Cornering fog lights!

Horizon81

Just wondered how many other posters were aware of cornering fog lights...

For months I thought Seat must have a quality control problem with their foglights, after seeing so many new Ibizas and Leons driving round with only one fog light on. Assuming it was more than a coincidence I googled it and learned that the front fog lights (left or right, individually) on these cars are programmed to come on temporarily when going round a corner (only when you have the dipped beam on) to help you see round the corner!! What a load of tosh. It seems VW/Audi have it as well and Merc started it, however in my eyes Seat seem to have the longest delay on them, so you still see plenty of them long past a corner with one fog light still on.

Thankfully I did't feel so silly when I read many posts from the owners of these cars saying they're sick of strangers coming up to them saying 'You've a fog light out mate' then having to explain it's a feature of the car. And then discussing if there's any way of turning the feature off.

Whilst I imagine there are plenty on here who will be aware of these, I'm sure there's a bigger number who aren't. It's a great way of a manufacturer making it's cars look stupid whilst providing no real benefit to the owner.

neilmcl

Horizon81 wrote: »

Whilst I imagine there are plenty on here who will be aware of these, I'm sure there's a bigger number who aren't. It's a great way of a manufacturer making it's cars look stupid whilst providing no real benefit to the owner.

Have you actually driven a car with them fitted?

Gloomendoom

Wife has cornering lamps on her Kia. I find them very useful.

I'm surprised so many German car drivers find them a problem because they only come on when you indicate.

anotherbaldrick

A lot of VW group cars now have them or are extra's with the fog lamps. The lamp conerned only lights up when the car is doing 10mph or less . Ie turning in through a gateway, but that is not to say they won't light up at road junctions you have to slow or stop for and may well attract the interest of the motorised fuzz.

wba31

I struggle to see the point of them. I dont think I have driven anywhere in the last year where I have needed front fogs, tell a lie, once. in my driving lifetime (9 years) 3 occasions (2 of which were on separate occasions in Snowdonia).
when i turn a corner I slow down, and use my eyes. If im in a rural area with no street lights, providing there are no other cars my main beam will be on. to turn into my street, a fog light coming on will just show me how there is still nothing in the road...

alleycat`

They also come on when you reverse.

The idea is it illuminates objects near the front of the car you might not see with just the headlights.

It is mostly for the benefit of low speed maneuvers where you might clout something.

My car has them and mostly i agree, waste of time, but some times they do come in handy for tight places with low kerbs, walls, pillars, tree stumps, etc.

forgotmyname

I spotted a Mercedes with them some time back and though why? They didnt seem to be very bright.

For years they stopped boy racers driving around with fog lights on. Now cars are like xmas tree's. Lights everywhere.

fivetide

SEAT were the first i really noticed it on, even the VW vans/campers do it now though. I think I saw a Citroen with them one too yesterday but to be honest, you see that many planks driving about with foglights on, many with one bulb or another out that I've given up trying to work out what is a manufacturer feature and what is a fault with the person behind the wheel!

cardinalbiggles

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Wife has cornering lamps on her Kia. I find them very useful.

I'm surprised so many German car drivers find them a problem because they only come on when you indicate.

And in my Fiat are travelling below about 30mph, another thing German car drivers are unable to do

cardinalbiggles

wba31 wrote: »

I struggle to see the point of them. I dont think I have driven anywhere in the last year where I have needed front fogs, tell a lie, once. in my driving lifetime (9 years) 3 occasions (2 of which were on separate occasions in Snowdonia).
when i turn a corner I slow down, and use my eyes. If im in a rural area with no street lights, providing there are no other cars my main beam will be on. to turn into my street, a fog light coming on will just show me how there is still nothing in the road...

I thought that as well until I got my Bravo 3 years ago which has them and they do light up a fair bit of the road that your headlights don't when cornering. While I wouldn't pay extra for them they are handy as a safety feature.

Horizon81

forgotmyname wrote: »

For years they stopped boy racers driving around with fog lights on. Now cars are like xmas tree's. Lights everywhere.

Totally agree. As has been mentioned before, the Nissan Qashqai has 3 levels of lights, looks like a spaceship. And DRLs have been discussed to death - they look like some cheap boy racer addition and will probably cause more accidents by dazzling people than prevent accidents by making the car look more visible.

But these 'cornering' lights just look silly. I'm sure some come on when going over 10mph as I had an Audi tailing me through some roundabouts and we never went that slow but his cornering lights still worked as expected. I can understand lights that turn when the car turns, like Citroen were pioneering a few years back, but winking a fog light/lower light on, well, it's a bit crude isn't it.