I think side lights ruin the lines of almost any car. The only reason they are there is that they are required by law in many jurisdictions, as previously pointed out. The number of variations that occur in all the countries around the globe are mind boggling. Often there are very subtle designs from one country to the next and the manufacturer has to obviously comply with them.

When I lived in Australia one quirky law was that a car's speedometer could ONLY be calibrated in kilometers. So that meant cars sold in that market had to have the European speedometer dial, since many markets use a dual miles/kilometers layout. If you wanted to import a car yourself you still had to change the dial. So that means each car model sold by Toyota, for example, needs at least three speedometer layouts; MILES/kilometers, KILOMETERS/miles, and KILOMETERS only.

And if you've looked in the IS Owner's Manual you'll see the dash panel Brake warning light is different in Canada than it is in the US. So that means a special template is needed for Canada.

The list goes on. It's a nightmare for companies to sort this all out, and it just adds to the price. I believe if there were worldwide standards in this regard there would be a nice price reduction across the board. It is not cheap for a maker to comply with all the different regulations. If you go to other countries other than the US you'll see subtle variations in cars, usually due to the local regulations.

But I never liked side lights in front of the doors, they just look tacked on.

 

Bingo! It's not cost cutting in the USA...it's just not necessary. Between this and the folding mirrors thread, I'm beginning to think we really have nothing to complain about.

Now go over to my rattles thread and talk about a real issue.

 

That's true. Why is it the US uses "BRAKE" while Canada uses the int'l symbol or ((!)) ??

You can't be serious that US says American's won't figure out the "!" mark.

 

It's more like Americans refuse to change. That's why schools were warning kids about changing to the metric system 30 years ago, but we never actually changed.

 

The reason is probably for the french speaking people here in canada...

 

Sweet looking IS!

 

i've seen the sidemarkers for sale on the yahoo japan acutions. i just checked and they dont have any at the moment... but if they pop-up... i'll be sure to post it in here.

 

I personally like the functionality of sidemarkers.
Every year a lot of accidents happened in lane-change and merging traffic maneuver. Sidemarkers are at the eye level of adjacent drivers making them more noticeable than conventional tail lights. With the increased popularity of taller vehicles, i.e. SUV's, trucks and mini-vans, a turn signal from the tail lamp may be "hidden" by these larger vehicles.

I was thinking of installing something like this in my 2IS.
Members from my previous car forum (Nissan Murano, Audi) have had good experience with them. They dont have kits for 2IS yet so far

www.kwmuth.com

PS: they are very different from the stick-on kit that you can get in ebay for $20.00

 

You have been misinformed. Side markers have been required in the front and rear on ALL cars manufactured for sale in the US since 1968. Just because they're not located on the fender behind the wheel well doesn't mean they don't have them. The IS's side marker lamps are built into the wrap-around headlight and taillight.

 

Agreed! But one thing I really do want is the power folding mirrors.

 

haha me too... at first i thought they were so i didn't want to force them in because you have to kinda give it a push.

but back on topic, now that i think about it, it probably does look cleaner/better w/o them. the mod bug has taken control of me and its probably just because we don't have them that i want them. i'd probably want to take them off if they were standard here.

 

Bub, we all know I meant the side marker on the fender, as in the picture the OP posted. Clearly all USDM cars have sidemakers.