[disco4me]

I see a lot of people paiting the front reflectors. I assume they no longer reflect. Does BMW put the reflectors there because they are required to do so by some governmental law and by painting them, does that cause a conflict?

[Sportstick]

Equipment on motor vehicles sold in the US, including lights and reflectors, must be certified by the manufacturer to comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards promulgated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration agency of the US Federal Government. Side marker lamps are one example of such required equipment. No manufacturer nor their agent, such as a dealer, can alter them to take them out of compliance. FMVSS creates equipment standards. However, states have enacted usage standards, such as when lights must be turned on (headlights with wipers, for example in some states, a functioning head/tail lamp in all states after dusk. States also have equipment standards, such as having a bumper). If you destroy your side marker lamps, and they do not illuminate properly, you may be guilty of violating your state's motor vehicle regulations, which is why a local officer (city, county, or state) would have jurisdiction to issue a citation. However, you would have no exposure with regard to the federal standards. If a dealer did the work to paint over your marker lamps, they would have federal violation exposure.

[Scotlac]

I know that there are after market reflectors available that are body colored. I'm not sure I've seen any that have been painted.

[Deso]

We are also required to follow posted speed limits. You have to way the reward vs the likelihood of a ticked.

I suppose the better question is if anyone has ever recived a ticket for deleting the side reflectors?

For me I have to park at a Chicago airport, and I've heard of them ticketing parked cars daily for having tint to dark or missing front license plates. No clue about reflectors.

For me not worth the risk.

[SuitedUp]

Originally Posted by Deso

We are also required to follow posted speed limits. You have to way the reward vs the likelihood of a ticked.

I suppose the better question is if anyone has ever recived a ticket for deleting the side reflectors?

For me I have to park at a Chicago airport, and I've heard of them ticketing parked cars daily for having tint to dark or missing front license plates. No clue about reflectors.

For me not worth the risk.

This is what I want to know. Especially living in Chicago.

I mean, driving around the city, most of the time the cops could give a shit about most things. To my dismay, people blow reds in front of cops all the time with no reaction. But it'd be just my luck to get pulled over for some reflector BS.

[disco4me]

This highly unlikely but what about legal liability in a side impact....if someone were to notice. Highly unlikely but...

[phoenixbmwlife]

You could get a ticket, but its highly unlikely. Use your own judgement as to if you want to take that risk. I've had my reflectors painted body color on my Z4 for 2 years and to be honest it will be rare that a cop notices.

[BEM-S4]

One other thing to keep in mind, all these rules and regs are constantly changing and new rules apply to cars built after such and such a date only. Sure things like front license plate, tint too dark etc are applicable to all cars. But when gov't mandates front reflectors, there are literally hundreds of thousands of cars built before the rule still being driven legally. That's a very long winded way of saying this is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things as far as police are concerned. Worst case scenario you get a ticket that's a fix or fine, just pop your old ones back in and that's it no fine since you fixed car.

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by disco4me

This highly unlikely but what about legal liability in a side impact....if someone were to notice. Highly unlikely but...

I'll refrain from dropping a bunch of big lawyer words, but no way anyone would find proximate cause here. Drive drunk, cause an accident, that's a totally reasonable and likely outcome of drinking and driving. In this case unless you're driving at night with no headlamps or something equally stupid and dangerous there is no way in the world a prosecutor would argue that your lack of reflectors was any factor in an accident, let alone the main contributing factor.

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by disco4me

This highly unlikely but what about legal liability in a side impact....if someone were to notice. Highly unlikely but...

I'll refrain from a bunch of legal jargon, but there's no way anyone would argue proximate cause here. Sure drive around no reflectors and no headlights in a black car at night, or something equally dangerous/stupid, causing an accident is a perfectly reasonable / plausible outcome. No prosecutor would argue that simply removing two very small reflectors was a contributing factor, let alone the contributing factor, to an accident.

EDIT: sorry for double post on phone at gym didn't think first one went through.

[dharo1]

Originally Posted by BEM-S4

I'll refrain from dropping a bunch of big lawyer words, but no way anyone would find proximate cause here. Drive drunk, cause an accident, that's a totally reasonable and likely outcome of drinking and driving. In this case unless you're driving at night with no headlamps or something equally stupid and dangerous there is no way in the world a prosecutor would argue that your lack of reflectors was any factor in an accident, let alone the main contributing factor.

True. A prosecutor wouldn't. But a plaintiff's or defense attorney would surely make the argument. Would a jury or judge find proximate or concurrent cause? In the US, everything's possible in civil lawsuits.

[BEM-S4]

No doubt, anything is possible. My only point was that the odds of this actually becoming an issue for anyone are minuscule.

[dharo1]

By the way, I just ordered my painted front reflectors. Cant wait to install.

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by dharo1

By the way, I just ordered my painted front reflectors. Cant wait to install.

Haha mine are at dealer they're installing them for me. In the event I get sued it's their problem bc I took delivery that way

[dharo1]

True. Deeper pockets. I'll take them my painted reflectors along with other m performance parts.