A Model Y Juniper gets pulled over for its tail light design

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uninformed cop realizes he could be wrong so gives you a warning lol

Ignorance at its finest.

Happens. Cops freaked out when LED headlights came out and they thought white/blueish light was illegal because they were used to yellow/orangeish incandescent bulbs. Cops are absolutely not required to know the laws they’re enforcing, legally. Or to help you, but that’s a different issue. If there were a ticket, it’d be thrown out or closed as “fixed”.

Cops and the law are just luddites

Cop is talking out of his ass. What needs to get fixed is his education.

It hurts read this story… “just fix it” lol

That’s hilarious. File a complaint with the police department. Tell them to educate their officers because next time you’ll consider it harassment.

Sounds like the cop’s an idiot or he was looking for an excuse to pull you over

He's not wrong. The light bar technically does not meet the tail light requirements in 49 CFR Part 393.11

Reminds me of another case where the cop claimed the screen was aftermarket and didnt let the person drive away.

Exactly this. He knows full well he would be made to look foolish if he wrote the ticket and had to appear in court to support the charge. If the NHTSA hasn't said anything about it, odds are local cops aren't going to be able to make much of a fuss either. I would ignore the warning and carry on

Gave a warning to get it fixed just means he had no idea what he was talking about but didn't want it to be obvious

Reminded me of when the Model 3 launched and a dude got pulled over for having a “laptop” on his dash. The cop in the vid was way cooler OP’s: https://youtu.be/tknQoFmk5N0?si=6xmgDcHjePbnKSdW

Ew

Also, I thought brake lights couldn’t be on a moving piece of the vehicle (door, hatch) but model 3 brake lights are on the rear hatch. Same for Y I imagine.

i would've been (verbally) aggressive back after that warning. cop is either woke or entirely unfit for his job

That code only applies to commercial vehicles.

also the owner is kind of stupid too for that response. whether or not the tail lights are legal has nothing to do with the car being new or not. the car could be 100 years old. its simply whether or not the car is legal and in this case the car is factory so by definition its legal.

Neither the 3 nor the Y have their actual tail lights (brake lights, turn signals and reverse lights) on the hatch/trunk. They are on body work that does not move.

Yeah, he knew he fucked up, the warning was his way of avoiding admitting it. I never got a ticket while I drove in the UK. I *did* get a warning. When he pulled up behind me, I asked where he had been, told me he had followed me down the road.I thought that was BS because I knew what speed I had been doing, and was *looking* for police. He tried to get me to admit to something, but I just said "No comment" That's when he gave me the written warning. A week later on the same road, just caught him in the corner of my eye, hidden up behind a building on the opposite side of the road. Sneaky bugger.

Yeah. I would have asked for the citation.

Tesla has to go through federal (country wide) regulations to sell vehicles. If they are selling cars and you have not modified it, then its perfectly legal in every USA state.

I’ve heard of people being pulled over for having a “TV” installed on their Tesla Dashboard. This is a new one, but similarly dumb.

I'm not gonna lie, being behind a Juniper at night with it's rear light bar on hurts my eyes. Wish Tesla never put it on.

These are not mutually exclusive things!

Dont try to be tough with cops. It rarely ends good. If you are still upset by it, just file a complaint later on.

Back in 2018, I recall seeing a video on Reddit of a cop who pulled over a model 3, for having a computer monitor "modded" on to his dash board. The driver had to patiently explain that the screen was stock from the manufacturer. He got off with a warning. This is no different.

I mean yeah the US has very poor regulations on signaling lights, and tesla takes advantage of that buy making the least-clear signaling possible because it "looks cool"

Classic warning ⚠️

“Get it fixed” lol OK buddy.

Most cops power trip and won’t admit they are wrong and stupid. I got pulled over for “speeding” on a non school day on a school zone and the light wasn’t flashing. When I tried to reason out that the light wasn’t flashing and the school is out I got a lecture on how would I feel if my kid gets run over. I just apologized unnecessarily and he let me go with a warning as if I owe him big time 😂

alien technology baffles humanity

That’s maybe a good thing to stop tailgaters

High school diploma gets you this job. Says a lot.

Of course they’ll ignore the warning lol.

Did this “cop” just wake up to the 21st century?

A great interaction. Cop realised he was wrong and apologised to the driver.

It would be one of those situations where the tesla driver would have to front up to court to challenge the ticket and the cop wouldn’t show up.

Sure but a warning is still recorded and if they get pulled over again for anything the new cop will see he was previously warned and use that to punish the driver further

If it’s the same video as another commenter posted here the driver wasn’t given a warning. The cop apologised after realising he was wrong.

In NJ I once had a BMW motorcycle fail inspection (500 miles on the odometer, basically brand new) because the inspector did not like the headlight/high beam system from the factory. I appealed to the manager who over-rode the inspector, but suggested "In future, bring a letter from the manufacturer." All idiots.

Extra hilarious because cop cars have a laptop exactly where the model 3 screen is. ACAB

Tesla bulling is a real thing. Report it to his deparment. I used to work at Tesla and had a couple friends that were LEO and they told me many times that their co workers would target and harass Tesla owners because the officers didn't like Elon or the company. It will continue if no one ever complains.

Is it the same for EU and China vehicles? I think the “brake lights can’t move” is an American rule

I’ve seen a video of a cop slamming into a bike whilst he was busy texting. “Sorry i got a text from another officer”. Bullshit mate pretending it was official police business. Thankfully he quickly realised he was being filmed. https://youtu.be/QoSOEtzWPlU?si=zIjV32PQ5ZfhnIdL

Most well documented example of “oh wait you’re serious” of all time

I'm not sure. I'm only familiar with North American spec vehicles. But from a pure design standpoint, I would be willing to wager that it's the same.

The EU-spec models have supplementary brake lights on the lower bumper where the reflectors are if the boot lid is open.

Way back when Teslas were rare I zoomed off in my Model S when a light turned green, didn't even floor it, I was like 50% to the floor, and stopped accelerating at the speed limit of like 40MPH. Got pulled over and cop asked why, he said I was racing. I said I don't think anyone even tried to keep up, and I didn't break traction or lose control at all. Suddenly he had a higher priority call.

I'd rather he mess this up than skip the training that keeps him from shooting us accidentally.

Yeah I’m guessing both of these are true.

Ok, part 571.108 uses the same language which would still make the light bar non-compliant

How is another cop going to punish the driver further on the 2nd stop when that headlight is legal?

>cop is either woke What does that mean in this context?

coming from someone who is threatening to be verbally aggressive to a police officer, I think it just means "someone who I disagree with" but your guess is as good as mine since people who use "woke" as an insult usually seem to fall on the side of "the police can do no wrong, you should support them even when they shoot unarmed innocents"

"that's a ticket for the TV in your car, and another ticket for removing all of your dashboard gauges!"

Things that never happened for 100

Bingo

Specifically what component? Can you copy the phrasing? 571.108 is quite long....

[deleted]

You should have immediately promised him that you wouldn’t be “fixing” anything, and you would rather him write you a ticket so that he could argue engineering design in court with Tesla’s lawyers.

Wonder if this is the same cop that wanted to ticket an EV for “modified exhaust”

A repair order is recorded, warnings typically aren’t.

What education?

“Rules for thee, not for me!”

That's the rub isn't it ! 50% on a Tesla is still more than 100% for a majority of cars.

They have training for that?

lol. Cops can come up with random reasons. You new to how America works?

Many 'warnings' are printed and recorded. Unsure what your assumption is based on.

It’s the same for EU vehicles and tail lights need to still be visible with an open trunk in the EU, too. Some manufacturers comply to that by placing an extra set of lights on the inside of the trunk lid, some below the trunk, and many (like Tesla) just make the rear light assembly to the sides of the trunk and not move.

It's gorgeous lol. Don't stare at it.

lol yes they do. The tail lights all move up on the refreshed Y and 3.

Yes they are. On Highland and Juniper

On the refreshed ones, yes. But not the older ones. Tesla put auxiliary lights below the hatch. OP didn’t state which ones he specified but I should have.

I'm sure that can only help the situation

The Cybertruck's brake lights are ridiculously tiny.

You have a valid inspection sticker already and when he came to your drivers window, he should’ve looked for it on the windshield.

I stand corrected. It was surprisingly difficult to find a picture of the rear open just now that showed the tail lamp area. I guess every open photo that included the tail lamp space I’d seen had always been the previous generation and I didn’t realize it.

I just had to go find photos of this because I thought the same as you. I was shocked to discover that the entire tail lamp clusters move with the hatch/trunk on the highland and juniper.

Yeah it’s weird. The new ones do, and the previous gen don’t. Could have sworn they were the same way

I remember having this discussion years ago, about excessively accelerating. I can’t see how that would ever hold up in court on EVs. No way to measure it, no loud revs or squealing tires.

That whole thing is a safety and compliance disaster, end to end.

You stumbled on an incompetent officer. The officer should have done his own research prior to stopping you.

What headlight? I mean the next stop will include “you have already been warned before you are now getting a ticket instead of a warning for this other thing”.

I think the safe assumption is every interaction in which you or your car are identified are being recorded in some form and will be used against you later

Had this happen for something before. Once he went back to his car he came back and I could tell he knew he was wrong but he came back and dug in anyways and went on about what a good guy he was for giving me a warning.

The ads on that site are straight cancer.

Yes. That wasn’t so hard, was it? “I was mistaken. I apologize. Have a nice day.”

Didn’t happen.

2 rear tail lights that must be as far outboard as practicable. You can get away with a single lightbar for both lights, but the fact that the brake lights are outboard of the lightbar means that the lightbar is not as far outboard as practicable and it does not satisfy the requirement for rear tail lights

This, cops aren't required to know the law, they'll just let the courts and lawyers figure it out. They're also not required to follow the law, they can get away with pretty much anything that doesn't spark public outcry. And if they are punished for anything, they get put on paid leave during the investigation and even if they get fired, they can just move to another precinct/city and still be a cop.

I remember when my husband and I got our Model 3 Long Range back in 2022, and both of us being wowed by how quickly it can accelerate from a dead stop. I know that the Model 3 Performance and Model S (probably also the Model X, for that matter) accelerate faster, but neither of us had been in a car that could accelerate as quickly as our Long Range before. I was talking with my stepdad about the acceleration speed very soon after getting the car, and he told me to be careful about accelerating that quickly off the lights or from a dead stop generally. He told me that the cops could fine me for ‘aggressive acceleration’, even if I didn’t go above the speed limit. We’re in Australia, so I don’t know if ‘aggressive acceleration’ is a thing you can be fined for elsewhere in the world. For that matter, I never bothered confirming if it’s a thing I could be fined for here.

How do you think this one gave the warning? Same logic same mentality

What state was this in? Tesla is not known for slavishly following laws concerning vehicles.

The cop can have their opinions about how the tail light design ‘should’ be, but if the car has been approved for sale in the US (or any other country) with that design and no after-market modifications have been made, the cop has no leg to stand on. Even if they did hand out a fine/ticket, all the owner would have to do is appeal the fine.

He even complemented the guy with pretty slick - good on cop.

Yeah, I think this is right (with other comments below about it being the other CFR about passenger and not commerical vehicles) and he Juniper taillight is illegal as a result. I would also like to see someone challege the Bolt with its brake lights in the bottom bumper, while having tail lights in the normal place that don't illuminate with the brakes. Don't know if there's a way to challenge that one though, I do think it's far more dangerous.

NA juniper has this as well.

I guess you can be fined for some kind of 'dangerous driving' anywhere in the world. Accelerating unusually fast could be considered dangerous, since other road users don't expect this.

It doesn't get recorded to your driving record, but it will appear in the officer's log, which remains in their internal database for the next time they have an interaction with you.

Unless it's the Cybertruck light bar, for which they send you down the street to have the final wire plugged in to skirt the regs. A lot of people also get their darker-than-legal tinting done at traditional dealerships then claim it came that way when pulled over, so the officer might've assumed it's just an aftermarket mod.

I got pulled over a few years ago for having "too many headlights" on the front of my truck. It was a brand new, bone stock F250. Hadn't modified or added a damn thing to it. Let me go on my way after I explained that to him. TLDR- a lot of cops are morons

Actually, they are required to know the law - at least to a reasonable degree. I'm sure some don't, but in the academies memorizing the law is normally a significant chunk of the training time. It would be pretty hard to correctly enforce the law if they didn't know what the law was.

Yep - extensive training.

Wait they do what with the cybertruck light bar?

I've seen a video of a cop telling a guy off for having a screen attached to his dash then attempting to check how well it's connected to the car. The guy was trying to tell him all Tesla's are like that but he got off with a warning!

They are referring to the LED spot light bar that goes on the roof pointing forward. Technically illegal for Tesla to install so they leave the final step (plugging it in) up to the customer

Light bars and tint fall into that gray area where it can technically be illegal but pretty much nobody ever gets in trouble for it.

Given the amount of times I’ve had people at the next light after a “moderate” acceleration think I was challenging them, I could believe it.  This is not so common anymore because I live in a Tesla heavy city, but I’ve had all sorts of people get aggressive after I accelerate from a green light.

https://youtu.be/tknQoFmk5N0?si=8axNHdugRRrVzOA9

There needs to be a proper education process for law enforcement officers to understand Tesla cars. They seem to be completely clueless about Tesla.

Older guy? That used to be a requirement for rear running lights years ago

Abolish all police stops. All of them.

Funny how Ira the safest truck made then. Idiot.

It’s called a pre-textual stop, the cop is on a fishing expedition. He is looking for a reason to arrest you.

The amount of praise that doing the correct thing gets these days is very telling of society

There needs to be a proper education process for law enforcement officers to understand ~~Tesla cars~~ laws. They seem to be completely clueless about ~~Tesla~~ laws.

And your turn indicator!

As opposed to what?

Prob didn’t even log it… any future cop looking at the past record would chuckle at the lame notation.

i can clearly see the light when someone’s driving a model Y old or new what’s the deal with officer.

Poor design. Makes it difficult to see the edges of the car at night.

> This is not the first time this has happened. An AI search reveals that similar incidents have been posted before on Tesla community forums across the web. Such garbage and lazy journalism

9

Pretty much this. Or it was a pretext stop. I was pulled over because the CHP officer didn't like that I had a tablet running on my dash. ... It's the built in screen. Showing the map and other default nonsense. I tried to explain to him that I really couldn't turn it off if I wanted to. Got a warning that I needed to "figure it out" and off he went.

Not how it works. If a car has an illegal modification regardless that’s how you purchased it from the manufacturer, you are legally liable. For instance many people think just because their vehicles came with dark tinted windows from the dealer/manufacturer then that must be legal. It’s not, cop can still give you a ticket if it violates state law.

So that's what the internet told you and you actually fell for it? lol There is no law or regulation that this breaks.

I asked what state it was in. Look up "cybertruck illegal in uk" and see what your internet tells you.

It's legal at least everywhere Model Y is sold, which is basically everywhere, including the UK. Does Tesla sell Cybertruck in the UK? No, so they're not breaking any laws.

Do you have trouble reading for comprehension? My claim was that "Tesla  is not known for slavishly following laws concerning vehicles", and if you Google "cybertruck illegal in uk" you will find confirmation of my assertion.

Tesla follows the laws with their vehicles everywhere they sell them. Tesla doesn't sell Cybertruck in the UK. But Model Y is sold in the UK and basically everywhere else, and it obviously follows the laws there. Also, are you unaware of the fact that cars are homologated to meet the requirements in the countries they're sold in, so if a car isn't intended to be sold in a certain country, then it obviously doesn't have to follow the laws of that country and often doesn't? It seems you think this is unique to Tesla, but it's not. For example, Ford F-250 is also illegal to be sold in the UK.

Yeah, I meant the Highland update, and they do move with the trunk lid.

“Get it fixed” Sir, this is factory 🤣 I think the cybertruck’s brake light situation is more suspect.

Elon hater cop, need to file to complaint. Model Y won’t be able to sell If the government is not okay with the car design.

Interesting lol

Kinda proves right that removing the signal stalk and gauge cluster is a massively stupid and senseless move.

File a complaint on the cop for harassment. Problem solved

Regulators must have missed that one

It reads like the cop didn’t like Teslas and wanted to be a bully about it.

They can be, but those must turn off when the moving part is not in its nominal position and a backup light on a fixed part must be available.

There was a qualified immunity attempt

Excuse me officer, could you just make it a ticket? That way the court can order me to fix my brand new car correctly. Thanks. No, really, a ticket would be better.

Some cars do have a bar light between two taillights. Guess he is expecting that

That would be the most interesting outcome.

He was in hibernation since 1979.

So - you were pulled over by an idiot.

I bet half of it is going to support oil companies

I can imagine that these don't give off enough light to disable my auto high beams if I'm following. This also happens with older cars with dim incandescent bulbs.

Right? Insane to see how socienties customs and norms change and flow... Heard somewhere the other day "may you live in interesting times" is considered a curse in some ancient culture...

I cannot believe this was JUST in 2018 😂

Yup. ACAB. He was wrong but needed to be right.

Pride getting in the way of stupidity. Every vehicle has been vetted by the federal government before being given a Vin #.

I do think it can be a safety issue that the light bar does not encompass the entire width of the car, covering the edges like other cars.

Cops are so fucking stupid before trumps America and even worse now. Elons stupid too

That police entrance exam is just getting easier and easier huh!?!?!

Ignorant, of an awesome brand new type of car, that's all.

If he got a verbal warning its not a big deal, however if he got a paper warning its not in that agency's computer system, so if the owner ever gets pulled over again in the future for whatever reason by the same agency and if that officer was debating on giving him a break over whatever infraction it might be they will see this warning and 9/10 will issue whatever citation it might be because they have already gotten a "break" from another officer. The owner needs to 100% go to the main office and file a complaint about that stop, at the very least it will educate that officer that the light bar is 100% stock and legal so that idiot doesnt pull over another MY driver and do the same thing (Or write a ticket) but a agency wide memo may be require to inform officers that this is stock and not in violation.

quick question about the new model y can the children watch Disney+ on the back screen while driving? can the screen be controlled from the front?

That was a genuine interaction on both sides. I just driven my first Tesla yesterday I was an extreme hater. I found it to be very relaxing the one pedal driving is a bit to complex to understand but after a 5 hour trip it was awsome. My buddy bought the Jupiter one. I might be basic and just get the model 3 im aiming for winter 2026