Time for another discussion. What are the members feelings on the modern curse, fog lights? These must be the most miss-used items fitted to modern cars. Rear fog lights are a good idea, front ones are generally useless. Now most drivers don't seem to know that fog lights should only be used in fog or poor visibility. This is because the beam is low and wide, and so reduces glare. Incidentaly, the old yellow ones only reduced glare because they gave out less light, the colour had nothing to do with it. Therefore, fog lights should only be used with side lights, not with dipped headlights. A local motorist recendly received a £100 fine for using fog lights when not needed. One extra thing, isn't it surprising how many people will spend a lot of mony on new car, yet won't buy a hands free kit for their phone. I have one which has an audio amp and remote mic, and actually works better than it does without. Although as a radio amateur I can use a mic whilst driving, for sheer convenience, ignoring the safety angle, I always use a remote mic.
Fog lights
- Thread starter Ray_5040391
- Start date
Couldn't agree more about the misuse of fog lights.On the X-Trail this is not helped by the stupid design of the fog light switch.You can have front fog or front and rear fog but not rear fog on its own ! When you turn off the main lights it cleverly takes the switch for the front and rear fogs to the off position BUT leaves the front fog switch in the ON position thus ensuring that the next time you switch on the side/main lights the front fog comes on without you realising !!(apart from the tiny warning light) It seems totally illogical to have the nifty auto switch off of the rear when it is a fineable offence to drive with the front fogs on etc etc.
if u read this months copy of caravan life they have a picture of an espace on a lovely summers day with its fog lights on .just because they are there, i cant understand why drivers use them is it because they like to pose
how many people know the law re vans and fog lights. how many check that the van fog lights work and that the car lights are off when towing. how many check that their cars fog lights are working. it can arise that the contact in the roadlight towing socket can fail so the car fog lights won't work, worth a check before winter really sets in. however if the socket contact fails, (cut off when towing, on when not) can now be replaced with a electronic switch mounted out of harms way in the boot.
Many "boy racers" drive around with their fog lights on all the time in a "look at me" pose. Some ordinary drivers forget to switch them off after using them. They're only legal to use in fog or falling snow. If they're used in rainy conditions they constitute dangerous driving because of the glare which makes it very difficult for other drivers to see anything.
"They're only legal to use in fog or falling snow",
no, their only for use in poor visibility, in other words when normal rear lights cannot be seen clearly at reasonable distances. This I would maintain is very common on motorways in heavy rain and spray conditions and most useful they are. Front fogs are another story, it would seem if your switch is marked as a "fog light" then that is what they are, if any other way then they are 'driving lamps' and can be used anytime. Because front fogs are set low down I cannot see a problem with them as long as the beams are correctly set, in whatever conditions. Rear fogs however must be the worsted thing to follow when left on, or worse still 'nose to tail' in town etc because there's a 'bit of a mist'...Agrrr
no, their only for use in poor visibility, in other words when normal rear lights cannot be seen clearly at reasonable distances. This I would maintain is very common on motorways in heavy rain and spray conditions and most useful they are. Front fogs are another story, it would seem if your switch is marked as a "fog light" then that is what they are, if any other way then they are 'driving lamps' and can be used anytime. Because front fogs are set low down I cannot see a problem with them as long as the beams are correctly set, in whatever conditions. Rear fogs however must be the worsted thing to follow when left on, or worse still 'nose to tail' in town etc because there's a 'bit of a mist'...Agrrr
An interesting point gary but moost lights are marked with a symbol. I suppose it then requires reference to the handbook which it is lucky if it lasts the life of the car.The problem is that because they are low down the light has only one way to go UP if they are badly set which seems to be the norm
Actually the colour was important. High frequency bluer light is scattered more that the lower frequency yellow light - so yellow doesn't produce so much glare (it's called Rayleigh scattering - part of the A level physics course...) It's why the sky is blue (lots of scattering) and sunsets are red (all the blue scattered out).
Fog lights fitted to the front of a car can only legally be used in fog or falling snow if their centres are below 60 cm (as they all are), check the Construction & Use Regulations! High intensity rear lights fitted to the rear of a car should be used in low visibility - these aren't officially known as fog lights!
Why are fog lights needed at all,wired to come on only when headlights are on,in fog or snow the back glare from headlights is too much ,how do fog lights as well improve that situation ??
got a saxo for a runaround headlights are crap so nead to use fog lights just to see the road, have tried other bulbs no differant,can also use main beam and dont get flashed
The use of front 'spots' in ordinary weather conditions are most certainly used by posers. Why else use them? The worst culprits of course are those who use them on 4x'4's that have the lights located at such a height on the vehicle that it dazzles oncoming traffic. This coupled with headlights turned on means that the drivers of these vehicles show blatant disregard for other road users. Fog lights should only be used when visibility is very poor and in conjunction with sidelights as dipped/full beam will just bounce back and produce glare. Definately used by posers who cant even see them when they are driving!!
Just as bad are the vast number of drivers that only use side lights while driving in poor conditions. The law is,if its bad enough to use lights then dipped headlights must be used NOT sidelights which should only be used on a stationary vehicle.
interesting picture on page 14 of January's edition of caravan lifeconcerning mis-use of front spots!!
quick question. I just purchased a new car and I was fingering through the manual and I seen that fog lights were an option that I could have chosen but I didn't. the thing is I live in a area where from time to time it gets really foggy and like most I guess from reading this post I really didn't know the purpose of fog lights. Ok here goes my question, shouldn't fog lights come standard with all cars and other vehicles just in case? for me they would come in handy because I live in a area where it's just a two way hwy that I take and it get's really foggy at night when I get come home from work.
Meldon - you are talking about Front Fog lights I presume because I thought the rear Fog lamps were standard on all cars.
Personally I find driving in fog the very worst condition of all. Living in the sticks we get a lot of mists etc.
But even in truly awful conditions on the M-ways in fog and testing them by turning them on and off - I find the effect minimal in the extreme.
As for the rear fog lamps - they work very well - BUT what a pain when used incorrectly! In rain they make the situation for the driver behind FAR worse.
My pet hate is manufacturers that only fit the rear fog lamp on one side! Are they trying to imitate a Motorbike?
Surprisingly Audi are (or were - haven't had one for over 10 years now) guilty of this - and I rate Audi's very highly on all other aspects.
Personally I find driving in fog the very worst condition of all. Living in the sticks we get a lot of mists etc.
But even in truly awful conditions on the M-ways in fog and testing them by turning them on and off - I find the effect minimal in the extreme.
As for the rear fog lamps - they work very well - BUT what a pain when used incorrectly! In rain they make the situation for the driver behind FAR worse.
My pet hate is manufacturers that only fit the rear fog lamp on one side! Are they trying to imitate a Motorbike?
Surprisingly Audi are (or were - haven't had one for over 10 years now) guilty of this - and I rate Audi's very highly on all other aspects.
I cannot see the problem with using front fogs at any time the visability is reduced. They don't glare and increase the chance of you being seen by other road users.
Rears are a pain in anything except heavy fog or mist. In both my cars they front and rear fog lights are disabled when the lights or ignition are switched off and you have to switch them back on if you still need them. This prevents me from forgetting they are on.
Rears are a pain in anything except heavy fog or mist. In both my cars they front and rear fog lights are disabled when the lights or ignition are switched off and you have to switch them back on if you still need them. This prevents me from forgetting they are on.
My Kia Sorento has front fog lights fitted as standard, but has no warnig device that tells you whether they are on or off.
How tight is that? surely the price of a warning lamp would not put people off of buying a car.
Steve W
How tight is that? surely the price of a warning lamp would not put people off of buying a car.
Steve W
My landrover has a simple led in the switch but the MG puts an icon in the computer screen when the front is on and a massive icon taking over the whole of the computer screen when the rear is on. you would have to be blind to miss it in the MG..
Left hand drive cars generally only have one rear fog light and that (of course) is on the left hand side. For export to the UK, they add a second one on the right but usually don't delete the left hand one because it's more expensive to have 2 part numbers on the assembly line than to delete an extra bulb that is not really required.
Although 2 rear fog lamps are legal, the idea behind fitting only one on one side is to avoid confusion with rear brake lights (two rear fog lamps could be mistaken for brake lights with a defective switch which is always on).
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