Safe Warning in All Weathers

LIPPSTADT, GERMANY - November 2008: The emergency triangle often goes unnoticed in the boot. Yet in the event of a breakdown or accident, it has to meet tough requirements. These mainly concern visibility at night and stability in stormy weather. Not all the emergency triangles on the market are able to fulfil these criteria, however.

Emergency triangles have to comply with ECE regulations R 27. Among other things, these specify exact minimum values for luminance under reflection and visibility in daylight conditions. Yet the photometric properties are not the only criteria. An emergency triangle tested to ECE standard has to withstand a wind speed of 60 km/h for three minutes, for example.

Good products exceed these values. Hella's emergency triangle is not only considerably more visible both by day and night. It can even withstand wind force 9 (wind speeds of between 75 and 88 km/h). This is due to its design, which does not offer the wind more contact surface than necessary and required by regulations. The legs are extremely thin and can thus grip into the road surface easily even in icy conditions. In this respect, Hella's lightweight emergency triangle, at only about one kilogram, is superior to the old, heavy models.

It has wide-angle prisms for reflection at night and fluorescent strips for optimum detection during the day. Old emergency triangles do not have any fluorescent areas. They are usually much more difficult to handle too. They take longer to set up, perhaps even too long in a dangerous situation.

Modern safety equipment always has an E-mark, a circle around an E with a subscript number. Hella's emergency triangle has type approval and is available from automotive parts retailers.