The results are in: the Mini Countryman has the worst turn signals ever. We’re not sure what vehicle was holding that title up until now, but the Mini Countryman definitely just took the lead. The Mini taillights are designed to have a Union Jack-style, displaying the national flag of the United Kingdom. As Mini does so affectionately, the Union Jack design can be seen in plenty of other locations on various Mini models. This one, however, may be crossing a line. The Mini Countryman taillights are only half the flag, making the part that lights up look like an arrow. That would be a genius design choice if the arrows were pointing in the correct direction.

Mini Countryman has the worst turn signals

The turn signals are the part of the Union Jack design that slightly resembles an arrow. The two turn signals, if they were pressed together, match up to make the full flag design. That’s a fun way to go about implementing a unique set of taillights, the problem is, the turn signal cannot be the arrow part. Each of the signals lights up where the design points to either side. The left turn signal points right, and the right turn signal points left. Though there is almost no chance this will cause any real issues on the road, it does seem a little silly.

As pointed out by the Twitter user who posted the video, it seems like an obvious oversight. Possible solutions could be using the entire flag as the turn signal on each side, with the arrow pointing in the proper direction. The most obvious, and probably the best solution, would be for only the center horizontal arrow to blink. Or literally any other part of the taillight. The part Mini has chosen to use as the turn signal might catch you off guard if you’re not thinking about what side the light is actually on. The light will point in the opposite direction is turning.

Why is it different in America?

That’s right, this ridiculous turn signal setup only exists in the American production models of the Mini Countryman. The Euro versions have the same exact design, but the center horizontal bar is the turn signal indicator. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse. Not only are these poorly designed turn signals in the United States, but the automaker knew better in other countries. For some reason when the model entered the US, Mini chose violence.

That’s an exaggeration, as we don’t believe this will cause real harm. It’s pretty easy to see which side the light is blinking on. Though some may be bothered by it, and point it out every time they see a Countryman on the road from now on. This seems like a turn signal that couldn’t get any worse, so we tried to think, what would be worse? Here are some ideas:

• Left turn signal blinks the word “RIGHT” and the right one blinks “LEFT”
• Anything that appears a different color, like green.
• Turn signals that people don’t use at all

The Mini Countryman Union Jack design for the taillights is unique and sets it apart from other vehicles. We wish other automakers would design more distinct taillights for their respective models. Though whenever they decide to do it, we hope they avoid making the turn signal indicators point in the wrong directions. As Jalopnik pointed out in their article, aftermarket Countryman taillights even use the horizontal bar as the turn signal. That’s why, at least in the US, the Mini Countryman has the worst turn signals ever.