With it being constantly dark when i travel to and from work, theres been a number of occasions where ive seen mercs (mainly the new E class) with main beams and foglights on, except one of the foglights doesnt work...

one was behind me today and i eventually figured it out.. the foglight thing must be some sort of cornering light, as the corresponding foglight would turn on depending which way the car was turning... :confused: WTF is the point of this? its bl00dy annoying!

the 2008 octavias were going to have it too but it doesnt seem to have made it over the the uk as ive not seen anyone on the mkii forum post about having them.

havent seen them in action myself but does sound a bit odd. wouldnt it confuse plod?

With it being constantly dark when i travel to and from work, theres been a number of occasions where ive seen mercs (mainly the new E class) with main beams and foglights on, except one of the foglights doesnt work...

one was behind me today and i eventually figured it out.. the foglight thing must be some sort of cornering light, as the corresponding foglight would turn on depending which way the car was turning... :confused: WTF is the point of this? its bl00dy annoying!

Thats good to know I'm not going mental then, I saw this and thought it was a pillock with his fog lights on and a faulty connection that only made the circuit when going round a corner

I too saw someone in a new ML320 and thought a bulb had gone in their fogs... didn't see them going round a corner and it changing though!

Seems weird to me... and totally pointless!!!!

Pseudo safety feature.

Car partly designed by marketing folk. :thumbdwn:

Isn't that technically illegal? I thought headlights, including foglights, were supposed to be symmetrical. I know various firms have proposed headlights that swivel with the steering (it was on a GM concept car a couple of years ago) but that's symmetrical 'cos both lights go round - and anyway it was done in the 1960s (Panhard, possibly?).

Isn't that technically illegal? I thought headlights, including foglights, were supposed to be symmetrical. I know various firms have proposed headlights that swivel with the steering (it was on a GM concept car a couple of years ago) but that's symmetrical 'cos both lights go round - and anyway it was done in the 1960s (Panhard, possibly?).

I think the Citroen DS was the first car to go into production with them, but I could be wrong. Nice idea, but I think of limited real-world use (unless you can disconnect them from the steering).

Chris

Most cars come with the option of swivelling headlights these days... even fords and vauxhalls.. "adapitve forward lighting" its called

Roomsters and Fabias have the option now of cornering fog lights, which will activate at low speed when cornering.

Also, mercs have a a clever feature that if a bulb goes in the indicator or headlamp, then the front fog light acts as a substitute until the duff bulb is replaced

I've seen this featue on a ML when coming home from work & thought there was something wrong with it's fog lights!!

Roomsters and Fabias have the option now of cornering fog lights, which will activate at low speed when cornering.

Also, mercs have a a clever feature that if a bulb goes in the indicator or headlamp, then the front fog light acts as a substitute until the duff bulb is replaced

Vectras had something similar years ago, when the brake or tail blew then the fog would come on in its place.

The Lincoln Town car I had in the US a couple of years ago had lights in the nose which came on when you indicated. Strange at first, but seems a good idea to me.

the 2008 octavias were going to have it too but it doesnt seem to have made it over the the uk as ive not seen anyone on the mkii forum post about having them.

havent seen them in action myself but does sound a bit odd. wouldnt it confuse plod?

I'm all ways confused......................................

Surley though they are all illegal as they are using one fog light, its exactly that a FOG light, not to be used unless conditions dictate, IE its bloody foggy!!

Steve

I thought it was illegal to use fog lights when its not foggy, isnt it a max of £1000 fine for incorrect use of then ?

RICHIE ??????

I thought it was illegal to use fog lights when its not foggy, isnt it a max of £1000 fine for incorrect use of then ?

RICHIE ??????

My thoughts :confused:

Is this not also the car - with that infrared light idea that shows you around bends up ahead?

I saw this this other day and just thought he had a fog light out

First one with steering headlights was the later Citroen DS, which steered the main beam units only.

Seems a little bit pointless if I'm honest.

Most cars come with the option of swivelling headlights these days... even fords and vauxhalls.. "adapitve forward lighting" its called

Except that the lowly Vauxhalls actually angle the main beam unit rather than relying on the fog lights as per Audi and Merc.

Seems a little bit pointless if I'm honest.

Ideally you'd want some kind of sensor to identify which direction your eyes were looking and move the lights there (seeing as you only ever want to see where you're looking). That way you could look into a corner/road before committing to a turn.

Chris

I was also shocked by this new gadget a few weeks ago. And especially the assymetry (which is probably illegal both in the UK and here). I remember the Citroën DS ones, but as Chris said, on them it was the main beam (and both sides).

Pointless, indeed. The old searchlight mounted on the A post or on the roof and controlled from inside made better sense (but is probably totally illegal today?)

Ideally you'd want some kind of sensor to identify which direction your eyes were looking and move the lights there (seeing as you only ever want to see where you're looking). That way you could look into a corner/road before committing to a turn.

Chris

Certainly in use with the USAF, not sure about our lads or not.

Never know, a few years and no doubt it will be in even the base model perodua's

I was also shocked by this new gadget a few weeks ago. And especially the assymetry (which is probably illegal both in the UK and here). I remember the Citroën DS ones, but as Chris said, on them it was the main beam (and both sides).

Pointless, indeed. The old searchlight mounted on the A post or on the roof and controlled from inside made better sense (but is probably totally illegal today?)

Legal, but only with the engine off and handbrake on I think.

I have seen this also.

I did read (quite a few years ago) BMWs had a feature on their cars where if the tail light failed then the brake light would take over (as some cars have seperate brake/tail lights)

I think the cornering fog lights is a gimmick as my Dad says they are only there when if its really foggy to tell you where the the two ends of the road are on either side.