Are rear clear Italian lenses legal in NC?, Someone mentioned it to me but??? Options

[SUNAB914]

As stated above are clear Italian lenses legal in NC? Don't need to be pulled over for this.
Thanks

[mharrison]

If they are not DOT certified, and are on a U.S. Market car, they aren't legal. It doesn't matter if you have a reflector or not, red or not, etc.

Vehicle lighting involves fairly stringent rules and design criteria that fills several regulatory books, more or less depending on what jurisdiction you are in. For starters, color, angularity, lumens, retro-reflectivity of the lens and housing including surface area, are strictly laid out and must be followed. I saw a link to one of the manufacturers once, where a design sheet was given. If you can read photometric charts, and are comfortable with calculus, search for them.

99.9% of those aftermarket clear and LED tail lights you see on the ricers, the ones with the clear lens, are illegal. Legit ones can be had, but they are generally 2 or 3 hundred dollars apiece, since the R&D as well as approval testing by standards labs to get certification does not come cheap.

All that being said, I like the clear ones and may pick some up in the future!