TURTLECON

Is a 3rd brake light required by law in California?

ronjenx

That's pretty easy to look up, but...

I'll bet for inspection purposes, (annual, or random), all lights that came on the vehicle must be installed and working in order to pass inspection.

TURTLECON

You'd think it'd be easy, but navigating the CA DMV website is like a blind man trying to find a deaf woman in a hotel room with the lights off.

Battlefrog

Hahaha, wow.... I'm going to assume it's like VA law and say yes, we need the 3rd brake light in the back. I believe most states require it for inspection and traffic law purposes since they started installing straight from assembly line.... To make it easier, ask your local inspection licensed shop... I would assume your local parts store would know as well.

jtjk

yes it is. i have been running for the last few moths without and have not had any issues. will add one for inspection though.

TURTLECON

I'm from Mass, so I'm familiar with the yearly inspections.... but in California they don't require inspections to renew registration. Just smog checks every 2 years, and new vehicles don't begin those smog checks until after they're 4-5 years old.

Are any new vehicles manufactured without 3rd (center) brake lights? My wife drives an '08 350Z and I don't see a center brakelight on that thing.

EDIT: I found out it's a DOT Law, not a state law...

1. If your vehicle was manufactured in 1987 or later, and came equipped with a supplemental (third) stoplamp, which is required by the federal safety standards, then you are required to keep the vehicle in conformance with that standard. (Veh C 24603, subd. (h).)

In other words, if your vehicle has a third light, it is illegal to remove it.

NH-JK

To give you an LE prospective, if you have 2 red lights on the rear of your vehicle that both work, you will be fine. You will be hard pressed to find a police officer that knew your jeep had a third brake light and you removed it..... For that matter, if they know that, then they too are jeep guys and you will have no issues.....

DOT could be another story but they typically are more concerned with TT units than jeeps.

TURTLECON

When reading, it mentioned that the third light was intended to alert drivers of braking in instances when the right and left side tailights are "obstructed" from view. I dunno... that doesn't make a whole lot of sense if you're directly behind me.

Battlefrog

I could not agree with you more...

ronjenx

I always figured the high mounted third brake light was to indicate braking from a point different from the tail lights. Sometimes, a vehicle's brake lights are not that much brighter than the tail lights. The third light comes on only when braking.