Casual Conversation

I've been holding on to this thought for quite some time and don't know where to share this. Too long and not random enough for a shower thought, so here it is I guess.

Car manufacturers really like their LEDs to be as fancy as possible lately, and more and more turn signals on cars have this "sequential lighting" show they do. Basically, the type of turn signal I have a problem with is the one that gradually fills up the turn signal light bar, then turns off everything when the bar is full, i.e. Audi cars in this video

IMO, not only does the animation feel clunky, I also think its a safety issue, albeit a relatively minor one. The point of indicator lights is to tell other drivers your intentions. They should be fully noticeable the moment you turn on your turn signals, and should not be halfway lit first. It probably would also introduce a delay in driver response, but I have no scientific evidence to back this claim up, so take this as just my opinion.

Instead, they should do it the opposite way where the light bar fully lights up first, then gradually shrinks. Or the Mazda way of turning on quickly then dimming down slowly like in this video. Or the combination of these two, where the light bar has a gradient end that tapers away when shrinking. (Seriously, having a gradient or a gradual dim is so much more elegant. Why don't more cars do this?)

Okay rant over. Thanks for coming to my ted talk.