Rear Fog lights?

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VIPFREAK

VIPFREAK

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So, is it true? I've seen many lux cars with one tail light(the red part) that is a lot brighter than the other side but it's not when the car is braking. My friend told me that it was "Rear fog lights"?:odd: I don't really believe him and I've never seen anything to say it is looking at the interior switches at the car show. I think that they just paid a **** load of money and the lights don't even work right. Sounds right... retards in luxos.

forgot to mention I think he also said because all luxo cars have to be sufficient enough for the autobaun. The rear fog light is to let drivers behind know there's a car up ahead. :odd:

Nick:rolleyes:
 
Originally posted by ShobThaBob
Crap.
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Nice post ShobThaBob! :rolleyes: Cretin.

Rear fog lights have been mandatory on all cars in the UK since 1978. It's a high-intensity light at least the same brightness as a brake light (i.e. 21W), and there must be at least one of them. Many manufacturers have experimented with the rear fog light, to try to find the best way to make it distinctive as such.

Since they are not mandatory in Japan, it's an easy way to spot a Japanese grey import. To get the car through SVA (Single Vehicle Approval), it has to have a rear fog light fitted to it, normally done by the importer, who buys a £15 bolt-on unit and attaches it to the rear valance.

However, drivers seem to have difficulty deciding when to use their rear fog(s). The Highway Code is quite clear on the matter, stating that they should be used when visibility is <100m. Ford didn't help with the MkIII Fiesta, by siting the rear fog switch right next to the rear screen heater (using the same button), somewhere in the depths of the centre console. This would mean that many Fiestas would rumble around with their fog lights on, reflecting the blind groping of the driver. One particular issue with drivers is switching the light off again. They'll come out of the fog and drive another 200 miles before switching the rear fog light off.

Then, on the other hand, you'll find the moron in the silver car toling along in thick fog with no lights on at all...

You will probably find that European-built cars will have rear fogs, mainly because it costs less to fit them to the cars in all markets than it does to engineer them out. If you want to find the switch, look for a picture of a bulb (a hemisphere usually) with three straight horizontal lines coming out of it, and a single vertical line (may be zig-zagged) intersecting those three lines.
 
In March last year, 125 cars were involved in a massive pileup on I75 near Chattanoga, TN. The cause was thick fog. Basically, people driving behind couldn't see that traffic had slowed to a crawl up ahead. Once there was one wreck, the incoming cars just kept piling up because they couldn't see what was going on.

In Florida, we have similar problems with torrential rain bursts. I myself narrowly avoided a 6 car pile up a few years ago when visibility was reduced to almost nothing. The boneheads up ahead that slowed down to 5 mph on I75 didn't switch on their hazard lights and the equally boneheaded people behind them didn't slow down at all and drove right into the 5 mph dimwits.

Anyone with a half a brain can see the value in rear fog lights.


///M-Spec
 
Originally posted by GilesGuthrie
Nice post ShobThaBob! :rolleyes: Cretin.

Many manufacturers have experimented with the rear fog light, to try to find the best way to make it distinctive as such.

However, drivers seem to have difficulty deciding when to use their rear fog(s).

Then, on the other hand, you'll find the moron in the silver car toling along in thick fog with no lights on at all...
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US Audi drivers never seem to turn them off, ever. They come on with the ignition and go off again when the car is parked. I doubt that 20% of US Audi owners even know they have one.

And man, it is always the idiots in silver cars who drive around in the rain, fog, and dusk with no lights on. Invariably.
 
Originally posted by neon_duke
US Audi drivers never seem to turn them off, ever. They come on with the ignition and go off again when the car is parked. I doubt that 20% of US Audi owners even know they have one.
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That's interesting, because I've never seen one turned on. I'm also pretty sure Audi is the only brand in the US to have them.
 
Ah, hence the reason I said crap. I dont think I ever noticed rear foglights....or what I was looking at just never really registered as a foglight.
 
Originally posted by GilesGuthrie
However, drivers seem to have difficulty deciding when to use their rear fog(s). The Highway Code is quite clear on the matter, stating that they should be used when visibility is <100m. Ford didn't help with the MkIII Fiesta, by siting the rear fog switch right next to the rear screen heater (using the same button), somewhere in the depths of the centre console. This would mean that many Fiestas would rumble around with their fog lights on, reflecting the blind groping of the driver. One particular issue with drivers is switching the light off again. They'll come out of the fog and drive another 200 miles before switching the rear fog light off.
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Or indeed not at all.

Driving with high-intensity lights (a.k.a. "fog lights") on when the conditions do not merit it - front or rear - is now an offence which will lead to 3 points being endorsed on your licence.
 
My '85 Benz 190E has rear fog lights. There aren't any bulbs in 'em, though, but I could just put some in.
 
Originally posted by M5Power
That's interesting, because I've never seen one turned on. I'm also pretty sure Audi is the only brand in the US to have them.
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I've never seen anything like them, either, and I've seen a lot of cars from many different parts of the world. Does anyone have a picture of "rear fog lights" turned on?
 
Originally posted by Jordan
I've never seen anything like them, either, and I've seen a lot of cars from many different parts of the world. Does anyone have a picture of "rear fog lights" turned on?
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I could probably scan the manual where it mentions them....
 
Originally posted by Jordan
I've never seen anything like them, either, and I've seen a lot of cars from many different parts of the world. Does anyone have a picture of "rear fog lights" turned on?
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OK, here we go...

1x Ford Focus, no lights.
nolights.jpg


1x Ford Focus (same), with side/tail/running lights (whatever you want to call them)
sidelights.jpg


1x Ford Focus (same), with rear fog light active.
foglights.jpg


Finally, here's a pic of the switch. Obviously, what with it being night, the switch isn't terribly clear, but the illuminations should suffice. From the 0 Position, the icons denote side lights, headlights, front fog lights, rear fog light. The switch is very well-designed. You turn to the headlights, then pull out once for front-fogs, and again for the rear fog. As you switch the lights off, the switch pulls itself back in, turning off any fog lamps you have on.

lightswitch.jpg


So there. Hope that helps!
 
Originally posted by Jordan
I've never seen anything like them, either, and I've seen a lot of cars from many different parts of the world. Does anyone have a picture of "rear fog lights" turned on?
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I'm not going out now 'cos it's cold and dark and raining, but if no-one else has has done it, I'll go out and take some photos tomorrow.

EDIT: damn :D
 
Is that what that thing is on the rear of the skyline, the white cover and the red cover on both sides of the license plate?
 
but it is dark! And as Famine says, it's illegal to turn on your fog lights when it's not foggy! Criminal!!
 
Originally posted by Slick6
Is that what that thing is on the rear of the skyline, the white cover and the red cover on both sides of the license plate?
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You mean the one's circled? In the pic below, they look like reversing lights. But as it's been pointed out before, it's not a legal requirement for Japanese cars to have fog lights. What probably happens is that one of the reversing lights will get changed into a fog light if whatever country it's going to requires it. On Giles' Focus, I believe the light on the opposite side from the fog light, is the reversing light. You only need to have one of each.
 

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Originally posted by GilesGuthrie
1x Ford Focus (same), with rear fog light active.
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Ok yeah, that's obviously a "rear fog light" because it's in a totally different area than the tail lights. Clearly that's not a U.S. model but the ones here have just the "normal" red tail lights and it looks like one of the brake light is "stuck" in brake mode.
I don't know about the interior switch or indication though?

As I've known, everywhere else but here in the US, cars can only have one back up light. I've never really been sure about the other one but it could obviously be a rear fog light

Nick:rolleyes:
 
Reading this I am amazed to find that you don't need rear fog lights in many countries. This just seems to defy logic.
Many small cars in the UK only have one reversing lights, but larger ones, do.

P.S- do you hate it when guys keep their beams on full going down narrow roads?
I got blinded by one today , my eyes, my eyes :(
 
Yeah, you don't need turn signals either but then you can get a fix-it ticket for having one broken or not "approved". :odd:

I hate thoughs damn Audi's that have the HID because even on low beam they hurt my eyes reflecting off the rear view mirror :irked:

Nick:rolleyes:
 
Originally posted by ExigeExcel
Reading this I am amazed to find that you don't need rear fog lights in many countries. This just seems to defy logic.
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Believe me, if it defies logic, the U.S. Department of Transportation has been doing it for 50 years :banghead:


Originally posted by ExigeExcel
P.S- do you hate it when guys keep their beams on full going down narrow roads? I got blinded by one today , my eyes, my eyes :(
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Yep. Been done to me many times. Part of me wants to mount a set of KC off-roading lights to the M3's front airdam and blast the next sonovabeech who doesn't turn off his 'brights' when driving towards me at night.


///M-Spec
 
Originally posted by VipFREAK
Yeah, you don't need turn signals either....
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Words really fail to describe how asinine this attitude is. This is precisely what's wrong with the American driving public today.

Do everyone a favor, and go have yourself sterilized immediately.


///M-Spec
 
Well I fail to see the logic behind the laws here, plus the fact that we have people that don't use them or don't know how to use them. :rolleyes:

Nick:rolleyes:
 
Originally posted by VipFREAK
Well I fail to see the logic behind the laws here, plus the fact that we have people that don't use them or don't know how to use them. :rolleyes:
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Aside from the fact that the use of turn signals are required by law, make your actions known to motorists near you thereby increasing safety and is a polite and courteous thing to do, there is no reason at all to have them unless you just need a place to mount all the ricer strobes on your Civic.


///M-Spec
 
Just like they say it's illigal to drive with your parking lights on yet GM has several cars that us thoughs very parking lights as their "Day time running lights".

edit: btw, I don't have a civic for you information

Nick:rolleyes:
 
Turn signals are required by law in the US? Even the cops in my city never use them, gets real annoying when im trying to walk the dog.
 
Originally posted by lsk8er
Turn signals are required by law in the US?
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Most definitely. Not to be rude, but how come none of you know this? Turn signals are always required by law, and it even gets more specific than that... for example, when you make multiple lane changes (going from the fast lane of a freeway to an off-ramp, for example), you're supposed to signal the lane change, turn off the signal when you get in the new lane, wait a bit, then signal again (so, it's technically illegal to move more than one lane at a time with just one signal).
 
Ok, well then seriously can you find the actual law that says you have to have turn signals? I don't know what happen to the "rear fog light" part of this thread but that's ok, I'm up for talking about turn signals as well.

Nick:rolleyes:
 
Originally posted by lsk8er
Turn signals are required by law in the US?
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Every driver's manual I've seen requires their use. Each state has their own laws on when a turn signal must be used, but in most states that I've been to, yes.

EDIT: I should add that in the Commonwealth of Virginia, failure to signal before a turn is considered reckless driving.

In practice, this law is almost never enforced, but I do know of someone who was stopped and ticketed for changing lanes without a signal... in Manhattan of all places.


///M-Spec
 

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