European Amber Turn Signals

Can anyone tell me why recent Ferrari models in Europe have amber turn signals in the tail light clusters, while the same car in the US has red turn signals (Enzo, 458, etc.). Is there a regulation in Europe the requires tail light turn signals to glow amber? I much prefer the amber over red. Thank you.

 

Cars sold in the United States are required to have red brake lights and turn signals as per the US Code of Federal Regulations (Title 49 and its various subsections). The side markers are also required to be red for the rear right and left, and amber for the front right and left on the body panels. There are subtle, but significant, differences between US cars and those sold elsewhere; lighting arrays is one of the more visible ones. That is why, when you order a new car, they are specific about what country you intend to register it in.

In the USA, you also have tighter regulations in California, so there are added requirements if you register a new car there. Those regs deal mostly with emissions, and you want to know if you are buying a 49-state car if you are a California resident- if so, you won't be able to register it as new (less than 7500 miles on the odometer) in that state.

 

I just did some research online. Actually, the opposite is the case. Specifically related to tail light turn signals, the USA and Canada do not require either red or amber. Hence, why here in the USA we have many new cars with amber turn signals, and many with just red. In Europe (as well as Australia, Japan, and most Asian countries), all tail light turn signals are required to be amber.

 

Sorry, late at night, sloppy reply. In the US (not familiar with Canada's regs), the brake lights and taillights must be red, the front turn signals must be amber, and the rear turn lights can be amber or red. The side running lights are amber front, red rear on both sides. The Federal regs are pretty Byzantine, but are found in the CFR Title 49, FMVSS 571.108 if you have insomnia and want something to put you to sleep. The California regs are also as stated, but are in a different long, hard to read set of regs.

In recent testing, amber turn signals are shown to be about 5% more effective re visibility, so there have been efforts to require that color. I'm not in that business anymore, so they may have either passed, or have in the works, changes in that regard.

 

Thank you for clarifying this with such detail. It's odd that auto brands (Ferrari included) assume the additional cost to design separate tail light clusters for the USA with red turning flashers, when they can easily just use the same scheme used throughout the rest of the world. While it seems like there would be no significant development expense related to changing the color of a turn flasher, one would be surprised with how expensive it is for an OEM supplier (in this case of Ferrari, Magneti Marelli), to implement even a seemingly benign change. I also much prefer amber.