Equis

I almost got T-Boned by a ford Explorer two days ago because of this problem with the RX-8. At first, I thought it was just stupid drivers, but I drove tonight and looked at the relfection the signal blinkers make and they are very hard to see!

How many here have been almost side swiped at an intersection while making a left turn; becuase the person on the left thinks you are going straight!?

I find this a very annoying flaw in the RX-8, even though one of the concept models had signal mirrors, why did Mazda remove them!!!
I would expect that when the car is manufactured it needs to abide by somekind of standard of safety int he respect of visibility.

hotpot

If you're turning left, shouldn't you be in the left lane? Or if it's a double lane turn, the person on your left should not be going straight. It's not very clear what happened.

Anyway, I find the blinkers bright enough. Maybe in direct sunlight it's not very clear, I dunno. I must check.

DOMINION

Its not your car man its them ******* SUV drivers man LOL!

crossbow

At least you have side blinkers!!!! The Mazda 6 has jack on the sides that blinks .

RXE16T

I agree that the indicators in the headlight unit suck monumentally.
They're quite difficult to see from certain angles and in different light conditions.

Luckily for me though, the Australian spec models gets side repeaters located in the "clear corners".

D MENAC 7

Excuse me???? Ummm, next time you spot an RX-8 and it is turning, please report back to let us know if you see ANY US Spec side marker light blinking. I would like to know who wired that RX-8 if it does.

I was thinking just now, perhaps someone who can find the time to do the wiring change maybe might be able to do a mod in the wiring where the side markers up front blink and the same could be done with the side tail light markers in the rear. If I get time and this hasn't been done, perhaps I might just do that. It wouldn't be too dificult at all. If you know basic wiring, it should be fairly simple.

DreRX8

I too found it odd that those side markers don't blink--I haven't had an issue with it however--but it is very odd. A simple way to solve the problem is add a small sidemarker light thats available from tuner shops--usually they are just for 'rice' looks--but on the RX8 this may be beneficial.

srit1

wait - r u saying the front corners dont blink with the turn signal?

Tayninh

Sounds like a careless SUV driver to me. With or Without side markers should have no bearing if a vehicle is making a left turn. So if the SUV is at a stop sign and you are coming down the street and make a left turn while the SUV is stopped then you have the right of way and can turn. I've seen folks start to pull out on me in that situation regardless of what I am driving and it really nothing to do with an RX. You could be in a garbage truck with a turn signal clearing showing for a left turn and they can still pull out in front of you or start to do so.

crossbow

Well then. I stand corrected. At least its nice to know mazda choose to make the rx8's side blinkers as shitty as the 6's...and then give the budget 3's all the good ****.

brothervoodoo

And that's why we call them "side markers" and not blinkers....

Imp

I can't understand what the original poster said anyways.... so I'm just going to say that Blinkers don't automatically give you the right of way either.

Like Tayninh said... and especially where I live (Mass)... people around here see you going to turn left into a side street and will use you as an excuse to pull out... becuase they don't have to wait for the line of cars behind you to pass before they can pull out.

Equis

I wrote that pretty late after two days of almost not sleeping while studying for midterms so to recap.

Lets say you are at a normal 4-way stop intersection. The RX-8 is at one stop, with an other car lthe left of the RX-8. The two cars come to the stop at the same time; the rule is to let the car in the right to pass first because it has less distance to travel. So lets say the RX-8 has the signal blinker on to go left; now then it starts to do that. However, the car on the left of the RX-8 starts to go forwards at the same time the RX-8 is curving towards the left and the car could potentially hit the RX-8 t-boneing(sp?) it, or hitting it in the rear left. Assuming, the car in the left of the RX-8 thinks the RX is going accross the street and not making a left.

I have been noticing this alot lately, it is not just limited to stupid SUV drivers. Last night I drover around a glass building in my neighnorhood and just stared at my car from the side I could not see the blinker. I evern parked it on the side of a street, stepped out and walked to a position approximately where an other car would be in the above situation. I turned on the blinker, I could hardly see and this was at night!

truemagellen

I put in LED turn signal lights...much better I'll have a DIY on stopping the triple blink caused by a difference in load between incadescents and leds soon

I reallly dont think this is a big problem...you should be gauging where you are turning anyway, turn signal doesn't give you right of way as others have pointed out

if it is REALLY a problem go get the LED under mirror turn lights or add side ones that look like ****

actually check out thew (a vendor here) at www.rx8garage.net and you can buy an LED system that lights up the door handle well....then wire it to the blinkers and you'lll have an interesting side turn signal light

Tayninh

Are you saying the RX should have a side blinker? When both cars arrive at a 4 way stop at the same time its best to give the right away to other anyway because you don't know their intention to turn or go straight. Lots of people don't even use their turn-signals even if they were mounted on top of the hood on each side. I see it all the time. Some people will start to drive straight ahead and then suddenly turn like they realize they actually wanted to turn. I think its just better to think the other driver is crazy and has no idea which way to go after a stop so be patient and when you think its safe than turn left. The same reasoning follows when a light turns green. Is if safe to go or what? There is always the possibility of folks running a red light. I guess in that case its best to look before you move. In our state its almost a given principle. The light turns red and folks keep going through the red light while others beep their horns. Of course when this happens the police are not around. Perhaps they are at an accident scene where someone at a stop sign T-boned an RX.

Smoker

Still this is a matter of whether the two drivers at the intersection knows how to drive safe or not. I mean if I'm the SUV driver on the left of your RX-8, and I though you are going straight, still I wouldn't move too much ahead until you have cleared the intersection. Even if I decided to roll forward and you don't have the signal on at all, I would noticed that your wheels is turn towards me and would stop right away.

Now, I'm you in this situation, if I see the car on the left start rolling when I'm starting the turn I would have stop right away to avoid an accident. Even if I've already half way into the turn, I would have been able to see this guy coming towards me like a blind bat and react accordingly.

So I think this has to do with the drivers being too aggressive rather than the turn signal.

Tayninh

Agree Smoker. The problem is the nut behind the wheel rather than a blinking or not blinking turn signal. I can bet that accidents have occurred with one driver having clear side blinkers going and the at-fault driver didn't even notice them.

hotpot

One word: defensive driving. ok 2 words.
If I were in Equis's shoes, seeing that both cars arrived at the same time at the intersection, and I intended on turning left, I would have given right of way to the car going straight, to be on the safe side.

bgreene

[QUOTE=Equis]
Lets say you are at a normal 4-way stop intersection. The RX-8 is at one stop, with an other car lthe left of the RX-8. The two cars come to the stop at the same time; the rule is to let the car in the right to pass first because it has less distance to travel. So lets say the RX-8 has the signal blinker on to go left; now then it starts to do that. However, the car on the left of the RX-8 starts to go forwards at the same time the RX-8 is curving towards the left and the car could potentially hit the RX-8 t-boneing(sp?) it, or hitting it in the rear left. Assuming, the car in the left of the RX-8 thinks the RX is going accross the street and not making a left.

QUOTE]

In this scenario, it sounds like you would have been nearly t-boned if you had been going straight instead of turning left (in which case the blinker is again irrelevant). Seems to me that this is more a case of a jackass in control of way too much vehicle, than a case of anything preventable from your end.

truemagellen

great point...just notice the next time you drive...half the idiots out there don't even use a turn signal...you really can't trust anyone...which means don't use your cell phone you need the concentration

hotpot

This is confusing.
From the above posts, are we to understand that the side 'markers' (clear or yellow corners as some call it) on the US models do not blink when the turn signal is switched on? How strange! They definitely blink on mine, and quite brightly so.

RXE16T

The US spec car's side markers don't blink because of the 50 states, I think a couple of them don't allow additional lighting, so they delete it on every US spec car.

European, Australian, Japanese and apparently now, Tropical Island spec vehicles have these as side repeaters that blink.

In Oz, it's actually a design regulation to have these repeaters.

hotpot

So, why don't the US folks get clear side makers in the first place, if it's just for show? And why does no one just paint their stock side markers some funky colour instead of changing them for clear ones, if they are not obligatory?

I have JDM spec BTW.

RXE16T

Funky colour?

I think they replace them with clear markers to go for the JDM look and besides, I can't imagine a "funky" colour looking better than clear anyway.

hotpot

A rainbow side marker would go well on the 8; No?

What I meant is you could paint it any colour you wish. Why does everyone change theirs to get the jdm look when you can personalise with your own colour? Or why not do a DMenac 3rd brake light type mod on it?