Surely that was the reasoning behind so many people driving in the thick fog this morning without lights on?

Auto lights come on in dull conditions and if the wiper blades have moved so many times too.

I can only switch he fogs on with my car if its out of auto, trying it in auto oddly switches the main beams of. interesting two seconds finding that out at night.

Probably should have read the manual.

Thing is it wasn’t dull this morning so you’d probably get side lights on at best.

If it’s thick fog like you claim mine would have come on and if they hadn’t the wipers going would have triggered them. Sadly it’s usually down to idiots.

I tend to override my (Ford) auto lights in fog/smear/low sun/tree shade etc as IME they don’t always come on and stay on in those conditions.

Still like them for the one-less-thing-to-do factor in normal driving.

Just leave the fogs on all year round. Faster innit….

DrP

The auto-lights in my mondeo seem totally reliable- took me ages to trust them but I reckon they’re more reliable than I am. But they do need to be overridden to get the fogs on- not that this is a problem, because controversially I only use the foglights when it’s foggy 😉

What fog?

I was wondering why they called them fog lights…seems most people use them when it rains.
Rarely turn mine on. If the car behind is close enough for me to see clearly in my rear view mirror, then safe to say they can see me too.

The auto-lights in my mondeo seem totally reliable- took me ages to trust them but I reckon they’re more reliable than I am. But they do need to be overridden to get the fogs on

When I had a Mk4, the fogs weren’t on auto, just the headlights. Might explain why you need to press the button. (-:

I was wondering why they called them fog lights…seems most people use them when it rains.

They should really rename them “low visibility lights”.

If the car behind is close enough for me to see clearly in my rear view mirror, then safe to say they can see me too.

Headlights are brighter than taillights. 😀

Yeah only the headlights are auto. (Fog is kinda hard to detect automatically!)

turning on the fogs on a Focus involves pulling out the headlight dial, which cunningly forces it to rotate off the auto setting too.

+1 for only using fog lights in actual fog (or other really poor vis).

There should be some kind of alarm on cars that goes “Bing-bong. You seem to have had your fog lights on for 25 miles now. Are you SURE it is still foggy??”

(Incidentally it is only “fog” if visibility is less than 1km. Otherwise it is “mist”. FACT!)

Cougar – Moderator

When I had a Mk4, the fogs weren’t on auto, just the headlights. Might explain why you need to press the button. (-:

Er, yeah. But what I meant was, you have to turn off Auto to get the fogs on at all, you can’t switch them on with the mains on Auto. So that could lead to some folks turning the mains off by mistake.

turning on the fogs on a Focus involves pulling out the headlight dial, which cunningly forces it to rotate off the auto setting too.

Snap with VW/Audi Group.

what I meant was, you have to turn off Auto to get the fogs on at all,

Oh, right.

Was yours a Mk3? Mine didn’t suffer from that affliction, maybe they changed it.

I hope ‘fogs’ are not auto, would mean ive been ranting and calling lots motorists idiots when its not their choice. It seems fashion at the moment to run with fog lights on all the time at the moment.

Oh, I like to leave my rear fogs on all the time, particularly when it’s raining. Have had many people wave with gratitude……

It seems fashion at the moment to run with fog lights on all the time at the moment.

Yeah, and headlights off (just sidelights) for maximum bling points. You need to render your tail lights opaque with black lenses too.

Oh, I like to leave my rear fogs on all the time, particularly when it’s raining. Have had many people wave with gratitude……

I’m not sure that was waving.

I’m not sure that was waving.

Surely………… 😉

Pmsl shermer…… 🙂 😀

Are fog lights not supposed to be used instead of dipped beam when the conditions call, and not “as well”? I thought the whole idea was to keep the glare produced minimal and to direct the light closer and lower to the front of the car? (rear fog’s excluded obviously).

The official line is to use them instead of high beam & in conjunction with dipped beam. If it is really foggy, you might find that front fogs & sidelights actually produces less glare (used on country lanes with no other traffic around – dipped flicked back on as cars approach to ensure they definitely see you).
Can we not just shoot people who use rear fogs when raining…it will a) remove idiots from the roads, b) reduce congestion on the roads & c) improve the gene pool by removing idiocy & idleness.

Surely…………

Damn fell for that.

Oh and just been out in my Audi and tested the fogs, to put them on it forces you to switch the lights onto manual. Doesn’t switch them off first though.

(Incidentally it is only “fog” if visibility is less than 1km. Otherwise it is “mist”. FACT!)

Rear fog is on a timer in the Prius.