So I have a new pickup truck that has a second set of stock headlights mounted down low in the bumper/front cowling area. The lights are a little smaller than the regular headlights and maybe about as bright as the regular low beams. Pretty standard, we’ve all seen them.
But anyway, how are we supposed to use these lights? These lights have their own switch on the dash and deactivate when I switch to high beams with the regular set and then come back on again when I switch back to low beams.
I’ve noticed on the highway at night that when oncoming traffic sees me switch from single high beams down to double low beams they seem to find this acceptable and I rarely ever get flashed. I guess in their mind I’ve sufficiently satisfied the requirement to dim one’s beams for oncoming traffic. But when I encounter opposing traffic already in the double low beam state I get flashed much more frequently as it seems to be perceived as too bright compared to single low beams.
Fog lights are for use in foggy conditions only. Sates have different laws on fog lights. One that I see is fog lights only with low beams on, which your car is doing. One is no more than four forward lights at once. Running lights are low power to make you visible. Fog lights are high power and meant for fog and precipitous weather. They are not meant for use out of fog because of their high power. You should call you state DMV office or police for your state laws.
Don’t use 'em, except in fog. They tend to blind other drivers.
Several models of Pontiac apparently come with fog lights as standard, and for some reason the majority of their drivers seem to think it’s cool to drive around with their fog lights on at all times.
I find them quite useful on dark nights, on back roads, as they help to pick out the unmarked edge of the road, which here tends to include occasional drain openings etc. which can do your tyres or wheels damage should you hit them at speed. I treat them like high beam lights though, turning them off for oncoming drivers.
I don’t understand; if nobody’s coming, why wouldn’t you just have your high beams on?
They switch off when you turn your high beams on because high beams are worthless in the fog. Yellow used to be more common, but the low angle is more important than the wavelength.
High beams, at least on my car, do wonders for longer-distance illumination (obviously), but have little effect on lighting the road itself closer to the car, the next 50 metres or so.
I turn mine off except in rain or fog because (1) they are unnecessary otherwise; (2) they add glare to other drivers; and (3) using them all the time reduces the chance that they will work when I actually need them.
My pet peeve. I believe these are meant to be fog lights but it seems that everyone just turns them on when they drive off the dealer lot and they just stay on for ever. I find them to be blinding sometimes, especially on large puckups and SUVs where they sit higher than on a smaller car. Some I have seen are clearly more bright than normal headlights, some are odd colors and some are a very bright white that outshines the headlights.
I am the guy that keeps flashing you. Your headlights, plus your even brighter fog lights, mounted high up on your rather large vehicle are blinding me. They are also blinding me when you are behind me, I just can’t flash you. Please turn them off unless you really need them in fog.
Fog lights light the nearby ground, but consider the effect on how far you can see? If you light up the nearby area your eyes adjust and cut back on the amount of light coming into the eyes, so the light you are throwing far down the road that actually can get into your eyes gets diminished.
On my Subaru ('01 2.5 RS), they’re not fog lights but auxiliary driving lamps to help light up the sides of the road and the area nearest the front of the car not covered by the regular lamps. (I know someone will come along to correct me and inform me that these are fog lights- they’re not.)
These aux. lights are a broad-spread beam, not narrowly focussed like the regular driving lights, and really help my night-time driving. I live in a region where deer, possums, raccoons and all other small mammals are prone to run out of the underbrush at the last possible moment and these lights really do help to spot their reflective little retinas. They are also good for just lighting up the sides of the road and adding more light.
And I drive with them on 95% of the time that I’ve got the headlights on.
But I rarely get highbeamed by some bozo because these aux. lights are so low mounted and the way their beam is focussed. But when I do get highbeamed, I usually return the courtesy and really give them something to bitch about.
But what grinds my ax are the regular truck headlamps that are mounted at the same height as my side-mounted mirrors- it’s like having a spot light always sining into my mirror. Bastards!
At first glance I thought you had mounted headlights on your REAR bumper. I was going to tell you that was all kinds of wrong. The yellow lights are called parking lights. They illuminate the car without blinding other drivers. They also flash when you put on your hazard lights. As others have said, the ones you are asking about are fog lights.
People that drive around with their front fog lights on don’t really bother me that much. Most of the areas that I drive around in are well lit so the extra lights are not too blinding. However, the individuals that buy their German cars (Audi, BMW, MB) via European delivery* drive me crazy with their one really bright red fog lamp on the back of the car that goes on when they turn on their front fog lights. There are very few days in SoCal where either the front or the rear fog lights are needed.
*When I lived in Europe in the early 90s all cars had to be equipped with a rear red fog light (along with a fire extinguisher, flares, and a warning triangle), I am assuming that they are still required.
I’m surprised they’re not separately controlled - mine are, on my plain & simple Ford Fiesta. On the other hand, maybe they are, and it’s just a typical case of BMW/Audi driver ignorance.
Maybe your fog lights need to be aimed a bit lower. Also, I don’t run mine that much because I figure it will burn out the bulbs more quickly, and sometimes fog light bulbs are a bitch to replace.
As far as the law, I don’t think there’s any law about them in VA, except that they can not be on without headlights, and if equipped they must work.
Everyone here drives with fog lights on all the time. I think it’s to let other drivers know that they could afford the $400 or whatever to check the “fog light” option when they bought the car.
The yellow lights are called parking lights. They illuminate the car without blinding other drivers. They also flash when you put on your hazard lights. As others have said, the ones you are asking about are fog lights.