Ok, I know this has probably been mentioned, but when you pull out on the light switch once your fog lights come on. But the switch will come out one more time and as far as I came tell, nothing happens. Anyone know what the purpose is.

 

In the UK it is for the rear fog lights.

 

REAR fog lights??? wow, you brits are a STRANGE bunch!<g>

 

what stopping people driving into the back of you in fog is weird?
Front fogs always seem less worthwhile than rears to me

 

the latest version of the Oldsmobile Aurora has rear fog lights too... interesting!

 

dunno... just never seen such a thing here in the USA so it seems weird to me. :lol:

But now my curiosity is piqued... where are the 'rear' fog lights on the car? Are they white? Are they just the backups lights running at a lower intensity? If so, I wonder if all X-Fire's are wired for this capability, and some module/relay/solenoid/whatever can be bought and plugged in someplace to enable this 'feature' on this side of the pond (though it's probably illegal here)?

 

The rear fog lights are "born" in germany.

They are a "must" in germany and are based in the german law.

The crossfire somehow is a german car since it is built at KARMANN in Osnabrck/Germany. (Sorry to say US- and UK Guys... :-))
And it is based on the MB - SLK. <- same switch.

German cars must have 1, most have 2 rear fog lights. They have to be switched on in foggy weather when the visibility is 50meters or below. Then there applies a speed limit of 50km per hour.

They are an extra red bulb and are brighter than the normal rear lights, similar to the brake-lights, but extra bulbs.

 

Thanks for the explanation. I wonder if all Crossfire's are 'wired' for this capability, and if so, where does this light mount on the rear? I would be interested to see if my Crossfire has the wiring for it, as I might find some other use for it, but don't know where to start looking. Do you have a photo you could post of the back-end of a German Crossfire, so we not so blessed can see what it looks like?

By the way, I am NOT at all upset that my Crossfire is a German car :wink: !

 

Fog lights in my area are a funny thing..... We might get fog here one or two days a year, yet when you drive around at night most people have their fog lights on. I guess they think it makes them look cool, I think it makes them look ridiculous.

 

used mine today, a really bad rain storm travelling back to london from Suffolk hardly any visability, much easier to see the cars in front who had rear fogs on nice high intensity red light. Now the only problem is most of those people will still have them on tomorrow as the switched on most cars don't reset!

 

Hey Percy... could you post of picture of this "rear" fog operating? Those of us not familiar on this side of the pond just can't "picture" what this looks like.

 

I wonder if I accidentally turned these on, when the other day a neighbor knocked on my door and told me my right side lights were on. Her english wasn't so good so I thought maybe she meant my right side door was open or something, but sure enough, I went down there and saw that the back right side lights were on and a small white light in the right front. Turns out I think I just turned the dial too far to the left when turning off my lights and may have activated these so called rear fog lights.

 

you turned it too far to the left and actived the parking lights this is for when you park on the street you can leave the streetside parking lights on

 

ARE U GUYS TALKING ABOUT THE REAR FOGS THAT COME ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE CAR FOUND ON AUDI'S AND MERCEDES. IT JUST LOOKS LIKE THE BRAKE LIGHT IS ALWAYS ON THAT ONE SIDE BUT WHEN U STEP ON YOUR BRAKES U CAN TELL THAT THE ONE SIDE IS BRIGHTER. I THINK THIS IS WHAT U ARE TALKING ABOUT. THERE MIGHT BE JUST A PLUG TO PLUG IT IN. MY FRIENDS AUDI HAD IT AND PLUGED IT IN AND IT WORKED, LOOKS COOL AT NIGHT. HOPEFULL THIS IS WHAT U GUYS ARE TALKIN BOUT.

 

Very nice explanation on the lights and thanks for the enlightenment (no pun intended) on German rules of the road. No such sense here.

I would think the single rear fog light should be on the driver's side of the car; at least, in my Volvo, it is. That way, traffic coming up behind you knows where your back end is, or if you are pulled off on the right shoulder, you wouldn't get clipped.

Might make sense on the right side of the car if you're in the UK.

 

Hi all,

Fog lights: as mentioned before are a must in good old land of rules and regulations otherwise known as Germany. If only one is installed in the vehicle it must be on the left side. The funny thing is that once you turn them on that speed limit of 50K really applies and a somewhat nasty cop can actually give you a ticket for speeding if you exceed it. Even on a clear night. Don't laugh it happens (I got one of those ;-) )
Parking lights: of course there are rules for that as well in the good old fatherland. When you park a car on a road outside of city limits they must be turned on. If you park on the right side the left and on oneway roads if you park on the left side the right one. If you park within city limits on a street without lighting or if the lighting is not on al the way through the night you need them on as well. The rules actually say you need to turn them on at the time the street lights are turned off. ;-) wonder how many people actually get up in the middle of the night to do that.

I now live in SoCal as mentioned in my profile so I doubt I will use the foggies much but they might come in handy on the heavier smog days.

As far as Wonders point about people here in the US driving with the fog lights on there is a simple explanation as well. In Germany or I should say the EU the headlamps are designed with an assymetric beam which illuminates the road ahead much better than the straight out beams used here. The EU lights have a 40 deg angled portion that shines toward the right (left for the friends on the islands) further out than US lights without blinding oncoming traffic. Since the US lights do not have this nice feature a lot of people use the foggies to accomplish at least part of the improved light pattern.

Sunny

 

I have installed the below the bumper type on several cars thru the years. I have one on me Suburban now. I will try to post a picture. I use to bring them home from German business trips in the 80's. I will try to figure out how to make them work on our cars. Did you notice we have a unsed indicator lamp hole under the light switch. Think this is for the rear fog. On our cars a separate bulb may not be used, but rather the left hand brake filament may have a dual aplication.

 

They come in handy for "Hook-Ups".... :wink: :wink: :wink:

 

If I am right US cars will have two reverse lights. On UK cars one of the reverse lights has been replaced with the rear fog light.

Better this way than the alternative. example. The Mazda MX5 (miada) Has a added fog light mounted to the rear bumber on the right.

It is not nice, looks tacky in a after thought way.