Mercedes’ and Audi’s cars still come with rear fog lights in the US. Too bad, because somehow those brands seem to attract the type of nitwit owner who leaves the damn things on all the time.
As a longtime motorcyclist, I agree. I call these people ‘Left Seat Passengers’, because although they have a steering wheel in front of them they are only along for the ride rather that actively driving their vehicles. AKA ‘Left Seat Zombies’.
I see too many people using their fog lights at inapproprate times, which is annoying when they’re behind me or coming the other way on the road. I don’t know if they forget to turn them off; or, since they often use them when there isn’t a trace of fog, if they just think it’s cool.
Rear fog lights are available as accessories in the U.S. I thought about getting one for the 911 (it was a single light, on the left side), but I didn’t live in a place that was sufficiently foggy to warrant them.
Volvo has them as well (on the driver’s side) but flipping the switch to turn it on also illuminates a light on the dashboard, so the nitwit is at least (semi-)aware of it.
You’re not confusing fog lights (yellow) with driving lights (white), are you? I leave my driving lights on all the time because (a) my lights come on and off by themselves anyway so I never touch them, and (b) because they help illuminate the area immediately in front of the car. Because they’re driving lights and not fog lights, I confess to sometimes having to turn them off in case of heavy fog because they make the fog too bright. Too bad I can’t make them selectively yellow so that they’ll cut through the fog.
On my new Nissan, I can’t turn on the fog lights only (standard equipment on the front, additional white lights) unless I have my regular low beams on. If I put on my high beams, the fog lights turn off.
I understand this, but would rather be in more control. The road to my house is a gravel snow covered one and I would like to be able to have the fog lights on at the same time as my high-beams.
Fog lights are supposed to (and on my car, do) point pretty much right down at the ground. I like them. Even in no fog they really help for switch backs and tight corners.
sigh…
You Balthisar are part of the problem, fog lights are not always yellow, they come direct from the factory as white, those are not driving lights, they are fog lights, to be used ONLY in foggy conditions. It’s not the color that cuts through the fog, it’s the position, lower then headlights, to get ‘under’ the fog. Also note that if you light up nearby stuff, you will not see far away stuff nearly as well, so it is deceptive.
Now if you are talking about daytime running lights, which are low powered lights, which don’t have the intensity of headlights or fog lights then I apologisw, other then that do us and yourself a favor and turn them off unless it’s foggy.
For example. (They are available in amber as well.)
There’s a good reason for that. As mentioned before, there are fog lights and there are driving lights. Fog lights are designed to be used in fog – precisely the condition in which you would not want to use high beams. So wiring the system so that the headlights will dip when the fog lights are used is a failsafe to prevent people from using their high beams in fog. (If they don’t use their high beams anyway, instead of the fog lights.)
Not talking about DRLS. I’m talking about fog/driving lights. They’re decidely not fog lights, otherwise they’d not work-for-shit in the fog. They’re too bright for the fog. All I get back is a bright reflection. It would cause an accident because I’d not be able to see in front of me for a reasonable distance at reasonable speeds. I’ll give you that maybe not all fog lights are yellow… yellow does cut through the fog better – it doesn’t reflect as much, you see.
As to “part of the problem,” why? They’re factory lights. They’re aimed low. Other people’s driving lights don’t bug me, except for those shitty after market lights that people don’t aim properly. They illuminate the area in front of the vehicle spectacularly well, and don’t diminish the farther distance the low- and high-beams throw. Do you have a problem with night blindness, or do you just think we’re all dumb-asses that don’t know what we’re doing? Again, assuming we’re talking about properly positioned lights (otherwise, I’ll jump on your bandwagon).
Balthisar Over on my side of the house, the lights you are describing are listed on the Monrony and in the owner’s manual as front fog lights
As far as how well they work, I recall a line from Bob Hope (He was talking about filming a movie in England) “The Rolls Royce that the studio supplied had wonderful fog lights. When the driver turned them on, you could see the fog so much better.” 
For them to work at all they have to be aimed. Your fog lights should illuminate the ground out to about 30 feet or so. Any more and they are too high, any less and they are pointing straight down. If you still aren’t happy, go bitch at the design guy.
enipla Sorry, but this is a federal regulation. fogs with low beams only (also in the Calif. vehicle code)
It may be that few parts of the US actually have conditions where rear fogs would actually be beneficial. In Colorado, we don’t often see fog to any great extent although we do have snowy conditions where they might be beneficial. Some parts of the country never have poor visibility conditions.
Equipping vehicles with these lights might just be an unnecessary extra expense.
Bob
That’s what I had heard, but was not sure so I did not want to site it.
Johnny L.A Yep, I know that you do not want to have your high beams on when its foggy. For myself though, there are circumstances where I want to through as much light as possible out there. The road to my house is an example of this. Currently, snowpacked gravel, with deep ditches or darn right drop offs.
I understand that. But as I said, there are a lot of LSPs out there. They mightn’t remember their training and would drive in fog with their high beams on. Many who don’t have fog lights do.
Have you considered putting (properly aimed) after-market driving lights on your vehicle?
Hmm… I stand corrected. A quick consult of the owners manual indicates “front foglamps,” and an operational verification indicates that they don’t work with the high-beams. That latter is a bummer, because it’s when I have the high beams on that I want the extra forward illumination. On the other hand, city driving doesn’t seem to lend itself to high beam use else I’d have noticed it. I remember when I switched from my '88 Civic to my '95 Civic, I was kind of bummed that the high beams switched on and the low beams switched off. On the 88, the low beams stayed on while the high beams were on. I’ve still never had a car with such excellent night visibility as that '88 Civic.
Drive one of our cars. I had a Contour rental once that the headlights were so poor compared to my Volvo that I actually pulled over in the rain to see if they were on. :eek: