Why The Reverse Lights Come On In GM Vehicles When Locking And Unlocking The Car: Video
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It’s something we’ve noticed for some time, but Roadshow tackled the subject on Thursday: why do the reverse lights emit when an owner locks or unlocks a General Motors vehicle?
The feature can be quite infuriating for other drivers perusing parking lots looking for a space, only to realize no one is even inside the GM car. The lights can stay on for up to two minutes.
GM’s reason behind the feature is to illuminate the surrounding area for drivers to avoid various things on the ground, be it a spill, puddles, holes, you name it. And GM isn’t breaking any federal laws by doing so.
The federal vehicle lighting regulations merely say a car must have at least one reverse light, the lights must illuminate when a car is in the “Reverse” gear, the lights must burn steadily and the lights can never come on while the car is moving forward.
In GM vehicles, the lights meet all of these regulations, and when the illuminate while parked, they’re not breaking any rules, either.
Perhaps some owners like the feature, which can also help identify the car in a parking lot at night, but it’s understandable how frustrating it might be for other drivers. Thankfully, the option can be defeated within the car’s settings menu.
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White light on = reverse. Everyone knows this.
Why is that so hard to understand
This was a completely asanine idea for gm and anyone that doesn’t agree is a complete idiot
Every time I am driving in a parking lot and see a gm product with backup lights I have to wonder is it going to backup or not so I have to either back up traffic flow being extra careful or just assume that no one is in it and it’s just gm being so stupid again
No you are the moron for not being able to determine if a car is moving or not. Lights dont matter, if the taillights were out and the car in front of you stopped would you just hit it because the lights were not on? No!
Here’s a idea just pay attention to the car if its moving its leaving if not find another spot. Stop being a dinosaur!!! I can’t believe what people will complain about and bother them.
Is this the kind of stuff that keeps people up at night? No wonder the suicide rate is so high. People sit around contemplating crap like this.
There are way more important things in life to worry about then this.
Oh my god, here goes this idiot again with his dumbass logic. Reverse lights are an INDICATOR that a car is ABOUT TO back up. So if one of the cars has the white lights on, it’s completely feasible and expected that someone would take this as an INDICATION that the car is about to back up, so they slow down or hesitate, no? Do you just ignore white lights on ANY car when you’re driving, just because GM has them? “Fuck the lights; I’ll wait until someone is actually backing up before I do anything.” You must be a GREAT driver. Your logic is so backwards. Nobody said they can’t tell if a car is backing up without lights – it’s quite the opposite – so your point about no brake lights is idiotic and flawed. How about this? What if the car in front of you’s brake lights came on for no reason? Would you not think they were braking and thus hit your brakes, BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT THE LIGHTS ARE FOR AND THAT’S WHAT YOU’D EXPECT? Or you’d just keep driving into their back end until you noticeably saw the vehicle slow down? You dolt.
Actually this has pissed me off since GM decided that a globally recognized warning indicator was just a simple tool for illumination. I nearly got rear ended tonight when the car next to me popped on it’s backup lights and I slammed on the brakes. Then the lady got out and not only the backup lights but her brake lights stayed on as well. What is GM’s issue? They just don’t care about anybody getting smashed behind their vehicle because you can’t tell if GM’s garbage is backing up or not. This absolutely asinine shortsighted mentality apparently extends to their owners as well. Who cares about safety I want a bit more light behind my car. Unreal.
Sometimes I just go and sit in parking lots with my GM truck waiting to fool people into thinking I’m leaving. Its most fun around Christmas.
😂 well that might be fun, but the lights are still a terrible and dangerous design decision
I like the lights, they are like work lights, helping me see when I am loading or unloading my Yukon.
Thank you! Finally a sensible comment
It is amazing how we have changed as a society. The first conclusion a business arrives at is ” we are not breaking any laws”. When the entirety of our drivers education system and all drivers know this to mean a car is backing up. What they have inadvertently done is encourage more “road rage”, but hey t least they are not breaking the law.
Maybe, just maybe a company could realize the impact they are having, and address the illumination the driver wants in a different way. Got an idea, how but they put lights under the car in the underbody area that turn off the moment you take it out of park.
This annoys me as well. At this point, I just blow my horn at them in case someone is actually planning on backing up and keep driving.
When your reverse lights come on while I’m walking behind your car, don’t get mad when I dent your trunk lid. Just trying to keep myself from getting run over
This is so asinine and an indication that safety is your lowest concern. I pulled into a parking lot and jammed on the brakes when the car to my left’s brake lights and backup “WARNING” lights came on only to find out that GM doesn’t consider them warning indicators at all. So how the F**k do we know when a GM car is backing up or if the lights came on for no discernible reason? You don’t, they’ve negated one of the THE MOST IMPORTANT external warning indicators on the vehicle. Just to provide a bit more illumination. Such an idiotic short sighted mindset is clearly a symptom of way bigger systemic problems upstream. Apparently GM just doesn’t care if people get backed over by silent “Stop/Start” cars that show backup warning lights as no warning at all. Unbelievable.
This is a stupid idea. If you haven’t heard of the boy that cried wolf, if I see a GM vehicle with it’s reverse lights on I can assume that this “safety feature” is on and continue driving behind it without fear of it actually moving in reverse. What next brake lights on while driving forward? Stupid.
Exactly! Not everybody has the intelligence to understand this apparently
Backup lights on indicate movement is about to happen especially with no brake lights on. Just like parking light do not indicate forward movement on the front. Some daylight running lights are so poor can’t tell they are on , others replace with super bright led and blind people day and night. Ford has courtesy lamps on mirrors illuminating where you will step. Tail lights RED Stay on for a bit , the headlights can be programmed to stay on . I would need to look hard for a long time to find these dark places that I would need backup lights to light up. Other than local Amish. They even have solar lights lighting driveway .Every shopping parking lot I have seen people hit brakes thinking car is pulling out because of these gm backup lights.
With how bright LED License plate lamps are, and almost every vehicle having them, why not make the license plate lamps stay on instead? It would take the confusion out of it. Also I remember being confused by this the first time I saw it quite awhile ago, but once I got used to seeing it, it was no longer an issue as I knew only GM vehicles did this.