Some mornings, our publisher Matt likes to call me. Well, “likes” may be strong; I think he tries to call our managing editor Peter first, and if Peter is unavailable or on a bender, Matt will settle for calling me. Usually he just recounts his most recent erotic dream involving Bebe Neuwirth (“we were trapped on an oil rig” or “her and I were teamed up on the Olympic mixed-doubles sensual massage team”) or describes, in remarkable detail, his most recent rashes. Sure, there’s also plenty of work talk (“we can make vowels only visible to members”) but today Matt had a genuinely interesting question: do I use my fog lights?
As always, a question a child might ask, but not a childish question. Fog lights! I love fog lights! Now, I should clarify that I’m very old school when it comes to fog lamps; I tend to think only of the yellow lamps as fog lights, and the clear/white ones I think of as driving lights. I think this sort of distinction is largely considered obsolete, and almost all auxiliary front-facing lighting is called a fog light today.
Lots of cars have fog lights built in, and I have two cars in my fleet with fog lights right now: my 1990 Nissan Pao, which has add-on yellow fog lights, and my 2010 Volkswagen Tiguan, which has integrated clear fog lights from the factory. I drive the Pao a lot more than the Tiguan, and I prefer its add-on yellow fog lights much, much more, but I do regularly use fog lights on both cars.
On the Tiguan, I like the fog lights on dark roads, as they cast more light on the road surface itself, which I find helpful. The Pao’s fogs are usually pointed in a similar downward orientation, casting two pleasing saffron-colored oblongs on the road. Of course, sometimes I lean up against one of the lights, and then it serves to light up the tops of trees in a yellowish glow, freaking out the squirrels.
In the Pao, I think I use my fogs both for throwing some extra light on the road, and, equally importantly, to make my car more visible itself. I don’t have DRLs or anything, so sometimes I use the fogs during overcast days or around dusk just to make my car more obvious. I also just love the way they look, to be honest. A nice set of large, round, yellow foglamps makes even the most boring car seem significantly more fun and exciting.
Now, the big question is probably do these lights actually help in foggy weather? I think the yellow ones sort of do, as I tend to get less glare in fog than from the white ones, but I’m not sure there’s any actual magical fog-penetrating going on. I’ve heard and read some conflicting studies, but overall I think it is accepted that yellow fog lights do scatter less and provide less glare in foggy conditions. It has something to do with a phenomenon known as “Rayleigh scattering,” and, again, I’m not exactly sure just how much difference there really is, but I feel like the glare from yellow lights is a little less pronounced than from white.
But who knows? I think I mostly use them because it makes me happy.
Rear fog lights, like those required in the UK, are a different sort of thing, I think. I think they unquestionably make your car more visible from the rear in foggy conditions, and they probably should be more common here in America.
What about you? Do you have foglights? If so do you use them, and if so, how? Or why? Tell me, dammit!
I’ve had them on my primary vehicle for the last decade and I think I can count the number of times I’ve used them on my fingers. Having said that, it was almost always at night, in rain, to help me better see lane markings.
If they’re not yellow, they don’t penetrate the fog, but the additional last cast to each lower corner is still helpful if you’re in low visibility, as they can help you see the lines on the road better if the lines aren’t in great condition.
Seems like it was a big thing in the 90’s and into the 2000’s to run your fogs all the time, clear weather, night time and so on….it used to really piss me off because there is a lot of glare from those, and you couldn’t tell if that car in front of you was riding the brakes or running their rear fogs. My thinking is you use them where there is fog, or maybe sometimes in the rain/snow – period. The myth about “putting more light on the road” is that you’re supposed to be looking far ahead of the car, not down directly in front of it – where your fog lights shine.
Oh well, no one seems to care……
Bingo!
Really good low beams appear to have little light right in front of you, masking your long distance vision.
I love yellow fog lights playing in the snow. I had very old ones on one of my Subaru GL wagons, and, while they were good for lack of reflection when it was snowing, they came in clutch the night after a good snow when I’d go south on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Between the bright marker lights those old Roos had and the fog lights, I didn’t need headlights to cruise the winter wonderland hours on end.
I had a set of Hella 550s on top of the bumper of my ’83 GL and I once drove a few hundred miles on the fogs alone in bad weather. I swear they lit up the road better than the sealed beams in good weather.
We don’t get enough serious fog around here for me to know if factory fog lights really help, but I do find them to be very useful for seeing road markings in heavy rain when there’s standing water on the road.
France, being France has complicated rules on fog lights in its “code de la route”…
Basically it is compulsory to use rear fog lights in fog, but you cannot use them when it is raining, even if the spray from cars makes fog-like conditions.
The reasoning being that powerful rear fog lights, and they are powerful, shine on wet surfaces creating such a glare drivers cannot see enough to drive by.
Front fog lights, when fitted, have to be really low and are only good for crawling along in a pea souper at 30 kph at night, when even dipped beams throw glare back at you.
But you can be fined if left on when there is no fog…
Altimas in the US have rear fog lights.
The other tail light is broken, but the effect is the same.
I never use the fog lights because I drive around with high beams on all the time.
I do find my fog lights to be useful on backroads when I visit our friends’ cabin. We’re not going fast and the extra-wide beam does a great job of helping to highlight the little country critters. Outside of that, I just like having more lights on. Fog lights on all the time (except with high beams of course) because why wouldn’t I want a slightly better chance of being seen or seeing ahead?
Because it’s like driving with your high beams on to other drivers – that’s why not.
No, it isn’t. Fog lights are aimed lower than mains while high beams are aimed…high. One is legal to run when approaching another road user and the other is not. They shouldn’t be used in clear weather, but they’re not blinding like high beams unless you’re approaching a crest another driver is rounding over the top of, so maybe for a couple seconds, no different than headlights.
I have never used more than headlights and I doubt I ever will. If I could outlaw foglights, I would.
Why? How does other people using foglights negatively impact you?
I get blinded by them reflecting off wet roads all the time.
The same way that installing LED bulbs in halogen housings does?
I have a 2016 Jeep Wrangler 75th Anniversary Edition that came with driving lights integrated into the bumper. I use them ALL THE TIME, because the headlights by themselves are horrible. By 2016, many cars had upgraded their headlamps to LED, but Jeep was still using the 2008 JK headlamps. I’ve looked into upgrading, but it is expensive, and involved splicing an adapter into the wiring harness, which I don’t want to do.
At the least add a housing with proper E code headlamps so you can see.
I have “driving” lights (because they came on the car, not because I wanted them) and I almost never use them. About all they’re good for is adding more light immediately in front of the car, not down the road, where I really can use it.
I have fog lights on the front. This is the 4th consecutive vehicle with them.
I have never found them useful, even in fog or rain. Its more light low and close, when I need a more focused beam with more lumens to aim higher and farther away, but without going full highbeams.
I had rear fogs on an Audi Q7, and I used them when it was foggy or we had heavy rain.I figured they would help other drivers. Then I moved to Europe and I saw them from a driver’s standpoint. They do help you to be more visible to other drivers in such conditions, but holy hell, they are WAY too bright. And often used when not necessary. Like….a light shower or a few flurries don’t warrant it, given how bright they are.
When needed, they are very useful. However, French and German drivers were no better about having them on when not necessary than US drivers, in my experience. But since most cars have them over there, you get these small, intense red lights in front of you for no reason sometimes.