--- title: "Mustang GTD Is So Wide It Needs Safety Lights Like a Raptor—But Ford Found a Loophole" date: "2025-08-28" modified: "2025-08-28" authors: - name: "Joel Feder" job_title: "Director of Content and Product" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/joel-feder" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/mustang-gtd-is-so-wide-it-needs-safety-lights-like-a-raptor-but-ford-found-a-loophole" categories: - "Ford News" - "News" - "News by Brand" tags: - "Coupe" - "Mustang" - "sports car" --- # Mustang GTD Is So Wide It Needs Safety Lights Like a Raptor—But Ford Found a Loophole ![2025 Ford Mustang GTD]() There's a reason that ridiculously wide vehicles like the [Ford]() [F-150 Raptor](), [Bronco Raptor](), and [Ram TRX]() (and [RHO]()) all have amber running lights front and back, and it's not to look cool: it's the law. Turns out the [2025 Ford Mustang GTD]() is, dimensionally speaking, legally too wide to drive on public U.S. roads without amber marker lights like the hulking off-roaders noted above. At the launch for the Mustang GTD Design Manager Anthony Colard told *The Drive* Ford found a loophole in the law so they could avoid adding marker lights to the $325,000 (to start) Mustang. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 108 states that larger vehicles, which usually are trucks, SUVs, and trailers, because what car is that wide, that are 80 inches or wider, require clearance lamps (bookending the sides) and marker lights in the center with specific positioning and spacing rules. Ironically, it's about visibility, which it's hard to miss these behemoths on the road. ![2025 Ford Mustang GTD]() **Joel Feder** A Mustang is about 75 inches wide, typically. The [Mustang GTD]()? It's six inches wider, measuring in at 81.8 inches, which translates to borderline cartoon-like proportions. Theoretically, that meant the Mustang GTD needed amber marker and clearance lamps. The team wasn't stoked, went looking for a way out of that situation, and found one. Colard said it turns out the lamps are required on (typically) trucks and large vehicles because they are considered dual-purpose vehicles when you homologate them. This means the vehicles can be bought by companies and be both registered and used as work trucks. The Mustang GTD is not considered a dual-purpose vehicle and was not homologated as such. The GTD is considered a single-purpose vehicle. Notably I asked what happens if you own a race track and suddenly that GTD is now a work vehicle. Colard said someone could buy the GTD if they own a company, or even have their company buy it and own it, but "it is not a work vehicle. It's not like a big truck or lorry or something else. You're not going to tow anything with it. You're not," Colard said. "Any vehicle you can put a sticker on saying 'not for hire,' then enters that category (referring to dual-purpose vehicles) where you need to have the lights," Colard said. Ford used a real technical interpretation within the FMVSS regulations to ensure the design of the Mustang didn't have pickup-truck-like lighting. Should anyone buy a GTD and use it as their work vehicle, say, as a track taxi, guess this is one heck of a loophole. *Know about a legal loophole? We want to hear from you via tips@thedrive.com* ## Author Overseeing what you see, read, touch, hear, and interact with from the vast lakes of Minnesota, Joel Feder shapes how The Drive looks and operates as the head of content and product initiatives. On a daily basis, Joel leads the newsroom and editorial staff playing point on both short-term coverage and long-term strategic plans. His mission is to help ensure The Drive shapes the future of automotive media by helping the team execute original reporting, breaking news, and exclusive opportunities. Regarded as an industry insider and recognized by colleagues, fellow journalists, and manufacturers as a point-person and leader in the industry, Joel owns and runs the largest automotive professionals group on Facebook in an effort to serve and help others. Joel serves as a juror for the World Car Awards. In addition, he is the board chair and chair of the governance and nominating committee for Move Forward MN, a local non-profit that helps at-risk youth with barrier-free mental health and housing services. While you’re reading this he’s either on his computer or iPhone chasing the latest news or drafting a story. ### Author social links [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]() [Bluesky]() [Email]()