My car never came with a third brake light so i want to add one.
What's the minimum length it can be, can it be as wide as you like? does it have to be DOT approved? i looked and apparently its more of federal motor vehicle safety standard but doesn't go into much detail.

 

If your car was not designed with one from the factory, then it would be your call, within reason. Like it could not be blue (the whole cop thing), it could not be white (since white is limited to the front and only to reverse lights in the rear), etc. Otherwise, your choice really - in essence your just adding additional safety equipment for your own sake - like when folks add a bunch of reflectors to the sides of their boat trailers, or lie the truckers with all the accent lighting on their trucks.

If your car was factory equipped with one, then I'd think you'd have to follow the standards of the day. Placement wasn't obviously an issue in that time since some had them up high and some were in the spoiler - anywhere above the trunk line should meet any requirements there. It's probably just a matter of meeting fed guidelines for the year as far as size requirements. And the size requirements were like other rear lighting, minumums but no maximums. So as long as the minimum lighted surface area requirement was met, again would be your choice I'd think.

 

That's what im thinking, I mean it would be ridicules to get a ticket for just having a 3rd brake light on a car that wasn't required to have one.

 

I had a 87 regal i took my 3rd light out of it and never got stopped over it.If you really wanted to add one i would get the one in the spoiler so it looks cleaner.

 

i agree, spoiler would probably be the easiest and cleanest way to add one, since many of the original ones had them in there. or if you're creative, some sort of led strip would work too. since leds don't draw much power, you should be able to tap into one of your brake lights without much issue.

 

yea i already have a trick idea for a 3rd brake light before i posted this thread, just wanted to ask to see if there were any rules etc about adding one. thanks for the post tho guys

 

Ohhh, a trick idea! OK, so my interest is peaked - make sure pics come up as soon as we're all 'tricked out'!

 

Just copy the length/area of what's already out there.
Using the rear hatch plastic and decklid parts will make it easier to fabricate.