Afternoon all,
Over the past 6 months or so I have noticed a growing number of Mercedes C/E-Class's that have the nearside foglight illuminated when the headlights are on.
Is this just a case of blown bulbs (seems too many around for that), or is it a design feature to light up the side of the road (if so, its seems a little pointless)............?
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It's a cheap-skate attempt at 'directional headlights'. The fog-light lights up when indicating and/or steering in certain parameters. I assume the car you have seen have just turned left.
Having driven a Mercedes thus equipped in the past, I can assure you it makes absolutely no difference!
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>>have the nearside foglight illuminated when the headlights are on.
Possibly because they've had their wheels aligned with the steering off-centre, and the steering position sensor thinks the car is turning, when it's actually going in a straight line.
The steering angle should be set to zero, via some live data, and the wheel clamped in place before making any adjustments to these cars. I don't think many garages can do this properly.
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As fogs are only supposed to be used when visibility is less than 100 metres, how do Mercedes get around the law, if at all?
Several years ago I got stopped by the police for having my front fogs on and got a fixed penalty notice - the offence I was charged with was "causing undue dazzle". Offence code LR20. At the time it was just a fine of something like £30 or £40. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it something like £60 these days and points on your licence?
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Like many things because this (mad) arrangement is type approved in the EU we have to accept it here.
ISTR HID/xenon headlights are similar.
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My Roomie had them, quite a neat trick and they lit up the drunken hoodie in the ditch quite well.
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Our Fiat Bravo has them. They work above a certain steering angle at speeds under 20mph (IIRC). They are actually quite handy on sharp bends in the dark. Driving on dark mountainous roads in Italy they were great.
They dont come on on motorways and the like since speeds are normally above 20mph.
And as said above, they have UK and EU type approval so are ok law wise.
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I'd have been more impressed if Mercedes had been able to stick paint to metal panels.......
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I'd have been more impressed if Mercedes had been able to stick paint to metal panels....... >> :-)
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