Directional additional lighting?

sevenhills

I have seen a few cars that appear to have directional front fog lights.
I have never heard of these before, can someone enlighten me?
Lights below the headlights, that are turned on and off as the car drives to the left and right.
Am I going crazy, why do cars need these?

reddwarf2002

I think they are referred to as cornering lights and used as a cheaper alternative to adaptive headlights. The more fancy cars have adaptive headlights which scan swivel slightly towards the direction of wheels so that it can light the way around bends.

AdrianC

Headlights which turn with the steering go back to the 1960s in mass production, and even longer than that in smaller volume.

Sticking one foglight on is a crappy cop-out that's a brochure tick-box and no more.

Arklight

Directional headlights just seem like an MOT fail and mid 3 figure repair bill in the future to me. Of all the pointless gadgety additions to a car this must be in the top 5.

AdrianC

Arklight wrote: »

Directional headlights just seem like an MOT fail and mid 3 figure repair bill in the future to me. Of all the pointless gadgety additions to a car this must be in the top 5.

Depends on how they're done.

If they're dismantleable, repairable, and totally mechanical - then absolutely not.
If they're electronic and a single sealed unit... well, don't forget that there's not a big difference between side-to-side movement and the vertical movement of levelling. And that's before we get near "adaptive beam arrays" and the rest of the pointless technow*nk.

They also turned through a MUCH wider angle half a century ago...

Nasqueron

Was just thinking about this at the weekend as I saw a couple of cars with them, light that comes on with an indicator or turn and seems to not really offer much, maybe it's better at night.

System

It isn't better at night. They're pretty pointless like front foglights are when its foggy as all they do is increase the glare. Front fog lights and cornering lights must be the two most pointless things fitted to a vehicle unless you're one of those people in the habit of not bothering to replace headlight bulbs when they blow until the next MOT.

AdrianC

Front fog lights can be very useful - if they're properly designed, then they're essential in proper fog. When dip starts to bounce back and glare, then turn the headlights to sidelight, and stick the fogs on.

They can also do a decent job of filling in close/wide lighting for (properly) rural use, even in conjunction with main beam.

ciderboy2009

Tarambor wrote: »

They're pretty pointless like front foglights are when its foggy as all they do is increase the glare.

I've never had any problems with glare from front foglights.

I accept that they don't help the driver see more but the whole point of them is to improve the chances of other drivers seeing you.

sevenhills

ciderboy2009 wrote: »

I've never had any problems with glare from front foglights.

I accept that they don't help the driver see more but the whole point of them is to improve the chances of other drivers seeing you.

I think fog lights were needed 50 years ago, but these days they are pointless. The only reason I use them is because the highway code tells me to.
Fog lights may on rare occasions allow someone to see you, but seeing bright lights in front of you on the motorway just lulls you into a false sense of security and then you go faster. You can guess what happens next, BUMP

AdrianC

sevenhills wrote: »

I think fog lights were needed 50 years ago, but these days they are pointless. The only reason I use them is because the highway code tells me to.
Fog lights may on rare occasions allow someone to see you, but seeing bright lights in front of you on the motorway just lulls you into a false sense of security and then you go faster. You can guess what happens next, BUMP

That's mist. Not fog. Proper fog is rare, but when it occurs, you KNOW the difference.