yellow areas on speedo - what are they?

[andrew TD]

Hi,
on my speedo, I have two yellow areas marked - one between 30 and 35kph, and another between 50 and 60kph.

What do they mean/indicate?

The car certainly does nothing different that I can notice if I am travelling at speeds in those ranges.

The car was first sold in Singapore - so maybe its something to do with their traffic laws???

I see no reference to the yellow areas in the car manual that I bought from the local NZ MB dealer after getting the car.

I'll try and load an image (but I think my home firewall is getting in the way - images only end up being uploaded about 1 in every 20 or so attempts!)

Thanks for your help with this.

[andrew TD]

[ehizon]

i see that on other cars too. i believe its just something to remind you or catch yor attention that youre already hitting those speeds. notice that its set to somewhere at 40 (main roads) and 60 (freeways)...

[andrew TD]

Thanks for that Ang.
It sort of makes sense - if it weren't for the fact that this speedo is in km per hour. So 30kph is very slow to be a speed limit warning. Here in New Zealand our inner city normal driving speed limit is 50kph - which is approx 30mph.
Our openroad (freeway) speed limit is 100kph which is about 60mph.
So a mark at 30 kph and at 50 kph is very low for a speed limit warning.

Maybe they have very low speed limits in Singapore!!!

[syljua]

I have gone and fetched my owners manual.
It's in german, and this is what is says;

Geschwindigkeitsmesser;
Die roten Markierungen des 30 km/h- und des 50 km/h-
Bereiches im Geschwindigkeitsmesser sind keine
Toleranzbereiche für die jeweiligen Geschwindigkeitsbeschränkungen.

I asked a fellow worker, who is german, and
it translates to something like this;

Speedindicator;
The red areas at 30 km/h and 50 km/h in the
speedometer are no tolerance limits for the
speed limits.

I does not really say what it is, but only what it's
not...

He guessed that the speed radars in the old days
had a tolerance up to 59 km/h, and that for speed
limit 50 km/h, you could stay under 59 km/h.

Another reason could be to indicate the
limits at where some of the equipment functions.
(like that the tempomat (cruise control), functions
under 30 km/h).

br,
syljua

[bayhas]

I always thought these are shifting points...

[cnd]

bayhas - 2/16/2006 4:28 AM

I always thought these are shifting points...

Ditto. [;)]

[NZ Benz]

andrew TD - 2/15/2006 12:19 AM

Thanks for that Ang.
It sort of makes sense - if it weren't for the fact that this speedo is in km per hour. So 30kph is very slow to be a speed limit warning. Here in New Zealand our inner city normal driving speed limit is 50kph - which is approx 30mph.
Our openroad (freeway) speed limit is 100kph which is about 60mph.
So a mark at 30 kph and at 50 kph is very low for a speed limit warning.

Maybe they have very low speed limits in Singapore!!!

I've got a singapore import and I have those at 50km and 80 or 100km I forget.

[love w123]

well im not a w140 owner, but im a w123 owner (I envy you[:)]) so my w123 is manual shifting, so when i shift gears my first gear can go up to 60 then i have a yellow mark, after that my second gear goes up to 80 or 90 then a yellow mark, 3rd gear goes up to a 120 or 140 kph, then a yellow mark, then comes the fourth and so on. My point is that thoes yelow marks might be gear limitations. Just my opinion, im not sure of it.
People who own w123 plz forgive me if i have mistaken the kp/h of gear changes.
Hope it helps, enjoy your rides!!!!!!

[andrew TD]

Now that - gear change indications - makes sense to me.