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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!hropus!ijk
From: ijk@hropus.UUCP (Ihor J. Kinal)
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: Third Brake Light (add one yourself for pre-86 cars).
Message-ID: <204@hropus.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 8-Jan-86 10:42:04 EST
Article-I.D.: hropus.204
Posted: Wed Jan  8 10:42:04 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 9-Jan-86 02:49:09 EST
References: <172@hropus.UUCP> <3217@hplabsb.UUCP>, <331@cuuxb.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Labs, Holmdel, NJ
Lines: 23

I'm the original poster of this article; since then (about a week after
I posted, and perhaps 3 weeks after I installed the first one on my wife's
car) I noticed that the light wasn't working (as I said in the article,
it's usually noticeable, especially at night.  The cheaper unit I bought
had an extra piece of plactic bonded to the lens and fed thru the back -
this one is real easy to see when it lights up, and I highly recommend it;
if anyone wants it, I'll check the brand name).
When I got home, I checked, only to find that the brake switch was shot!!
So, I possibly prevented someone from ramming into my wife's car by
rapidly detecting the loss of functionality.  As I said before, how
OFTEN DO YOU CHECK TO SEE IF YOUR brake lights are working?????????
Now, I do it every time I break (almost).

Ihor Kinal
houxm!hropus!ijk

P.S.  One additional point: these lights, if installed properly,
only activate in case of braking.  This helps for the typical
American car without separate turn signals, to signal that you are
braking and not making a turn (by this I mean , sometimes a person
has one brake light burnt out, or is simultaneously hitting the
turn signal and the brakes; it can take a second longer to realize
what's going on, and by then you're 88 feet further down the road...)