Rear fog lamp

[LorbeerTLC]

Originally Posted by rollingtones

US federal regs on fog lights:

1. Tail lamps must be 4 watts each. Brake, turn, reverse must be 21 watts.

2. You may use (1) or (2) rear fog lamps. 21 watts max. If (1), must be on left (driver-side).

3. Only used when your car cannot be seen due to being in fog 500 feet away using just tail lamps.

Hey Rollingtones,
Do you know what the regulations are for the number of backup-lights? I thought in the States it's required to have two. Is it legal to only have one?
Thanks.

-Tom L.

[jwight]

Here's a link to the full Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards:

2001 CFR Title 49, Volume 7

[kevster03]

lots of cars only have one reverse light. The mid 90's Saab 9000's had the rear fog on the left and a reverse light in the same spot on the right.


@ Smart09, why would you drive w/ your rear fogs on 24/7? That's stupid and defeats the purpose. Nothing irritates me more than people who don't know how to use something properly on a $40k piece of equipment.

"Oh, it's a button, lets push it!"

[Belleveu1]

I agree that people who drive with their rear fog(s) on all the time are annoying. Either you look like you ride your brakes or you have a burned out brake light. Around here it seems to be mostly Land Rover and Audi drivers (no offense to anyone here). My Saab automatically turns the rear fog light off when you turn off the ignition so you purposely have to turn it on each time. The front fogs can be turned on and left on, though.

[kevster03]

is there any way we can get a schematics of the wiring harness... specifically the central electronics unit that controls lighting?

Also has anyone found a source for EU Parts? if anything else I could wire up the amber turns and rear fog manually. *shrug*

[Old smart]

You might find that the harness already contains the wiring, ready to be connected to either UK or Continental fogs, or capped-off in our case. I sort of doubt that smart would make three different wiring harnesses. An inspection of the harness bundle in the vicinity of the tail lights may reveal unused, capped wires.

[kevster03]

i'm not so much worried about the physical wires as the the control unit.

For example, north american VW's use a different control unit so it's a real hack job both physically and in the softwaqre to wire up the rear fog, get the icon on the dash to light up, ect

Same thing w/ the US Spec Astra, there is a totally different control unit for amber turn signals, rear fog lamp, ect. and wiring harness to the rear of the car.

IMO it's stupid to do this, but saving money where they can I guess...

[Old smart]

Do you have front fogs now? If so, any wiring that may be in the rear may energize at the same time. There is no dash icon here, only the illumination of the switch.