New Jeep Cherokee brake lights odd behavior with turn signals

[haha1234]

I was behind a new Cherokee at a red light, and I noticed when the turn signal is on, the brake light for that side is off.

The difference here is that the Cherokee has amber rear turn signals! They seem to be in the same place as the brake lights, which light up the normal red. WTF?

While combination stop/turn signals are common in the US, this is the first time I've seen it with amber turn signals.

Why would they do this? Do any cars exhibit this odd behavior?

 

[Ls400]

What country is this?

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

 

[Interceptor_E]

I've noticed this as well! The refreshed (2019+) Cherokee has it, as does the Tesla Model X and the new 2019 Ram 1500 (not the 1500 Classic though). All of them spotted in the US. I'm not sure what the logic behind this setup is, as it looks like the car has a brake light out when the turn signal is on. At least with a red Stop/Turn setup, there are three brake lights on for half the time.

I don't know if any studies have been done on this particular arrangement, but it will be interesting to see if these vehicles are rear ended at a higher rate than average.

 

[Alaric Darconville]

I was behind a new Cherokee at a red light, and I noticed when the turn signal is on, the brake light for that side is off.

The difference here is that the Cherokee has amber rear turn signals!

I've seen other very new FCA vehicles (some Ram pickups) that do this, using a similar "switchback" method like some vehicles have been doing when the white DRL turns yellow to flash as a turn signal. Obviously, incorporated turn/stop lamps are permitted, but typically they are red for both functions. Seeing it work this way is a bit unsettling.

 

[-Virgil-]

It's growing more common. It's really no different from a regular always-red combination stop/turn light, except the turn function is yellow rather than red. There have been rumblings that NCAP points might start getting awarded for yellow rear turn signals (slow clap here) but stylists are insisting on small rear lights, but rear turn signals and stop lights have to have at least 50 square centimeters of lit area in the US, so automakers won't make the rear lamps big enough to accommodate two compartments of 50 square centimeters each. The US regs don't prohibit the stop light and the turn signal coming from the same lit area. (this isn't allowed in the rest of the world under the UN regs, but those don't have the 50-cm2 area requirement)

Personally, I'm skeptical. I mean, hooray for yellow turn signals, they're obviously better; we know this because it's been studied and cars with yellow rear turn signals get hit less in traffic. But all that data is cars with yellow turn signals separate from the red stop lights; we don't know whether the benefit changes or disappears with this combination system.

Is it just me, or is the idea pretty basic that two different, important messages that mean two different, important things should be conveyed by two separate lights that don't look alike?

 

[Alaric Darconville]

Is it just me, or is the idea pretty basic that two different, important messages that mean two different, important things should be conveyed by two separate lights that don't look alike?

And that's my problem (why I'm unsettled) by this new methodology. Sure, nothing preventing it but it's still just... icky.

 

[TechGuru]

Is it just me, or is the idea pretty basic that two different, important messages that mean two different, important things should be conveyed by two separate lights that don't look alike?

Looks to me like the third brake light is becoming the primary brake light...

 

[Alaric Darconville]

Looks to me like the third brake light is becoming the primary brake light...

And auto dealers are turning that into the ??? signal by installing those flasher/pulser modules in them.

 

[Rexlion]

It's a Jeep thing. :laughing:

 

[Alaric Darconville]

It's a Jeep thing. :laughing:

"Don't follow me, my lighting is annoying"

It's not just Jeep, though-- I've seen it in FCA pickups (like the Ram).

 

[TechGuru]

"Don't follow me, my lighting is annoying"

Caught this on my dash cam...

 

[Alaric Darconville]

Caught this on video myself...

I feel safer already...