Thanks to Aditya Pathak for sending this in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this Team-BHP share page!

I want to bring to your notice this important topic, please help me to educate more and more Indian car owners to not go for this type of modification.

Starting from Hyundai Creta and presently Maruti Wagon R, many many car owners are installing this accessory.

The rear bumper-mounted reflector is replaced by an LED lamp.

The reflector on the rear bumper is a regulatory requirement and is an important safety feature of vehicles. By removing it and installing in its place LED type, car owner's think it's a fancy item but this is a risky and illegal thing, especially when the car is parked in dark, is off and unattended / lights aren't turned on or there's been an electrical failure. It is in these instances that the reflector indicates the presence of the vehicle to oncoming drivers.

Because of unawareness, our car owners are installing this unnecessary and unlawful accessory in big numbers.

And also these LED lamp accessories are imported from China, we can easily save this drain of our money to China.

Here's what BHPian ABHI_1512 had to say on the matter:

This atrocious practice needs to be dealt with by the traffic law enforcement folks strongly. This practice has now turned into a menace where people are more concerned about some fancy lights more than practicality and safety. That a major automaker like Hyundai started it makes me wonder how the regulatory requirements are being made redundant.

During my recent drive through the highways, especially in the two-laned sections, I have had multiple occasions when I couldn’t make out the presence of cars due to lack of reflectors and sadly, most of them were from the Hyundai stable. I have also seen many EcoSport which are fitted with LED strips in place of the reflectors. It’s about time people realise the futility of these fancy lights which puts them and their surroundings in grave danger.

Here's what BHPian IamNikhil had to say on the matter:

Reflectors are a regulatory requirement and traffic enforcement personnel definitely need to crack down on vehicles that tamper with this in such a brazen manner. The many aftermarket accessory shops that have mushroomed across the country and want to achieve fame via Youtube views will market any nonsense and gullible customers will fall prey to fancy accessories.

I think customers really need to apply their brains and not go on an overdrive in making their cars look overtly fancy. IMHO, the presence of too many LEDs, chrome, etc makes the car look quite tacky.

Here's what BHPian Sushil Pingua had to say on the matter:

The rear-reflectors are placed at the lowest position possible on every vehicle by the manufacturers, WHY?

During extreme foggy conditions, we use the dipper/low-beam of our headlights and the first thing from which our lights reflect back and make us aware of any vehicular obstruction in front of our car is the reflectors which are placed at the lowest rear position of every vehicle moving ahead of our cars, thus making us aware from the earliest sign of reflection to be aware.

If we replace those reflectors which anything non-reflective then our cars may end up with a crashed rear in foggy conditions. And it would then be of no use to argue with the offending vehicle which has dashed into the rear.

I have fixed a metal crash guard (pipe) at the rear of my car but have wrapped that crash guard with Red coloured 3M Reflective Tape easily available on Amazon/Flipkart.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

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