2005 9-3 SS tail lamp functions?

[sbachmeier]

Sorry for the ignorant noob question, but can someone tell the the functional configuration of the rear tail and brake lamps?

First-time Saab owner (but long-time admirer) -- and only had the car for a few weeks (a 2005 Linear that we bought for our teenage daughter to begin driving...because safety). I was under the impression that the tail lamps were the outer location, and the brake lamps illuminated separately (just inboard of the tail lamps). Never got a chance to verify that with my own eyes though.

Anyway, I ordered LED replacement bulbs for the brake lamps:

https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...car/1326/3050/

and I just had a local shop install them (I'm a paraplegic wheelchair user now, so I can't do simple DIY stuff like this anymore which naturally frustrates the hell out of me). It looks like they installed the LED bulbs in the outer bulb location -- the tail lamp location -- and the tail lamps get brighter when the brakes are applied (as the tail lamps in this car are supposed to do if a brake light bulb fails)

So, can someone please confirm my suspicion that the brake lamps illuminate separately from the tail lamps -- and the brake lamps are inboard of the tail lamps?

Thanks...and it's great to finally be a Saab owner (even though I can't drive it).

[nordwulf]

Hello and welcome.

Here is some more information from the Saab WIS (workshop information system): saab 9-3 brake lights.pdf

[sbachmeier]

Thanks for that PDF -- which suggests that one bulb does indeed serve as both tail lamp (at low voltage) and brake light (at high voltage). Looking at this diagram in the owners manual, I thought there were 3 bulbs in the cluster (tail and brake on top, turn signal on bottom).

[Dave T]

under the impression that the tail lamps were the outer location, and the brake lamps illuminated separately (just inboard of the tail lamps). Never got a chance to verify that with my own eyes though.

...

So, can someone please confirm my suspicion that the brake lamps illuminate separately from the tail lamps -- and the brake lamps are inboard of the tail lamps?

Thanks...and it's great to finally be a Saab owner (even though I can't drive it). [/COLOR][/SIZE]

I used to have a 2005 9-3. The inboard lights on the trunk are the reverse lights (white) and rear fog light on one side. The outboard lights are the yellow turn signal and the stop light/brake light. That last light might be a 5W/20W bulb.

In some cars, LED replacement cause problems because the car will give a false warning. I don't know about Saabs.

[sbachmeier]

True about the LED bulbs: the ones I ordered are "CAN Bus compatible", in that they have a built-in resistor circuit that mimics the amount that an incandescent bulb would have. So, I don't get any bulb warnings...but I guess I was just under the false impression about the separation of church and state, er, the separation of brake and tail lamp function. Most Euro cars have brake lamps that illuminate separately (maybe it's a law over there?), but the in the US we don't care about automotive lighting and allow dual-function tail/brake lamps, red-colored turn signals, and antiquated headlight systems. I'm not bitter though.

The illustration above is for the lighting cluster in the corner of the body, not the trunk portion. Maybe that third (brake?) bulb shown is for ROW cars, and US cars only have a single dual-purpose tail/brake bulb. If that 3rd bulb slot is indeed empty, maybe if I put a bulb there I'd get what I wanted?

[sbachmeier]

So, no bored 2005-ish 9-3 SS owners out there can provide me visual confirmation that there is no separate tail lamp / brake lamp functions...but only a single outboard bulb that serves dual purpose? I wish I had looked before I had the indy repair shop install the outer LED bulbs a few weeks ago (so I have no baseline as to whether the LED bulbs changed the functionality of the tail lamp cluster).