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In Reply to: Can someone please ask... posted by Imola Red M on February 03, 2002 at 10:50:34:
BMW sure allowed the Land Rover products to have them w/o changes. Maybe that's why they sold them to Ford. So far the other car manufacturers running rear foglights on the streets of the US include (but I'm sure are not limited to):
Mercedes Benz, Rolls Royce and Bentley, Land Rover, Volvo, Saab, Jaguar, Porsche, Audi, the italian exotics, and of the course, the 2001 Oldsmobile Aurora.
Interested in the new Mini (a wonderfully designed, fun little sports car currently dubbed "the smallest car in the US"), I wrote an email to the Mini USA people asking why we aren't getting the rear foglight. Here's what they sent me:
"True drivers such as yourself understand the safety and use of the European rear
foglight. European regulations require a rear foglight. However, the US DOT
certifies all lighting on cars sold here. You will see the certification stamp
on every piece of lighting. Any alterations may warrant a fine. MINI and BMW do
not authorize the installation of any non-US lighting.
Past the certification issue, US law has no provision for such a device, and
most US drivers do not know when to use it, or what it means when they see it.
Thus there it makes little sense to certify and install (at extra cost to you) a
device very few drivers know how to properly use. (How many times have you seen
a Brand X car with an add-on rear foglight illuminating a shiny muffler on a
clear night?) (I have heard rumors of some local constabulary confusing it for a
broken tailight or brakelight)."
Yes, I agree with most of the reasoning behind this answer. However, I don't agree that "most US drivers do not know when to use it," if a trained sales person does his or her job and would inform the intended buyer of the rear foglights use. Same goes for the front foglights. If a sales person was properly trained, he or she would tell the buyer that front foglights, no matter what bulb you put in the damn things, do not produce enough forward light to serve any function on a clear night. But they are trained to sell cars, I guess, not to understand why or how the vehicle does what it does.
Anyhoo, the rear foglight /is/ an important safety feature of any vehicle. Much more of an advance in light emission than, say, the "High Mount Stoplamp" (aka third brake light). Having lived in Germany and driven through "echt bayerischer Nebel," I can appreciate the added benefit of the rear foglight. Of course, also having driven through Kansas when they had a freezing fog and I couldn't see the hood of the car, I think we could appreciate the added benefit of the rear foglight, too. If it adds costs (which it wouldn't being a simple example of economies of scale), I would gladly pay the extra $50 or so dollars that it would cost. Rear foglight techonology is not new, nor is it expensive as most European countries are mandated to have them.
I can go on for days about rear foglights, but I've taken up too much server space right now as it is. If anyone is interested, I'm prepared to write a petition to the NHTSA about the legislation on rear foglights, being a barely literate Kentucky native, I could always use the help.
Mach's gut
John
02 Grey Green/Pastel X5 3.0 (ordered 02-02-02!!!)
99 Z3 Coupe 2.8
87 325i (rear foglights)
83 3##? (rear foglights)
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