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My local VW dealer insists that it is now illegal for a car to display 2 rear fog lights, and although my '98 Golf is wired up for 2, it has only one bulb. However, I often see new cars showing 2 rear fog lights, presumably they are built like this. Who is right?
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It would seem that two lamps are legal.
See :
www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si1989/Uksi_19891796_en_16.htm#...1
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According to the MOT manual two rear fogs are legal.
HJ
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Two rear fogs are legal its only that the law requires only one (offside). Would it be rude of me to suggest thtat V/W are cheapskates?
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I'm told that one reason for fiting only one rear fog is so that the brake light on the other side is more likely to be seen, and not lost in the glare of the fog lights. With more cars having a centre light, that becomes less of an issue though.
Regards
John
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I was basing my accusation on the evidence of a Vauxhall dealer many years age. I owned a Nova which was equipped with a "missing bulb". The dealer explained (quite honestly I thought) that the euro legistlation requires a single foglamp on the offside of the vehicle, due to the fact that the offside varies with lhd an rhd (so to speak) the bulb is only installed on the whichever side is locally required.
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I think that the legal minimum is a single lamp on the offside. A number of makers used lamps which had spaces both sides (including Ford), but only fitted one lampholder and/or bulb. The other common approach is to use the space for a reversing light on one side and rear fog on the other.
regards
John
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Do not forget with one light you risk a serious traffic offence if you bring your car to mainland Europe.
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Andrew
Is that because on UK cars it's on the 'wrong' side? If so every Fiesta owner (where you can't put in two fog lights as the nearside is a reversing light) who goes abroad is at risk, along with other cars in the same position. Very worrying! Is there no alllowance for this - after all cars have a EC Certificate of Conformity these days.
Perhaps we should start fining all the Frenchmen etc who are too idle to install headlamp converters for the UK!
Regards
John
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far safer with two lamps - double redundancy..............
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The point about twin fog lights making it impossible to see brake lights is a good one. A lot of new cars with high up lights in the rear pillars do not have/need a centre brake light. This will get worse before it gets better. I have dual fog lights. i have removed the bulb from the nearside for this reason.
Also, there seems to be less fog than in the old days. Is it my imagination?
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Richard'
No I don't think it's your imagination. With much lower levels of particulates in the air, due to the demise of coal fires, there are fewer sites for condensation. Thus fogs are fewer, and less dense.
Regards
John
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shame same cannot be said about certain drivers especially ones who forget to turn off their fogs :-)
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I estimate that my single offside rear fog lamp gets approximately 20 mins
use a year - and most of that is flashing it at other numpties sat in lane 2
on a crystal clear night with their two rear fogs on (sheesh...)
/John
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