Fog lights, as the name suggests, are light signals used in rainy and foggy weather. Its main feature is its strong penetration in fog. In weather with low visibility, it is easy for vehicles or pedestrians to notice it early, thereby effectively preventing accidents. However, it should be noted that fog lights cannot be used as daily lighting. Using fog lights at night with good visibility has no less harmful effects than abusing high beam lights.
As I said above, fog lights are lights used in heavy fog and other weather with low visibility. According to the Road Traffic Law, when visibility is less than 200 meters in rainy and foggy days, motor vehicles should turn on their fog lights. Unlike headlights, fog lights have a clear range and angle of projection. The light source of fog lights has no clear directionality, and the divergent light looks similar from any angle. Of course, this 200 meters is only a safe driving distance. Whether to turn on the fog lights immediately depends more on the actual situation.
Front fog lamp is a lamp used to improve road lighting in fog, snow, rain or dust conditions;
This is the light pattern diagram of the front fog lamp
Therefore, the existence of front fog lights is not essential, and regulations do not mandate this. Driven by cost reduction, many vehicles simply simplify the configuration. In any case, the improvement of lighting effect by front fog lights is certain.
Rear fog lamp is a lamp that makes the vehicle more visible when viewed from behind the vehicle in heavy fog;
Fog lights are of course useful in foggy days. If it is a thick foggy day, fog lights are simply a life-saving tool! Fog lights can not only improve visibility, but can also be used for lighting.
Fog lights are also very useful for widening the field of vision on both sides at close range. When driving on sharp bends on mountain roads without street lights, if you cannot turn on the fog lights, you will not be able to see the difference in the curves. Some models also directly use fog lights as low-cost auxiliary lighting when cornering.
Ideal fog light effect (installed with Hella fog light auxiliary lights)
A must-have for traveling in the wilderness, it greatly expands your vision at night and you are no longer afraid of gangsters and beasts hiding in the grass.
For cars that use xenon headlights and LED headlights, the headlights are white, which is comfortable in sunny weather, but the effect is not as good as good halogen lights in rainy and foggy days. In dense fog, xenon and LED lights are white in dense fog. There was so much reflection in the fog that I couldn't see the road clearly. At this time, halogen yellow fog lights are a very important lighting supplement! In extreme cases, it is even necessary to turn off the headlights to reduce reflection interference and simply rely on the yellow light of the fog lights to move forward!
● What is the difference between fog lights and low beam lights?
Why can’t we use fog lights as daily lighting? Let’s first take a look at the comparison chart below. These two pictures were taken by me on a densely foggy night. We can intuitively see the difference between the illumination effects of fog lights and low beam lights.
The difference between fog lamps and dipped beams lies in the illumination angle, brightness, light source penetration, etc. In these aspects, fog lamps are stronger than dipped beams.
The function of the low beam is to illuminate a certain distance in front of the car. Its illumination angle is lower than the horizontal line, and the power of the bulb is not large, so it will not cause interference to the drivers of other vehicles.
However, in foggy days, the low-beam headlights with very weak penetrating power are very difficult. At this time, fog lights must be relied on to make up for the shortcomings of low-beam headlights that cannot penetrate heavy rain and dense fog. Therefore, fog lights can only be used as emergency lighting tools in severe weather conditions and cannot be used as daily lighting.
In order to make everyone's experience more intuitive, I found a night with good weather and used the driving recorder on my car to take pictures of some vehicles turning on their fog lights randomly. Let’s take a look at how dazzling the front and rear fog lights are in an environment with high visibility:
Judging from the footage captured by the driving recorder, the brightness of the fog lights is much higher than that of ordinary car lights, and when viewed with the naked eye, the glare is more severe than the footage captured in the video. If the driver's eyes are exposed to the light of fog lights for a long time, it is easy to feel dizzy. This is how the title of "eye-destroying killer" comes...
● Under what circumstances do fog lights need to be used?
when it pours
When heavy rain pours down, a driver's vision is easily blurred, and sometimes it is difficult to judge the surrounding situation. At this time, you can consider turning on your fog lights to alert drivers around you of your presence.
When the smog covers
Needless to say, it is necessary to turn on the fog lights in heavy fog, so as not to hit others and to avoid being hit by others.
However, it should be noted that although fog lights can help vehicles or pedestrians see them early, it does not mean that they can be used at all times, especially when the front and rear fog lights are turned on. Because fog lights are brighter than ordinary car lights and have strong scattering, if they are lit randomly when unnecessary, they will only interfere with the sight of other motorists, especially the sight of oncoming cars. In serious cases, it may Causing a car accident. Therefore, traffic regulations in many countries clearly stipulate that vehicles are prohibited from turning on fog lights when visibility is good.
● How to check whether the fog lights are on in the car?
Of course, not all misuse of fog lights is intentional. Some novices may turn on their fog lights by mistake without noticing it themselves, let alone realizing that the fog lights are causing interference to others. Many novices will have this question: How do I know if the fog lights are on when I am sitting in the car? It is very simple, we can tell it by just looking at the icons on the dashboard.
● Where is the fog light switch?
Most of the current models on sale will have the fog light switch set behind or on the left side of the steering wheel, and there will be a conspicuous sign to remind the user.
● How to turn on the fog lights?
After turning on the width lights, you can turn on the fog lights. Among them, the front fog lights can be turned on independently; the rear fog lights can only be turned on at the same time as the front fog lights and cannot be turned on independently. There are two main styles of fog light switches, push-button type and knob type. Different car manufacturers will have their own methods of turning on fog lights.
1. Push-button fog light switch
This kind of fog light switch is relatively common on American brands such as General Motors and Ford. The characteristic of this opening method is that it is easy to operate and the corresponding functions can be realized with one click.
2. Knob type fog light switch
This kind of fog light switch itself is divided into two styles: one is integrated on the left lever (turn signal lever), which is common in independent brand and Japanese brand models; the other is independently set in the form of a knob in the middle In the area on the left side of the console, Volkswagen models are typical representatives of this type of fog light switch.
In addition, most front fog lights use high-brightness halogen bulbs, which can ensure good penetration in rainy and foggy weather. However, if they are turned on daily, they will cause visual interference to oncoming vehicles. Therefore, the existence of fog lights is like a blind man walking at night with a lantern. It is a warning light, not an illumination light.
● Is the elimination of fog lights due to cost?
Since daytime running lights cannot completely replace the function of front fog lights, why do many models not use front fog lights? It needs to be explained here. According to the national standard GB4785: vehicles must be equipped with rear fog lights, but it is not mandatory to install them. Front fog lights. Therefore, some relatively low-end models are not equipped with daytime running lights or front fog lights for cost reasons. As shown above, high-end models have fog lights, while low-end models do not have fog lights to reduce costs.
However, careful consumers have discovered that many high-end models are not equipped with front fog lights. Do luxury cars also need to consider the cost of front fog lights? Taking the Audi brand as an example, we found that the lower-end A3, A4L, etc. It is equipped with front fog lights, but the higher-end A7 and A8L are not equipped with front fog lights, so luxury cars are not equipped with front fog lights because of cost considerations. To put it simply, although two independent fog lamps are eliminated, more advanced headlights are used to integrate the fog lamp function into the headlight combination. Smart headlights can also realize the fog lamp function.
Seeing this, you should have understood why your car does not have front fog lights. If it is a high-end model, you do not need to consider the safety hazards of driving without independent front fog lights; Models with daytime running lights can also handle warning tasks in ordinary rain and fog weather; but car owners who have neither front fog lights nor daytime running lights are still recommended to install daytime running lights or front fog lights.
