized pickups use amber turn signals. I assume that these vehicles don't sell very well in places that require amber turn signals (Europe).

Meanwhile, VW, Audi, BMW, Land Rover, and Mercedes all modify their amber European turn signals to red to sell in the US. For some reason, they go out of their way to make 2 parts instead of 1 for many of their models.

I think it's a styling thing rather than a cost thing now. Back when taillights in the US were a single bulb on each side, cost was a driving factor. Now with complex LED taillights, I think it's something else keeping amber out of our indicators.

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[–] lemmyvore@feddit.nl 6 points 1 year ago

I've read that it used to be done on purpose to prevent models meant for US to be sold in other parts of the world, and the other way around.

Conversions are not straightforward since on US models there's a single wire that goes to a single bulb and carries both the brake (steady) and turn (blink) signals, while in other places there's a distinct turn bulb with it's own wire.

[–] lemmyvore@feddit.nl 23 points 1 year ago

Mixed brake and turn signals are not legal in several EU countries.

It's been an issue with imported Jeep Wrangler US models, which run afoul not only of not having separate brake and turn lights but also not meeting spec about minimum surface of brake lights.

Some people were skirting around the regulations by registering them as off-road vehicles but those have to meet specific criteria (such as not being used primarily as a cool ride in the middle of an urban area...)

[–] UnspecificGravity@lemmings.world 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'm not even sure its legal in the US. The mixed brake lights are one thing, but even in the US they cannot be the ONLY form of brake light. And the idea of a "center light" being the normal tail light turning OFF and being replaced with a smaller light doesn't seem like it would meet even the relatively lax US DOT requirements.

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[–] variaatio@sopuli.xyz 8 points 1 year ago

Specially in say foggy conditions and little bit distance. At which point you won't clearly maybe differentiate individual elements and more like that's the rear and "block of light in middle, left and right". At which point it all little blending one might infact be under impression "the light intensity lowered at the rear, huh, not braking then, did they have they parking break dragging they released or something.... ohhhjj shuiiiiiit no it is braking hard".

My two cents from here north of Europe and land of snow, rain, fog and occasional white out conditions.

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[–] Mandy@sh.itjust.works 77 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Someone actually bought this n64 piece of shit?

[–] A7thStone@lemmy.world 40 points 1 year ago (1 children)

N64 had more polygons than that. This thing is more like a virtualboy game, and it gives you a migraine when you look at it just like virtualboy.

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[–] ours@lemmy.world 21 points 1 year ago

A now ex-colleague pre-ordered straight away. It came up during a lunch discussion where he was convinced Teslas (which he owned) were at a more advanced self-driving class (3 or 4 versus the actual 2).

Some people really drank the Musk Coolaid and that was back before he went full-on alt-right troll.

[–] RealAndOfficial@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It totally reminds me of playing Deathtrack on my 1989 PC. Especially Preying Menace's car... Preying Menace's car

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[–] Tronn4@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It should come with an expansion pack to get rid of the sharp edges

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[–] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 69 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Still can't believe this made it to production

Homer Simpson ass lookin car

[–] UnspecificGravity@lemmings.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Homer Simpson at least had the intent of making a car that would meet the needs of his imagined consumer. I don't know who the hell this truck was designed for.

[–] Daft_ish@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

For future collectors of obscure 2020s cars.

[–] indigomirage@lemmy.ca 57 points 1 year ago (2 children)
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[–] bemenaker@lemmy.world 49 points 1 year ago (4 children)

everything about this truck is ugly, and fucked up. Just scrap it and start over.

[–] TryingToEscapeTarkov@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I'm convinced that Elon himself drew a shitty sketch for the truck on a napkin and said "make it exactly how I drew it!" and they did unfortunately.

[–] zaphod@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'm convinced it's worse than that. I think he originally drew this thing when he was six years old and is so impressed with himself that he thought it was pure genius then and now.

It was also at that time that he became obsessed with the letter X because he loved pirates and treasure maps.

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[–] ButtholeSpiders@startrek.website 49 points 1 year ago (3 children)

That looks like a shitty future car mock-up for a late 80’s future/action movie. Like Robocop or an Arnold movie 🤣 Only Elon would fund something this unappealing.

[–] NocturnalEngineer@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Much like naming a company "X"

[–] Slovene@feddit.nl 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Maybe he's hoping people will start calling him the X-man.

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[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 42 points 1 year ago (9 children)

Ok call me crazy but wouldn't the requirements be written in law? I'd expect in many countries it simply wouldn't be able to be sold.

[–] jve@lemmy.world 46 points 1 year ago (2 children)

From the article

The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards regulate taillight design, mandating minimum area, placement, quantity, and visibility according to vehicle category, dimensions, and weight. However, the FMVSS does not appear to prohibit deactivating taillights during braking, so the Cybertruck's taillights as seen here seem to be legal—even if they are perplexing, and potentially dangerous.

I still can barely believe this thing is real, and not something out of a bad 90s movie where video game characters come into the real world.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 14 points 1 year ago (8 children)

I was more meaning in a wider sense. A car manufacturer who can't sell their cars outside the US is shooting themselves in the foot.

[–] tacosanonymous@lemm.ee 13 points 1 year ago

Isn’t that kinda his specialty these days?

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[–] Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

As with most laws, first someone has to do something really stupid for others to say “we should probably write this down in the rule book and not allow others to do this.”

Elon and his designers are basically doing things that other car designers aren’t dumb enough to do.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But there are countries all around the world. You can find yourself a loophole in one country but then you can't sell your car in all the countries that loophole doesn't exist

[–] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago

Let me introduce you to Elon musk...

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[–] ryan@the.coolest.zone 34 points 1 year ago (2 children)

There's a video in the article and... oof, that's good to know in case I end up behind one. It's definitely a bit confusing and likely won't alert distracted drivers because the red light is always present. (Not that drivers should be distracted on the road, but it happens often.)

[–] nothing@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

We'll turn off the lights off to show just the brake lights! Brilliant!

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[–] quinkin@lemmy.world 33 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It must "look like the future"...

I guess, if you are stuck thinking the 80's are the future.

[–] JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz 32 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

The Huyndai N vision 74 looks like the future, and it looks amazing.

The Cybertruck just looks like a bad Playstation 1 game model.

[–] Sylvartas@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago

I mean, it also looks like "80's future" aesthetics but unlike the cybertruck, it does looks amazing

[–] Iamdanno@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

If you take the wing and ground effects off, it looks like a 30 year old Toyota Supra.

I don't know if I'd call that "futuristic".

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[–] zaphod@lemmy.ca 29 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

This is what happens when you think you're smarter than decades of lessons in vehicle safety design. Elon Musk is truly a dumb person's idea of a smart person.

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[–] scarabic@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago (3 children)

They say they have a million preorders…

I ordered a Tesla S way back in the day when it was a 6 month wait. I had to put down a $2000 deposit. But I got it all back when I cancelled the order a few months later.

So I have to wonder what those million preorders actually mean. Because boy howdy people are going to have some fucking buyer’s remorse once these eyesores start shipping.

They make the Pontiac Aztec look good. And that’s saying something!

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[–] UnspecificGravity@lemmings.world 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That is insane. The "brake lights" are effectively just the regular tail lights turning OFF and being replaced with smaller less bright lights. That is stupid.

[–] rustbuckett@lemmings.world 12 points 1 year ago

I legit didn't think this thing was real.

[–] ram@bookwormstory.social 11 points 1 year ago

Hey, I found the driver!

[–] Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm not the biggest fan of modern car desing in the first place, but these unibrow head- and tail lights are definitely among what I take the most issue with. I'm not sure if I've seen one car on which they look good. Not that it really concerns me as someone driving only +10 year old vehicles but if by some miracle I aquired one of these the first thing I would to is to lift the tailgate and hood and cut the wires to these lights only leaving the ones in the corners.

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