Is it illegal to remove the third brake light and have no spoiler? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Jeff

 

yes and y would u do this, u need a third brake light all cars made 1984+ ( i think) have a middle brake light

 

I just don't like the way it looks.

 

are you talking about the brake light in the spoiler, or the one in the back window?

 

either way, it doesnt matter. you need one or the other. and famemax is right, it was a law that all new car designs starting around 84/86 had to add a 3rd brake light, some did it earlier than others to list it as a "safety feature" or something.

 

I think the year they started mandating the 3rd brakelight was between 88 and 90, 'cos my '87 Bronco doesn't have one.

Still, I doubt you'd get pulled, but it could make for an interesting legal battle if you get rear-ended and they claim that your brakelights were illegally modified...

(As an extreme example - Imagine a person who has no working brakelights and gets rearended. There is precedence for that person to be determined 'at fault', and the driver at the back has been exhonorated...)

 

I've never heard of this. Which state is this in? Can you point me to some information on this law?

-Sryth...
__________________________________________________ ____________________________
'98 SE 5spd, Pebble Beige, PRCAI, Stillen Y, Stillen FSTB, ACT clutch.
Pacesetter STS to be installed this week!

 

correct me if i'm wrong, but if he removes the spoiler, don't 96's have a 3rd brake light in the window anyway??? if so, he can remove the spoiler

 

Sorry for all of the confusion. I do not have a spoiler on my car. I was wanting to remove the 3rd brake light from the interior of my car. I was wondering if it was a law. I do appreciate all of your responses. I guess I'll have to leave it in. Thanks guys.

Jeff

 

This is kinda ironic, don't you think? Usually people want to add lots and lots of lights on their cars. lol..and you want to take it off? If you don't like the look...then change it to one of the LED ones. The LED brake lights you see on audis and vw's. I may want to do this after thinking about it! If you like the idea, I want you to do it first.

 

nope, my 96SE w/ OEM spoiler doesn't have that third brakelight behind the rear window.

 

yeah but you have it on the spoiler...so it's legal.

 

oops, i meant to answer maximamoose's question.

 

are you serious? leave it in. if it isn't an option from the factory w/lighting, it is probably illegal to take off w/o replacing

 

Is this a state law, or a federal law? Anyone have any information on it? I've searched through 2 states so far (NY and CA) and it says nothing in the Vehicle Code about a 3rd stop lamp being required.

New York’s Vehicle and Traffic laws specify the requirement of stop lamps, but only require two of them. (State Code, Chapter 71, Title 3, Article 9, Section 375 (#40))

California is pretty much the same. (California Vehicle Code, Division 12, Chapter 2, Section 24603)

I also searched through the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and Regulations, but the only regulation that comes close would be Standard No. 108. That doesn't apply at all.

I've seen people talk about this 3rd stop lamp law, but have seen no real references to the law itself.

-Sryth...
__________________________________________________ ____________________________
'98 SE 5spd, Pebble Beige, PRCAI, Stillen Y, Stillen FSTB, ACT clutch.
Pacesetter STS to be installed this week!

 

it must be a federal law. its required of all cars being made now, and for the last 15 years now. its above state laws.

 

yes, I'm serious. I wasn't trying to cause all of this comotion tho. I just thought it would look cleaner with out it at night. Just trying something new. It doesn't match my tails. I really don't feel like ordering new red bulbs so it will match. Plus while I was in there I was going to tighten things up so my back deck won't rattle as much. Guess I'll have to leave it in so I don't get any stupid tickets then have to install it all over again.

on another note. eveyone take a deep breath and count to 10. It's not that big of a deal. I was just curious. thanks for the help tho.

Jeff

 

Third brake lights fall under the same category as airbags. Both were introduced as saftey features, and then were required to be present in all vehicles. Its a federal thing. Don't remove it. It would definitely come back to bite you in the a$$ one day.

 

now, i understand it might look cleaner to you, but it isn't on all of the time. it's a brake light. it only comes on while braking.and, not to flame, but what do you care if it's visible or not. you are driving, so you won't see it at night???

 

Is it that it's required to be present in all vehicles, or that it is a requirement of producing a new vehicle? It has to be the latter. Otherwise, a good deal of cars out there are operating illegally.

Is it really illegal for me to disable my air bags? I know it's stupid, but is it actually illegal?

-Sryth...
__________________________________________________ ____________________________
'98 SE 5spd, Pebble Beige, PRCAI, Stillen Y, Stillen FSTB, ACT clutch.
Pacesetter STS to be installed this week!

 

I guess that depends on if airbags are considered to be as important as seat belts. We definitely can't disable seatbelts, its illegal.

You can drive around with your airbag not working, you'll just get a warning light. You can also turn them off in trucks. I would say its probably ok to disable them.

 

Actually I can see the third brake light at night. You probably can too. It's a habit of mine to look in my rear-view when braking at a light or stop to make sure I'm not about to get rear-ended. It always makes me so happy to see a bright orange glow glaring in my back window. Yes, I could change the bulb and put a red one back there, but I would much rather it just not be there.

 

Wait..I don't get this. Your 3rd brake light is orange? How is that? Since the plastic on the brake light is red..did you use an yellow bulb? Okay..I am going to go to sleep and try not to think of this. I have school and have to wake up at 5:30 (5 hrs and 20 mins)

 

Heh, no it's not really orange. It's just that it's not as bright as the tails b/c they have red bulbs in them. Yes the easy thing to do would be put a red bulb in the 3rd brake light, but then that defeats the purpose of this whole thread.