No matter where you live the cars that you drive there are required to meet that area’s government standards for lighting effectiveness and durability. That however has not tied the hands of automotive designers who tend to use the light clusters as expressive elements of the vehicle’s personality. Headlamps are typically less so as their purpose is to throw enough light for the driver to see what’s ahead, while the tail lamps’ function is to simply provide enough illumination for others to see. That allows for greater flexibility in their design, and ornamentation. Perhaps in certain cases, too much. As noted by the image above, Chevy has decided with the 2014 Corvette to eschew decades of tradition and abandon the car’s iconic quartet of round lamps for a set of stylized rectangular units that incorporate vents in their outer edges. They are far more expressive than previous models’ lights, and are either a love it or hate it proposition. Me personally? I hate ’em. Overly ornate tail light design seems to be a particular passion of the Asian car makers, as you might notice peculiar protrusions and odd-ball angles in lights on cars like the Lexus IS or Nissan Altima. Sometimes it’s just a simple discordant line, sometimes it’s an entire presentation that is so outlandish you want to avert your eyes lest something bad happen to you from the mere sight. There’s this old business mantra that is abbreviated KISS, which of course means keep it simple, stupid. Are there cars whose posterior illumination designs could have benefitted from their designers subscribing to that coda? If so, which do you think are the worst offenders? Image: Automotive Infatuation