Honda Car Forum

I'm thinking of getting an Accord Coupe. I've had 2 rear end
accidents over the years. Though I really don't think the spoiler
adds much to the looks of the car, I'm wondering if it adds any degree
of safety. It seems that the 3rd brake light, when mounted in a
spoiler, is much brighter...almost too bright. Does that make any
sense at all? Tnx.

On 4 Jan 2004 06:24:47 -0800, mountainhouse@mailblocks.com (frankB)
wrote:

>I'm thinking of getting an Accord Coupe. I've had 2 rear end
>accidents over the years. Though I really don't think the spoiler
>adds much to the looks of the car, I'm wondering if it adds any degree
>of safety. It seems that the 3rd brake light, when mounted in a
>spoiler, is much brighter...almost too bright. Does that make any
>sense at all? Tnx.

The idea of a 3rd brake light is to get it up high enough that it is
visible through the windows of the car behind you to the guy in the
car behind him. Up high on the inside of your back window is much
better than low down on a stupid drag-inducing just-for-show
'spoiler'.

I don't know if any studies have been done on the difference between spoiler
lights and window lights, but I do know the studies I have seen place
peoples eyes staring at just about the middle of the car ahead of them. So
basically the person behind you is staring at your license plate while
driving. This assumes that both cars are of equal stature which anymore
isn't the case.

On my Honda Accord the factory 3rd brake light is at the bottom of the rear
window and if it had a small factory spoiler the LED third brake light on it
would be higher, and wider than the factory light in the window. It would
also be brighter and LED lights come on sooner than a standard brake light
bulb.

So I would have to disagree with the your opinion that a person would want a
high up brake light through the window and the implication that a 3rd LED
brake light on a spoiler is of no value.

I would agree with you concerning the non after market, sections of jet
aircraft wings used for spoilers on the Ricky-Racer cars out there.

CaptainKrunch



"John Ings" <nodamned@spam.org> wrote in message
news:q0hgvv069tifefc9rgu3fq08lbc2jont2m@4ax.com...
> On 4 Jan 2004 06:24:47 -0800, mountainhouse@mailblocks.com (frankB)
> wrote:
>
> >I'm thinking of getting an Accord Coupe. I've had 2 rear end
> >accidents over the years. Though I really don't think the spoiler
> >adds much to the looks of the car, I'm wondering if it adds any degree
> >of safety. It seems that the 3rd brake light, when mounted in a
> >spoiler, is much brighter...almost too bright. Does that make any
> >sense at all? Tnx.
>
> The idea of a 3rd brake light is to get it up high enough that it is
> visible through the windows of the car behind you to the guy in the
> car behind him. Up high on the inside of your back window is much
> better than low down on a stupid drag-inducing just-for-show
> 'spoiler'.
>
>
>

frankB <mountainhouse@mailblocks.com> wrote:
> I'm thinking of getting an Accord Coupe. I've had 2 rear end
> accidents over the years. Though I really don't think the spoiler
> adds much to the looks of the car, I'm wondering if it adds any degree
> of safety. It seems that the 3rd brake light, when mounted in a
> spoiler, is much brighter...almost too bright. Does that make any
> sense at all? Tnx.

It is my understanding that while the center brake lights reduced the
numbers for rear end accidents when they were first introduced, the
numbers went back up again as people got used to them. So it wasn't the
position of the break light that made the car safer, it was the novelty
of it being in a new place.

-Joshua

--
-Joshua Belsky
jjbelsky@yahoo.com
http://belsky.net

While the fact that rear end accidents may be up there is no factual basis
for the reasoning of such.

Since the federal law was enacted in 1986, I believe, requiring third brake
lights, many other factors contribute to rear end collisions. For example
there are simply more people driving and traffic is more congested. People
are using cell phones now as opposed to hardly anybody using cellphones in
1986. Additionally more people have Starbucks in their car, and are eating
and doing more things in their cars that they didn't do 15 years or so ago.

All in all the more brake lights on the rear of a car the better. Of course
that only counts if people would get off their ass and check for burned out
bulbs once in a great while.

And LED brake lights come on a fraction of a second quicker than standard
bulb lights. Although this doesn't seem like a big deal even 1/10th of a
second at 60mph is equal to about 10 feet of distance covered on the road.
(60 mph x 1.49 feet per second is about 90 feet per second traveled divided
by 10) That is enough to prevent an accident.



CaptainKrunch


"Joshua J. Belsky" <belsky@brionne.cyberverse.com> wrote in message
news:vvgnr13d8l5lb8@corp.supernews.com...
> frankB <mountainhouse@mailblocks.com> wrote:
> > I'm thinking of getting an Accord Coupe. I've had 2 rear end
> > accidents over the years. Though I really don't think the spoiler
> > adds much to the looks of the car, I'm wondering if it adds any degree
> > of safety. It seems that the 3rd brake light, when mounted in a
> > spoiler, is much brighter...almost too bright. Does that make any
> > sense at all? Tnx.
>
> It is my understanding that while the center brake lights reduced the
> numbers for rear end accidents when they were first introduced, the
> numbers went back up again as people got used to them. So it wasn't the
> position of the break light that made the car safer, it was the novelty
> of it being in a new place.
>
> -Joshua
>
> --
> -Joshua Belsky
> jjbelsky@yahoo.com
> http://belsky.net
>

> It is my understanding that while the center brake lights reduced the
> numbers for rear end accidents when they were first introduced, the
> numbers went back up again as people got used to them. So it wasn't the
> position of the break light that made the car safer, it was the novelty
> of it being in a new place.
>
> -Joshua

Makes good sense, as do the other posts: I understand it adds no aero
function. So, no aero benefit, and no safety benefit = nix the
spoiler.

I was just at a local dealer, and took an Accord MT6 for a spin. What
fun! So much for thoughts about a TSX. I think I definitely need the
torque and HP that the V6 gives! :-)

Tnx.

On Sun, 4 Jan 2004 13:11:40 -0800, "CaptainKrunch"
<nothing@nobody.com> wrote:

>While the fact that rear end accidents may be up there is no factual basis
>for the reasoning of such.
>
>Since the federal law was enacted in 1986, I believe, requiring third brake
>lights, many other factors contribute to rear end collisions. For example
>there are simply more people driving and traffic is more congested. People
>are using cell phones now as opposed to hardly anybody using cellphones in
>1986. Additionally more people have Starbucks in their car, and are eating
>and doing more things in their cars that they didn't do 15 years or so ago.

Don't forget the increase in SUVs and minivans blocking the vision of
following traffic. And also, the increase in SUVs and minivans with
long stopping distances.

>All in all the more brake lights on the rear of a car the better. Of course
>that only counts if people would get off their ass and check for burned out
>bulbs once in a great while.

I think that one of the biggest benefits of the center mounted brake
light is that it is not infrequently the only one that is operational.
I think that Fords should be required to have eight or nine of these
things on separate circuits.

Fyi, some manufacturer put spoilers on their cars to reduce drag. Please, do
some research about it so that you know better...

Here is 1 such manufacturer

http://www.lexus.ca/lexus/experience...=all&alpha=s_u

Lexus.com blows my viewer, so I couldn't get better links.

frankB wrote:

> Makes good sense, as do the other posts: I understand it adds no aero
> function. So, no aero benefit, and no safety benefit = nix the
> spoiler.

On Mon, 05 Jan 2004 02:06:02 -0800, Sean Dinh <seannydinh@znet.com>
wrote:

>Fyi, some manufacturer put spoilers on their cars to reduce drag. Please, do
>some research about it so that you know better...
>
>Here is 1 such manufacturer
>
>http://www.lexus.ca/lexus/experience...=all&alpha=s_u

"Integrated Rear Spoiler
Changes airflow direction to reduce lift and aerodynamic drag."

Bullshit!!!

That's advertising agency flackery, not engineering data.

Well if you are saying that spoilers have no appreciable effect on a car and
how it handles airflow then I would have to pose a question such as why
would an $80,000 Porsche have a speed sensitive spoiler? Just for looks? I
don't think so. Why would a $300,000 Bugatti have a spoiler? For looks? I
don't think so.

The $375,000 Maybach doesn't have a spoiler though. I imagine because the
people that buy that car are in it completely for the luxury car look and
the spoiler might spoil that. Pardon the pun.

CaptainKrunch


"John Ings" <nodamned@spam.org> wrote in message
news:56eivvk0tonm8f5gos5tjspedumhamirs7@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 05 Jan 2004 02:06:02 -0800, Sean Dinh <seannydinh@znet.com>
> wrote:
>
> >Fyi, some manufacturer put spoilers on their cars to reduce drag. Please,
do
> >some research about it so that you know better...
> >
> >Here is 1 such manufacturer
> >
>
>http://www.lexus.ca/lexus/experience...p_glossary.jsp
?section=all&alpha=s_u
>
> "Integrated Rear Spoiler
> Changes airflow direction to reduce lift and aerodynamic drag."
>
> Bullshit!!!
>
> That's advertising agency flackery, not engineering data.
>
>
>