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Smoked tail lights, are they legal?

The_Paper_Cut

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I live in SoCal and want to get quake’s smoked LED tail lights as an upgrade to my stock non-LED. But I read around that tinted tail lights are illegal. But these say that they’re DOT/SAE compliant, so shouldn’t that make them legal? Can anyone give any input on this? I won’t get them if they’re illegal, but I know others have installed them and I really love how they look.

Link to tail lights:https://www.quadratec.com/p/quake-led/blackout-led-replacement-tail-lights-jeep-wrangler-jl
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Unfortunately there is no overarching answer to the question of whether or not tinted tail lights are legal. Laws regarding acceptable tail lights vary greatly by state, and can even vary by county and town. The only way to be sure that your aftermarket tail lights are legal is to check with your local municipality or Division of Motor Vehicle Services (DMV) or Department of Transportation (DOT).

By law, all headlights and tail lights must be DOT compliant to be legal for use on all roads and highways in all 50 states of United States. Head or tail lights without DOT compliance are intended for off road use only, and are not legal for use on all US roads and highways. So all DOT complaint headlights and tail lights will stamp the word “DOT” on the lights to show law officers that they are street legal and complied with the transportation law. DOT stands for Department of Transportation. It is the federal agency that set standards for car lighting. In order for head or tail light to be DOT complaint, the product must meet strict regulations, standards, specifications and tests. It is to ensure the product is safe to use in public, serve its purposes and provide adequate illumination.

SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) is a world wide organization that sets automotive standards for the manufacturing, testing and design of car lightings. To be SAE approved, all headlights and tail lights must past certain standards, test procedures and material test; set by SAE to guide the quality of the product.

Note: SAE approved headlights and tail lights are not street legal in US, until they are approved by DOT. In short, SAE guide the quality of the product, and DOT test the product to make sure it is fully complied with transportation law and approve for use in all US roads and highways.
 
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The_Paper_Cut

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Unfortunately there is no overarching answer to the question of whether or not tinted tail lights are legal. Laws regarding acceptable tail lights vary greatly by state, and can even vary by county and town. The only way to be sure that your aftermarket tail lights are legal is to check with your local municipality or Division of Motor Vehicle Services (DMV) or Department of Transportation (DOT).

By law, all headlights and tail lights must be DOT approved to be legal for use on all roads and highways in all 50 states of United States. Head or tail lights without DOT approval are intend for off road use only, and are not legal for use on all US roads and highways. So all DOT approved headlights and tail lights will stamp the word “DOT” on the lights to show law officers that they are street legal and complied with the transportation law. DOT stands for Department of Transportation. It is the federal agency that set standards for car lightings. In order for head or tail light to be DOT approved, the product must meet strict regulations, standards, specifications and tests. It is to ensure the product is safe to use in public, serve its purposes and provide adequate illumination.

SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) is a world wide organization that sets automotive standards for the manufacturing, testing and design of car lightings. To be SAE approved, all headlights and tail lights must past certain standards, test procedures and material test; set by SAE to guide the quality of the product.

Note: SAE approved headlights and tail lights are not street legal in US, until they are approved by DOT. In short, SAE guide the quality of the product, and DOT test the product to make sure it is fully complied with transportation law and approve for use in all US roads and highways.
so it sounds like the tail lights should be fine since they’re approved by a federal entity. I’ll double check with my local law enforcement, but I think I’m going to go ahead and order them. Thank you!
 

Sublime

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Why would you want too reduce the brightness of your taillights?
I see people driving around with smoked lights and their brake lights are dimmer than normal running lights.
 

SouthernJL

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Why would you want too reduce the brightness of your taillights?
I see people driving around with smoked lights and their brake lights are dimmer than normal running lights.
I like the smoked look as well. It's just a preference that some of us would rather have. In my opinion, makes the Jeep look more custom.
 

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Unfortunately there is no overarching answer to the question of whether or not tinted tail lights are legal. Laws regarding acceptable tail lights vary greatly by state, and can even vary by county and town. The only way to be sure that your aftermarket tail lights are legal is to check with your local municipality or Division of Motor Vehicle Services (DMV) or Department of Transportation (DOT).

By law, all headlights and tail lights must be DOT approved to be legal for use on all roads and highways in all 50 states of United States. Head or tail lights without DOT approval are intend for off road use only, and are not legal for use on all US roads and highways. So all DOT approved headlights and tail lights will stamp the word “DOT” on the lights to show law officers that they are street legal and complied with the transportation law. DOT stands for Department of Transportation. It is the federal agency that set standards for car lightings. In order for head or tail light to be DOT approved, the product must meet strict regulations, standards, specifications and tests. It is to ensure the product is safe to use in public, serve its purposes and provide adequate illumination.

SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) is a world wide organization that sets automotive standards for the manufacturing, testing and design of car lightings. To be SAE approved, all headlights and tail lights must past certain standards, test procedures and material test; set by SAE to guide the quality of the product.

Note: SAE approved headlights and tail lights are not street legal in US, until they are approved by DOT. In short, SAE guide the quality of the product, and DOT test the product to make sure it is fully complied with transportation law and approve for use in all US roads and highways.
Be careful of black market lights. Manufactured with the DOT stamp but illegal.
 

Arterius2

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Unfortunately there is no overarching answer to the question of whether or not tinted tail lights are legal. Laws regarding acceptable tail lights vary greatly by state, and can even vary by county and town. The only way to be sure that your aftermarket tail lights are legal is to check with your local municipality or Division of Motor Vehicle Services (DMV) or Department of Transportation (DOT).

By law, all headlights and tail lights must be DOT approved to be legal for use on all roads and highways in all 50 states of United States. Head or tail lights without DOT approval are intend for off road use only, and are not legal for use on all US roads and highways. So all DOT approved headlights and tail lights will stamp the word “DOT” on the lights to show law officers that they are street legal and complied with the transportation law. DOT stands for Department of Transportation. It is the federal agency that set standards for car lightings. In order for head or tail light to be DOT approved, the product must meet strict regulations, standards, specifications and tests. It is to ensure the product is safe to use in public, serve its purposes and provide adequate illumination.

SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) is a world wide organization that sets automotive standards for the manufacturing, testing and design of car lightings. To be SAE approved, all headlights and tail lights must past certain standards, test procedures and material test; set by SAE to guide the quality of the product.

Note: SAE approved headlights and tail lights are not street legal in US, until they are approved by DOT. In short, SAE guide the quality of the product, and DOT test the product to make sure it is fully complied with transportation law and approve for use in all US roads and highways.
DOT does not approve anything.

One common mistake is using the term "DOT Approved." The United States Department of Transportation is not an approval agency. It does not approve products. In the US and Canada, lighting products are certified by the lighting manufacturer as compliant with DOT standards including FMVSS-108.

The 'DOT' marking only means the manufacturer of the headlight certifies the product was made in compliance with DOT standards; not that the US Department of Transportation has approved it.

So, instead of keep spreading the false term "DOT approved", it should be "DOT compliant"

Also DOT requirements in the US are very lose compared to Europe and Asian countries, so pretty much anything these-days can be DOT compliant.

P.S. So to answer OP's question, no, they are not legal, but cops usually have better things to do than to pull you over for smoked tail lights. Unless you give them a reason to.
 
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JeepinJason33

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I have smoked tail lights on several of my vehicles and have never had a problem. Lived in 12 states, currently in Colorado. I doubt you would get pulled over for them as long as the lights were still visible in the daylight. If you did get pulled over it would probably be a fix it ticket anyway. Similar to tint darkness on windows.
 

Arterius2

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It's legal until an officer tells you it isn't legal. I doubt cops in big towns have time to mess with it unless they are looking for an excuse for a stop. In my hometown, they would pull you for it and you get to explain to a judge or whomever inspects your fix ticket why you purposefully made your brake lights less visible.

Like the post above says, just because something says "DOT" on it, doesn't mean it was actually evaluated by anyone. This isn't Europe and inspections are pretty minimal in every state I know of.

Maybe you can get away with it, cops here let people run without front plates all the time. Until they don't.
 

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Why would you want too reduce the brightness of your taillights?
I see people driving around with smoked lights and their brake lights are dimmer than normal running lights.
I always ask the same thing. But to each their own. Personally, I like being more conspicuous by always driving around night and day with my running and fog lights lit. As time goes on, the general public pays less attention and requires things to be made more obvious. I wouldn't want my brake lights to be as bright as a parking light, which is the case with every smoked tail light.
 

blnewt

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Just ask @cosine he knows!
I do know for a fact that my smoked tails are much brighter than my stock halogens, and IMO seem plenty bright from a good distance away. The only part that isn't bright is the reverse LED (just like the OEM Led tail set), and I have a small light bar for that issue.

But if air fresheners hanging from your mirror are getting you pulled over who's to say???
 

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You can drive a long time and never have an issue but they are not legal in most states.
 

Heimkehr

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Be careful of black market lights. Manufactured with the DOT stamp but illegal.
Just so.

By way of example, there are two versions of the LED headlight module that I installed on one of my motorcycles. They are identical, but for the v2.0 light having "DOT" added to the lens.

The v1.0 light wasn't DOT-approved...and the vendor made this very plain in the product ad copy: "Off-road use only."

Enough riders complained that they wanted the improved forward lighting, but didn't want to risk a citation for having a non-DOT headlight in situ, that the manufacturer just added the "DOT" stamp to the v2.0 lens and called it a day. Sales über alles!

I believe the foregoing makes plain that we do have to be on guard, even when we might think we don't have to be.
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