"MLGCarGuy" (thejdmguy)
11/30/2015 at 11:30 • Filed to: None
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"MLGCarGuy" (thejdmguy)
11/30/2015 at 11:30 • Filed to: None | 0
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I was configuring an i8 when I noticed that the 2016 model year configurator showed the option to add Laserlight to the i8. Last year’s configurator did not have the Laserlight option, and to my current knowledge laser headlights are illegal in the US. So is BMW sneaking this option past the US regulations, or are they legal now?
Sam
> MLGCarGuy
11/30/2015 at 11:37 |
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No way they’re legal. Holy shit, moving headlights are insanely dangerous for everyone. If they allow them in the US, locusts will descend from the sky and horses will start eating each other. Oh wait, none of that will happen.
But I really do doubt a bill could have gotten through the bureaucracy that fast.
PS9
> MLGCarGuy
11/30/2015 at 11:38 |
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The site configurator is probably universal across all territories served by BMW. You can configure an i8 with lasers, but you’ll likely get a friendly phone call by BMW informing you yours won’t be coming with them if you live in the US.
Party-vi
> MLGCarGuy
11/30/2015 at 11:40 |
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Laserlight is more than likely a trademark for BMW’s LED lights.
BMW originally marketed their new headlight technology as laser headlights, but when filing for DOT approval they stated the technology essentially used light-emitting diodes, and therefore should not be considered an actual laser device. DOT did not agree, and stated they cannot say they are laser headlights. Or at least this is my understanding.
Cé hé sin
> MLGCarGuy
11/30/2015 at 12:07 |
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I’m reminded of the Citroen DS. It had non sealed headlights, covers over same and later on steering lights as an option and the whole lot were illegal in the US because foreign, not invented there and quite possibly communist.
The DS was replaced by the CX which found that its height adjustable suspension was also banned, also because evil and foreign.
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MLGCarGuy
> Party-vi
11/30/2015 at 16:20 |
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It could be, but the i8 is already stated by BMW’s website as featuring LED lights standard...
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Party-vi
> MLGCarGuy
11/30/2015 at 16:30 |
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Right. What I’m stating is BMW cannot sell their laser headlights in the US as “laser headlights”, so they are using the same technology, filed with the DOT as LED headlights but calling them Laserlight ® .
pjhusa
> PS9
02/27/2016 at 13:02 |
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Well, this config only applies to America.
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PS9
> pjhusa
02/27/2016 at 17:31 |
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That’s not actually true though. If it were, laserlights would not be offered as an option, since you can’t get them in the US.
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pjhusa
> PS9
02/27/2016 at 18:22 |
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IIRC, yes, laser lights are illegal here right now, but this is BMW’s fully-featured, USA-exclusive Configurator. They have a separate, global one which only allows you to change colors, wheels, and upholsteries, and almost every territory in which they sell cars has its own local Configurator.
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pjhusa
> Sam
02/27/2016 at 18:24 |
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BMW already sells Adaptive LEDs here, on practically every model. They move. Yet I've seen no descending locusts or cannibal horses.
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PS9
> pjhusa
02/27/2016 at 21:29 |
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‘For now’? The regulations in question are 50 years old, and Audi has had no luck at all trying to get them changed ever after a year and a half of effort. An Act of Congress is required, so it will not be the case anytime soon (or later, or much, much, much later) that laserlights will be legal in the US, certainly not soon enough to justify offering it as an option on any car you can buy in the US today.
but this is BMW’s fully-featured, USA-exclusive Configurator.
The webpage you see is exclusive maybe, but the configuration system likely isn’t. It wouldn’t be difficult at all to present 20 or 30 or however many webpages to various territories only for them all to feed that data into a centralized system, and given the relatively low webtraffic a configurator for a $200k car would generate, all of it could be run on one server.
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pjhusa
> PS9
02/27/2016 at 21:52 |
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I see your logic. Regarding the webpage though, the US site runs on what seems to be a completely different engine than the Canadian, German, Belgian, etc... ones. Maybe it's a reskin, but if suggest you'd check to make sure.