Secret Brake Light (Brake Force Light)

[xdriverx]

I was following my wife the other day while she was driving the X5 and when she came to a stop I noticed the white/clear portion of the brake light was lit up red along with the regular led brakes. I didn't know why these lit up as I usually only see the red portion light up when you hit the brakes.

Anyway, I looked up the manual to find the reason for that particular light lighting and it turns out it's an added feature that lights up depending on how hard you apply the brakes. It's called the Brake Force display. The added brake light will only light up if the brakes are applied forcibly to let drivers know you really are braking hard. I thought it was a neat feature which I didn't know existed and maybe others didn't either. I didn't take a picture but found a illustration and description in the manual which I have posted below:




What do you guys think? I wouldn't suggest testing it out by letting someone driver your car and having them slam the brakes.

[bluelodge400]

I think this is a great feature. BMW, as well as a few other manufactures, have had this feature in their vehicles for years.

[hyde]

Your wife is a spirited driver, I see.

Yes, it's actually a lot more visible in 5 series as more of the tail illuminates. This has been a feature for a long time on BMWs, but on F15 it is not as visible (or so I assume) because it is just a another small strip of light, but it made you look it up and you noticed it, so I guess it is visible enough.

[Dataready]

As others have said, it is an old feature on BMW. What is not known much is the fact that it can be coded to FLASH upon hard break instead of just lighting up.
The real function (on the other side of the pond) of that strip is rear fog light, this can also be achieved (on this side) through minor hardware modification and little coding.
One imprtant fact to be mentioned is you can have one or the other function active, but not both flashing and rear fog light.