Reversing & Rear Fog Lights

[SteveTheElder]

Just noticed that my 70 plate SE L FE estate has only one reversing light (on the near side) and one rear fog light (on the drivers side) - but there is space (and what looks like all the LEDs) for both on both sides. I cannot see why they wouldn’t enable them all.

 

Is this ‘normal’ these days or could there be an issue with my lights?

 

[KenONeill]

13 minutes ago, sneal said:

Is this ‘normal’ these days

Yes, more so with the rear fog light(s) because of the number of people who "mistake" rear fog lights for brake lights or vice versa.

[PetrolDave]

18 hours ago, KenONeill said:

Yes, more so with the rear fog light(s) because of the number of people who "mistake" rear fog lights for brake lights or vice versa.

I've never understood that reasoning - there are 3 brake lights (left, right and high mounted centre) but only a maximum of 2 rear fog lights...

[KenONeill]

15 minutes ago, PetrolDave said:

I've never understood that reasoning - there are 3 brake lights (left, right and high mounted centre) but only a maximum of 2 rear fog lights...

Brake lights were only in pairs when the EU ruled that only one rear fog had to be activatable on any specific car.

[PetrolDave]

3 hours ago, KenONeill said:

Brake lights were only in pairs when the EU ruled that only one rear fog had to be activatable on any specific car.

A 3rd brake light has been mandatory on new designs in the EU even before I started work for an automotive consultancy back in 1988 - there can't be that many cars still on the road that were designed before then and hence have only 2 brake lights.

 

IMHO fitting a single rear fog light (on the centre or offside) is nothing more than a cost saving exercise (for example, my first Audi B6 A4 had 2 rear fog lights but as part of a midlife "facelift" they removed the nearside rear fog light but after customer complaints they restored 2 rear fog lights on the Audi B7 A4).

[Ootohere]

@PetrolDave  You were 10 years in that line of work before the EU made them mandatory, that was in 1998. (that is High Level Brake liights.)

 

There are European Countries that have legislation that requires a pair of rear Fog lights and there are Skoda vehicles that come with these in those countries and there are cars you can activate the 2nd fog light on. 

Edited 18 November, 2021 by roottoot

[timster]

Who actually cares about double fog lights? For me it makes the tail lights more cleaner looking when there less lights. I dont see any reason i would want to be behind a car with three fog lights staring at me.

[Ootohere]

 

@timster

The idea is that once you are behind a car with rear fog lights at a safe distance and the rear tail lights are visible they put the rear fogs off.

 

Not leave then on for the next few days. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SC03OTT]

I like to leave all my fog lights on, to make sure people know I don’t drive the entry level spec model. 
 

Like and follow for more life tips. 

[skomaz]

I have no issues  with a single fog light...   it's the single offside reversing light that bugs me and is a stupid idea!

[Ootohere]

That is sorted these days.  

People put in a pair of very bright registration plate lights and off in the distance you think a vehicles is coming towards you.

Some have these white lights to the rear brighter than the tail / position lights. 

 

It used to be cool (supposedly) to remove the number plate lights, now it is cool to stop those behind seeing the plate because of these LEDS,s.

[SkOmk4]

 

1 hour ago, roottoot said:

People put in a pair of very bright registration plate lights and off in the distance you think a vehicles is coming towards you.

More than a decade ago I loved driving at night, long distances. The increasing number of cars on the roads doesn't bother me at all, but there's a non-negligible percentage of cars (not so new) that retrofitted "not so legal" front lights - those are really ruining the night-driving experience. Either too strong lights, or Xenon headlights without auto-leveling system, the list is long. 
On the Rear fog lights topic I think symmetric (2 left-right or 1-centrall) and asymmetric are equally good; as long as you can see the car in front on thick fog, it doesn't really matter.

[Ootohere]

In the UK there are very new cars with horrible lights to meet in towns at night with Dipped Headlights & position / sidelights.

Worst i see are Kia's, most of the new ones,

then MINI's that are not so mini, then Range Rovers or Porsche Mecan.    Cornering headlights / Multibeam /matrix / LED crap.

 

I have them on  my Vauxhall but they sit low and i have checked them out to see if they are annoying but they are not because not at the same height as on a SUV / Crossover.

[PetrolDave]

18 hours ago, roottoot said:

@PetrolDave  You were 10 years in that line of work before the EU made them mandatory, that was in 1998. (that is High Level Brake liights.)

A CHMSL (Center High Mounted Stop Light) was mandatory is the US in 1988 so most car manufacturers that sold in the US fitted then to cars sold in other markets too.

 

Even 1998 is 23 years ago, and the vast majority of cars on the roads are a lot younger than 23 years - so my argument that 3 brake lights cannot be confused with 2 rear fog lights is still valid.

Edited 19 November, 2021 by PetrolDave

[skomaz]

My MX5 is 26 years old and still going strong.  No third brake light but it does have a separate fog light 

[AnnoyingPentium]

30 minutes ago, PetrolDave said:

Even 1998 is 23 years ago, and the vast majority of cars on the roads are a lot younger than 23 years

 

The village I live in had 2,320 residents (according to the 2001 census), it's possibly slightly less now. Out of those people now, I could probably name maybe four or five who own a car from before 1998. Certainly not a representative example of the UK but still an indicator nevertheless. Some of said cars will probably have high-level brake lights at the rear as they're close to that period, such as a delightful 1997 Peugeot 406 I see when I go for my newspaper. Even still, those cars are getting thin on the ground too.

 

As an additional note, my Granda had a 1997 Fiat Punto that he'd press the rear fog-light button on to mess with tailgaters as it sat very close to the brake lights on the rear of the car.

Edited 19 November, 2021 by AnnoyingPentium

[AnnoyingPentium]

14 hours ago, roottoot said:

then MINI's that are not so mini

 

You can feel the lights on them burning through the back of your head...

[Wonderloaf]

On 18/11/2021 at 15:41, SC03OTT said:

I like to leave all my fog lights on, to make sure people know I don’t drive the entry level spec model. 
 

Like and follow for more life tips. 

What's your onlyfans?

[Joss1733]

Are we griping about cars that have one or 2 fog lights or a 3 brake light.where is the problem with that.my last 4 cars had 1 fog light and 3 brake lights.get a life comes to mind.dont mean to upset anyone but act like adults.

[skomaz]

No.  Sone aresuggesting that two fog lights are better than one and i'm griping about a single rverse light on the wrong side of the car.

 

I dont mean to upset you but read the thread ??

Edited 19 November, 2021 by skomaz

[SteveTheElder]

I can live with one rear fog light (but would prefer two especially when in continental Europe), but am disappointed with one reversing light - especially as the second appears to be physically there. Seems odd not to enable it.

 

It appears there isn’t a fault with my car, but they are configured with one of each.

[DNC]

On 20/11/2021 at 08:06, sneal said:

I can live with one rear fog light (but would prefer two especially when in continental Europe), but am disappointed with one reversing light - especially as the second appears to be physically there. Seems odd not to enable it.

 

It appears there isn’t a fault with my car, but they are configured with one of each.

I'm sure that this will be part of the codeing list eventually.

 

I'm the same with regard to the fog lights, however as I've found with my wife's car; 2 reversing lights or a night vision adapted rear camera, would be greatly appreciated! Both are not outside the realms of cost or technology these days! 

[StewartM]

On 18/11/2021 at 20:01, roottoot said:

 

[quote]Worst i see are Kia's, most of the new ones, [/quote]

 

So glad to see someone agreeing with me that Kias  seem to be a problem.

 

Edited 2 January, 2022 by StewartM

[skomaz]

On 20/11/2021 at 08:06, sneal said:

I can live with one rear fog light (but would prefer two especially when in continental Europe), but am disappointed with one reversing light - especially as the second appears to be physically there. Seems odd not to enable it.

 

It appears there isn’t a fault with my car, but they are configured with one of each.

 

You may need to check that the second reversing light is actually present.  On my kodiaq it appears to be there but a closer inspection shows it to be a dummy with no LEDs or bulb fitting etc.

[timster]

Double reversing lights has not been a thing since early 2000. Most newer car models only have one reversing and one fog light. 

Why need two if you have one good enough?