Design Details: Rear Bumper Reflectors Edition

"Amoore100" (amoore100) 09/22/2016 at 22:10 • Filed to: Design Details, Honda Civic, Infiniti QX60

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Today there are some more United States lighting regulations for us to take a look at with Design Details! Now, you may or may not have recognized the recent uprising of red reflectors along the back of the rear bumper of cars stateside in modern years; for those who have, the reason for that is the NHSTA’s FMVSS 108 mandated in 2011 which requires their existence. Thus, which cars do you think have adapted best to this modern requirement?

On things like the new QX60 they’re not too obvious given the giant thing’s plethora of violent “flame surfacing” distracting your eyes

On the new Civic they’re bracketed by ugly and unnecessary fake vents which just ruin the otherwise lovely rear IMO

So what do you think Oppo?

What are the best/worst/most distinctively styled rear bumper reflectors in the automotive world?

404 - User No Longer Available > Amoore100 09/22/2016 at 22:27

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2014 Camaro doesn’t seem to have them?

whoarder is tellurium > Amoore100 09/22/2016 at 22:29

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My vote for one of the worst

Probenja > Amoore100 09/22/2016 at 22:32

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Do they have to be at a certain height? Because if not all cars should have them integrated in the tail lights as it just makes sense for styling and cost.

The Fit has the reflectors in the bottom and top of the tail lights but keeps the rear vents for some reason.

Kia makes some nicely integrated ones:

Probenja > whoarder is tellurium 09/22/2016 at 22:34

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Most times when reflectors are that big, they are rear fogs in other markets:

Milky > Amoore100 09/22/2016 at 22:37

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Civic hatch is worse.

Amoore100 > 404 - User No Longer Available 09/22/2016 at 22:37

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Either the height is low enough or since that’s still technically the fifth gen (introduced 2009) they grandfathered it in since the new one def has them.

ToyotaFamily > Amoore100 09/22/2016 at 22:40

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one of the worst in my opinion

Amoore100 > Probenja 09/22/2016 at 22:41

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Hmm, the Fit is a really odd case, I wonder how they skirted around that issue? Anyways, I love the Kia ones! The K900 is so sophisticated and the Soul is too cute!

Amoore100 > whoarder is tellurium 09/22/2016 at 22:43

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Indeed, pretty sure those were Hyundai’s own choice back when they were in the business of making hideous things.

FromCanadaWithLove > Amoore100 09/22/2016 at 22:43

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The reflectors on the Audi Q5 always bug me.

404 - User No Longer Available > Amoore100 09/22/2016 at 22:44

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Quite possible. E92/93 LCIs which showed up in 2011 and lasted till 2013 all didn’t have them either, though it almost looked like they were ready to add them.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Milky 09/22/2016 at 22:49

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those fake vents are horrible

Milky > OPPOsaurus WRX 09/22/2016 at 22:55

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But bro, it looks fast.

Svart Smart, traded in his Smart > Amoore100 09/22/2016 at 23:31

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Two of my *least* favorite.

RT > Amoore100 09/23/2016 at 17:11

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Porsche are great with the full-width ones.

And not sure if this counts, but you can’t beat the iconic R34-style asymmetrical arrangement.

Shoutout to all the 80s/90s cars with super wide rectangular ones too.

Amoore100 > ToyotaFamily 09/23/2016 at 18:18

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Indeed, I think the Civic takes after them in both timeline and awfulness.

Amoore100 > FromCanadaWithLove 09/23/2016 at 18:26

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There’s lamps down there too.

Amoore100 > Svart Smart, traded in his Smart 09/23/2016 at 18:31

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Yeah, they’re just tacked on with some chrome to make them look less forced. I hate to say it, but no, the chrome makes it worse. It’s weird how the XC70 had them but the V60 doesn’t considering the fact that the V60 is a much newer design which debuted stateside after 2011.

Amoore100 > RT 09/23/2016 at 18:35

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*Technically* most of those are heckblendes and not lower rear reflectors, but I love ‘80s-’90s cars so I’ll give it a pass! ;) Especially that Chaser! That’s an awesome picture of such an elegant car!

The R34 put fogs/backup lamps where most lower reflectors appear today; in many markets outside the US, they replace the bottom reflectors with the necessary auxiliary fog lamps (or vice versa) in order to reuse the already molded space.

RT > Amoore100 09/23/2016 at 18:46

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So they’re called Heckblendes! I was wondering if they had a name, thanks for telling me.

That also explains the R34, anyone who plays enough video games will know what those lights do. xP

Amoore100 > RT 09/23/2016 at 18:58

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Indeed! I think they’re big in Germany, thus the origin of the name which means something like ‘rear aperture’. They’re most common on Golfs, though here in the US you don’t see them anywhere besides maybe the odd Scirocco.

RT > Amoore100 09/23/2016 at 19:45

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Googled a few and from what I can see, alignment is everything.

It’s a quirky and somewhat pointless accessory, but it seems to add something which I can’t quite put my finger on.

I’ll be sure to ask my German friend about it next time.