Acura is taking a page from Mercedes and might add illuminated emblems as an option.

Emblems haven’t changed much since the beginning of the automobile as honestly, they do their job just fine, inform people what kind of car you’re driving if they don’t already know. But, for half the day a.k.a. night, passersby can’t see them. Since 2013, Mercedes was one of the first car manufactures to offer the illuminated emblem, or as they call it, the illuminated star on their models. Now, according to Honda in a recent patent they filed online earlier in January, Acura might consider adding an illuminated Acura emblem not only as an exterior option but an interior one as well.

Check out a couple of patent drawings of their generic lighted up emblem below.

Not to blow smoke up your behind but the look of Acuras, especially the front, has really changed a lot in recent years so much that when people do see them drive by in real life, even I find myself somewhat taken aback at just how good they look. I have yet to see a newer Acura RLX Type S in real life but if I did I’d know one when I see one. Imagine the average Joe seeing an Acura drive-by at night with its new look, I’d imagine that, in the middle of the night, they’d be hard-pressed to know what they’re looking at. Enter the illuminated emblem.

Embed from Getty Images

I like the wording Honda uses in their patent drawing, the way they word it inadvertently sounds pretentious although that’s not really the case.

“…exterior vehicle emblems often cannot be seen at night because they are obscured by glare from the vehicle’s headlights, which can prevent recognition of the vehicle make or model and detract from the aesthetic function of the emblem. Interior vehicle emblems suffer from the same difficulties since interior vehicle lighting does not sufficiently illuminate the emblems at night.”

God forbid someone doesn’t know what car your driving.

In this patent, Acura one-ups Mercedes by offering an optional interior lighted emblem just so you can flex in front of your passengers that the car you’re driving is indeed an Acura.

I do wonder if shining a light so close to your eyes might mess up your night vision but I’m sure there are some smart people in Honda that will figure that one out before this becomes an option.

While I do see some ILX, TLX, and RLX’s carrying an illuminated emblem, to me, they might look out of place on an MDX or RDX. And please, don’t add one to the NSX. That one needs no illuminated emblem.

Illuminated emblems, love ’em or hate ’em, I can see a lot of other car manufacturers adopting this gaudy tech.

When Acura turns this patent into reality has yet to be seen.

Source: WIPO