Fog light coming on when indicator that side is on...is this a new thing?

Atlantic Dawn

With the dark evenings I have recently noticed on a lot of VAG and German cars when their headlights are on and they have the indicator on to turn the fog light on that side of the car turns on until the indicator is turned off. Is this a new thing so assist road visibility, I've not noticed it before, seems to be on newish cars of the last 3 or 4 years.

colm_mcm

YEah, they’ve had it since around 2009. Cornering lights. It goes on the steering angle too and whether you’re in reverse (opposite light comes on)

EPAndlee

Isn't it the fog light turns on, on whatever side the steering wheel is turned

Atlantic Dawn

Interesting, is it a mandatory EU thing or just a nice extra?

colm_mcm

EPAndlee wrote: »

Isn't it the fog light turns on, on whatever side the steering wheel is turned

Think the indicator activates it at higher speeds.

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Interesting, is it a mandatory EU thing or just a nice extra?

Nice extra.

punisher5112

If stopped and indicator is on fog light illuminates...

EPAndlee

So many customers come in complaining of a fog light not working because of these kinda systems

Kenny Logins

I saw this on Renault Something and thought it was just the usual French car lectrickery.

mgbgt1978

The Honda Goldwing was doing this back in the 80's ( they had "cornering lights" low down on the Fairing) ....fair enough, I accept it's a 'bike but the the idea was exactly the same.

colm_mcm

90s Mitsubishi Mirages had them too.

As did the Proton Satria, which was basically the same thing

Toyotafanboi

EPAndlee wrote: »

So many customers come in complaining of a fog light not working because of these kinda systems

I was just going to say that lol, we definitely get 2-3 a week!

Coming in storming "I just bought a car here, top dollar, yada yada and you don't even check the bulbs before I take it!"

Let me just bring you outside for a sec :pac:.

Most I've seen are activated by the steering wheel being a certain degree off centre not by the indicator.

zl1whqvjs75cdy

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

I was just going to say that lol, we definitely get 2-3 a week!

Coming in storming "I just bought a car here, top dollar, yada yada and you don't even check the bulbs before I take it!"

Let me just bring you outside for a sec :pac:.

Most I've seen are activated by the steering wheel being a certain degree off centre not by the indicator.

I changed my fog light bulbs twice because of this before I copped on.

EPAndlee

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

I was just going to say that lol, we definitely get 2-3 a week!

Coming in storming "I just bought a car here, top dollar, yada yada and you don't even check the bulbs before I take it!"

Let me just bring you outside for a sec :pac:.

Most I've seen are activated by the steering wheel being a certain degree off centre not by the indicator.

We always get 'Someone said one of my foglights aren't working'

selectamatic

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

I was just going to say that lol, we definitely get 2-3 a week!

Coming in storming "I just bought a car here, top dollar, yada yada and you don't even check the bulbs before I take it!"

Let me just bring you outside for a sec :pac:.

Most I've seen are activated by the steering wheel being a certain degree off centre not by the indicator.

I'd view this more in a way of sales men not walking customers through their cars features tbh.

Everyone isn't like us and they don't know half the stuff that's on their car.
Now that said I don't know really if it's an issue worth addressing as after all it'll not make any difference to sales or profit but with an aging population and leaps being made in tech I believe after sales and customer support is an area that could be reviewed if the will was there.

colm_mcm

I used to get them in this time of year to fix the clock, or complain that the passenger side electric window stopped working.

Toyotafanboi

colm_mcm wrote: »

complain that the passenger side electric window stopped working.

Love taking those over the phone.

Have you pressed the button above the button that operates your window?

Every. Single. Time.

colm_mcm

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

Love taking those over the phone.

Have you pressed the button above the button that operates your window?

Every. Single. Time.

Jaysus is that what that does?


Best I had was when a lady who had got a stonking deal on one of those ex Special Olympics Avensis Versos (that they gave the host families for a month) came back all guns blazing that there was a rattle in the back of the car. When the technician produced the rattle (belonging to her child) a few minutes later she saw the funny side of it.

Toyotafanboi

Seen this on a jobcard recently, while were on the subject,
I got a good laugh out of it but it does make you question the drivers of some of these cars!

Atlantic Dawn

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

Seen this on a jobcard recently, while were on the subject,
I got a good laugh out of it but it does make you question the drivers of some of these cars!

Some people are cash rich but time poor, they don't have about 10 minutes to look at their manual for their car, you could also call them lazy feckers

crosstownk

EPAndlee wrote: »

So many customers come in complaining of a fog light not working because of these kinda systems

I'd a spell of those earlier this year. Even one customer who was adamant that it wasn't the cornering light thing but definitely a blown/faulty fog light. It took me 10 minutes out at his car showing him "switch on - lights on", "turn left, left fog on, turn right, right fog on". After I repeated this more than 10 times he finally agreed with me. In fairness, he offered to pay but I told him, "no fault, no charge".

Kenny Logins wrote: »

I saw this on Renault Something and thought it was just the usual French car lectrickery.

The 2008> Citroen C5 (X7) had an additional bulb in the headlight unit for cornering. It was much better at illuminating the corner than a fog light as it actually pointed at 90 degrees to the rest of the lights.

colm_mcm

crosstownk wrote: »

I'd a spell of those earlier this year. Even one customer who was adamant that it wasn't the cornering light thing but definitely a blown/faulty fog light. It took me 10 minutes out at his car showing him "switch on - lights on", "turn left, left fog on, turn right, right fog on". After I repeated this more than 10 times he finally agreed with me. In fairness, he offered to pay but I told him, "no fault, no charge".



The 2008> Citroen C5 (X7) had an additional bulb in the headlight unit for cornering. It was much better at illuminating the corner than a fog light as it actually pointed at 90 degrees to the rest of the lights.

Think the B6 Passat has this too, well some of them anyway.

ION08

This feature can also be easily activated on VAG cars using VagCom.

Was in two minds about enabling this feature on my own car..

What do people think, Yay or Nay?

because if strangers think it looks cool, I will definitely activate it on mine.

ShadowHearth

ION08 wrote: »

This feature can also be easily activated on VAG cars using VagCom.

Was in two minds about enabling this feature on my own car..

What do people think, Yay or Nay?

because if strangers think it looks cool, I will definitely activate it on mine.

I have it on my little cupra and it is very handy when you need it.
On day to day bases its something you wont even notice, due to street lights etc. Though I had to park my car in the yard, behind hotel. Its pitch black at night with no lights at all. Exit is very narrow and place is a bit tight. In that situation these cornering lights turning on where god sent and I really sow how handy they are.
Thing is, it came with the car as standard, so nice to have. Would I pay extra to have this specific function? No.

Cee-Jay-Cee

selectamatic wrote: »

I'd view this more in a way of sales men not walking customers through their cars features tbh.

Everyone isn't like us and they don't know half the stuff that's on their car.
Now that said I don't know really if it's an issue worth addressing as after all it'll not make any difference to sales or profit but with an aging population and leaps being made in tech I believe after sales and customer support is an area that could be reviewed if the will was there.

With the level of idiot drivers on the roads nowadays at an all time high, I think it should be mandatory for sales people to explain to them that these features exist because many of them are so dense that it defies belief that they actually passed a driving test at some stage.

GM228

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Interesting, is it a mandatory EU thing or just a nice extra?

Not mandatory yet, but give it time. They are covered under UNECE Regulation 48 since 1995, the EU formally published the regulation only in September 2016 thus accepting the standards for them into EU law.

Voodoomelon

I have to say i'd class myself as very observant of other road users, can't say I ever noticed this foglight feature!

Maybe i've been putting it down to blown foglights as every second twat on the road drives with them on.

So even with the foglights turned off, one side will pop on along with the same side indicator?

ION08

Voodoomelon wrote: »

I have to say i'd class myself as very observant of other road users, can't say I ever noticed this foglight feature!

Maybe i've been putting it down to blown foglights as every second twat on the road drives with them on.

So even with the foglights turned off, one side will pop on along with the same side indicator?

Yes, foglight switch doesnt need to be on. Also, its controlled by steering angle not indicator - otherwise they wouldnt come on in bends.

Toyotafanboi

Voodoomelon wrote: »

So even with the foglights turned off, one side will pop on along with the same side indicator?

Yeah but generally it's a seperate bulb in the same unit with a lower intensity than a fog light.

You can see the seperate units if you look closely. The inner one is the fog, the outer is the cornering light.

selectamatic

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

With the level of idiot drivers on the roads nowadays at an all time high, I think it should be mandatory for sales people to explain to them that these features exist because many of them are so dense that it defies belief that they actually passed a driving test at some stage.

Plenty didn't have to pass a test at all!

But nevertheless it can't hurt to try and improve awareness of tech in cars and it's uses.
when someone knows what they're doing they tend to be less distracted...

Cookie_Monster

Interestingly some Fords do the sorta-opposite and the sidelight turns off while the indicator is flashing to make it more visible.

punisher5112

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Interestingly some Fords do the sorta-opposite and the sidelight turns off while the indicator is flashing to make it more visible.

That's the DRL's that switch off on side indicator is on.

Golf and new superb and xc90 do this also among others.

Some dim down on side with indicator on but likes of Nissan don't dim and qashqui you can hardly see indicator on at the front.

The fogs coming on for corners is a good addition.

Some cars come with adaptive lights that turn with the steering also.

punisher5112

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

Yeah but generally it's a seperate bulb in the same unit with a lower intensity than a fog light.

You can see the seperate units if you look closely. The inner one is the fog, the outer is the cornering light.

That's a DRL light and a fog seperare

DaveyDave

I didn't know this was a thing until I was driving my Golf at night for the first time. It turns on with the indicators below a certain speed, somewhere around 35-40kph I believe and at a certain steering angle. A slight curvy road won't do it but a fairly sharp bend will.

Of course when I pull up to the car park at work and get out the car turns off all together when the door is open and so do the lights :P

I think it's great, it's actually quite effective. I also noticed the DRLs dim when the indicator is on which is good as the indicator is a smaller bulb on the inside of the light cluster, on some cars this can be hard to see although it has a nice LED strip on the wing mirror so it's hard to miss some sort of indicator. Some smaller slightly older cars indicators can be hard to see at all.

Harcrid

This is where the cornering light lives in the Passat CC at least.

ION08

punisher5112 wrote: »

Some dim down on side with indicator on but likes of Nissan don't dim and qashqui you can hardly see indicator on at the front.

On my A4 the DRL dims when indicating. You can set it so that it switches off fully or so that it does dim at all.

The Quashqai however is absolutely ridiculous. The DRL's extremely bright and then you have the smallest of indicator bulbs wedged in beside it!!... I remember when i first noticed this on a Quashqai waiting to turn into a side road and thinking what a stupid and dangerous design.

That and all of the gob****es driving around on DRL's at night with the back of their car completely un-illuminated makes me think DRL's are more of a Danger than a Safety feature ... ironic.