Driving at night ought to be scary enough. But in a now-viral TikTok, one man questioned why it seemed as though certain cars had no tail lights.
Edgar Mendoza (@edgarditomendoza) said that he was going for a night drive recently when a white Hyundai zoomed past him. He noticed that the other car, however, had its headlights on, while nothing emitted from its rear lights.
“What’s up with all these newer cars with no back lights at night?” Mendoza questioned.
In a comment, however, one user concisely explained why this problem occurs. “That is daytime running lights,” they said. As of Tuesday morning, Mendoza’s clip had amassed more than 889,400 views.
Do newer cars lack built-in back lights?
Mendoza is certainly not the first driver to notice this. In a 2023 Reddit thread in r/cars, another driver said they’ve noticed this phenomenon “a lot.” They also claimed that the problem appears to primarily affect “newish SUVs from US manufacturers.”
But it seems as though the problem isn’t the cars per se. Rather, the person driving the vehicle harbors some blame, too.
“The ‘front lights’ are Daytime Running Lights. Most modern cars keep DRLs on even when the headlights are ‘off,’” one redditor explained. “These are people whose lights are completely off… but the DRLs still put out enough light that they can still see where they’re going, so they don’t think anything is wrong.”
They added, too, that American-based manufacturers aren’t the only automakers at fault. “I see it a lot with Nissans and Mazdas,” the commenter added.
In instances where it appears as though a driver has on headlights, but no tail lights, it’s likely that their headlights are off, another redditor said. Without calling out specific manufacturers, the commenter said that they were surprised some cars were built without automatic headlights.
It’s possible, too, that there’s something wrong with a vehicle with no tail lights. According to CarParts, some of the workable problems of malfunctioning tail lights include a blown fuse, a bad tail light bulb, a faulty tail light socket, a faulty ambient light sensor, or faulty wiring.
What should you do if you come across this?
In a 2008 forum, one driver questioned how to safely alert others if their back lights aren’t working. While there was, unfortunately, no consensus among the group about how to safely do this, one user posted a series of tips. If you’re driving with a passenger and are able to pull up alongside the car, they said, have your passenger “frantically point to the back of their car, lots of hand gestures, etc.”
This method could work, of course. But another driver, in the same forum, warned that it might be dangerous to try and indicate fault to another driver. “It can cause the driver to become agitated and lose concentration,” they wrote. “When someone makes signals to me, I am afraid that a wheel might be coming off or some other crazy thing. Best advice is that drivers should check lights etc. every now and then.”
Commenters agree: Cars should come with automatic tail lights
In a 2021 Quora thread, another driver questioned whether this issue was a feature of new cars. They also said that the drivers in question appear “oblivious” to the fact that their tail lights are off.
One commenter conceded, at least, that some newer cars have headlights that turn on automatically. Once these turn on, since a driver can see what’s ahead of them, they might assume that their tail lights are on, too, and, as a result, not check their actual headlight switch.
“So yes the drivers are oblivious to the fact that their tail lights are off,” the commenter concluded.
And in the comments of Mendoza’s video, several viewers agreed that this poses a danger both to the driver and other passerby.
“The fact [that] we still sell cars that don’t have auto lights that come on as standard is wild,” one person noted.
@edgarditomendoza #nightdrive #newcar #notsosmart #roadsafety ♬ original sound – MrkeepFit
“Manufacturers need to tie the dash lighting to the rear lights, not the front,” another recommended.
“My question is why would they make this optional in any way to turn on and turn off,” a third person questioned.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Mendoza via TikTok comment and to Hyundai by email.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
