[vivekk]

Does anyone know which e90s come with rear fog lights (European only?) & which do not?
Thanks.
(Pic from www.autorevue.cz)

[E90Fleet]

USA doesnt, by law as far as I know

Europe does have them

[vivekk]

Thanks Fleet.

[355_Spider]

Canada gets them too

[marcsuri]

Originally Posted by E90Fleet

USA doesnt, by law as far as I know

Europe does have them

It's not a law, Audis come standard with them here...

[CnoteMD]

It seems that almost all European cars come with rear fog lights in the US, except for BMW.

My Volvo S60 comes with rear foglights standard, though the front are optional.

Michael

[andrewlin]

Anyone have a picture of what these look like on the E90?

[JBOO]

Maybe you should do up a petition for rear fog lights. That's what the Mini owners did and now they offer it as an option.

[zero619]

They're on my dads 03' E320. I think it just makes the taillights brighter at night so the person behind you can see your car better in the fog.

[ward]

they're on my buddy's Cayenne,

it's just a brighter setting for the rear running lights

[HRC]

Hmm, the ones I have seen all have a separate red light molded into the rear bumber, or in the case of old Rabbit's, it's hanging down from a bracket connected to the rear bumper off to one side. Whenever it raining hard, I wish I had one, let's the driver know just how far in front of him you are, which is harder to do w/o the bright red light from below. F1 cars have this feature when they race in bad weather.

Danny

[Athos]

My 99 Saab 9-5 came standard with front and rear fog lights so it must not be against the law in the U.S.

[DaveCM5]

If I'm not mistaken, don't the US models use these "Fog Lights" (under the reverse light) as the adaptive brake lights? That's what the owners manual says, anyways.


-Dave C. '06 330i

[Sebastian]

I hope BMW will get the hint. I wish it was a standard option on all BMWs. If BMW decides to make it a standard or an option, I do not think it is going to happen before I take delivery of my 330 in about 6 weeks.

[Tierfreund]

Originally Posted by Dave C. '06 330i

If I'm not mistaken, don't the US models use these "Fog Lights" (under the reverse light) as the adaptive brake lights? That's what the owners manual says, anyways.


-Dave C. '06 330i

No. The Euro versions have the same adaptive brake lights despite also having rear fog lights. It´s all integrated into the rear light cluster. The US version is just stripped of the rear fogs.

But you should be glad they are. Rear fog lights offer very little added security since they really only are usefull if the fog is really thick (less than 150feet visibility). Only then will a car in front of you be more easy to notice with rear fogs on. On the other hand they are incredibly blinding and annoying when left on in better visibility. Even in Europe where drivers tend to be more disciplined when it comes to the propper operation of things as lighting, many turn them on when visibility is still fine or forget to turn them off. It really is maddening. Now just imagine having them in the US where so many drive around with front fog lights on just "because they look cool". The same people would be running their rear fogs all the time and the person behind them would be severely blinded. When someone is close in front of you wtih rear fogs on, you are less likely to notice anything going on at the side of the road because of the blinding effect. So someone opening a car door or stepping on the raod is in bigger hazard.

But even in really dense fog, the security rear fog lights provide is not so great. Often people just turn on all fogs lights and keep on speeding because they think somehow those fogs will miraculously prevent them from running into anything. We have the most horrendous crashes around here on the autobahn in foggy conditions. Often pileups with dozends of cars. Somtimes more than a hundred. Throw in a few 40ton trucks running into the crash without braking at 50mph and people get killed. Mamed acutally. No matter what car they´re in. Get stuck between two 40ton trucks, one stationary and one doing 50mph and a Hummvee wouldn´t help. An Abrahams tank might, but only just.

Also if someone has their rear fog on in foggy conditions people tend to follow way to closely trying to follow it as a sort of beacon through the fog. And when the car in front runs into an obstacle because of going faster than visibility would sensibly allow, the car behind simply cannot stop in time and runs into it.

We have two laws in Germany
1. You may only turn on the foglights if visibility drops below 150feet due to fog
2. When visibilty is less than 150feet, the maximum allowed speed is 35mph

Logic would dictate, that the manufacturers whould implement a speed limiter of 35mph whenever the rear fogs are turned on. I would applaud them.

But that´s just theory. You´ll often have people doing 100mph with their rear fogs glowing happily. What´s wrong with that picture?

[fdc]

Originally Posted by CnoteMD

It seems that almost all European cars come with rear fog lights in the US, except for BMW.

My Volvo S60 comes with rear foglights standard, though the front are optional.

Michael

VW Passat (B5 and 5.5) didn't have them but a mod was possible.
What about the e90 ? Any way to modify it (new switch of course ...)

fdc

[phantom701]

Originally Posted by andrewlin

Anyone have a picture of what these look like on the E90?

I echo Andrew's request, can someone from outside of US post a picture of the e90 rear fog light.

[ZenDriver]

I vote No.


Ohh, I think rear fog lights are an excellent idea, but people in the US are too bloody stupid to use them properly. I promise that if BMW provided them, every idiotic punk trying to look cool would turn them on- I see this all the time on Audis and Benzes that have them as standard.

If they were like front fog lights (which sort of look nice when turned on and don't glair very much), I might be OK with the rear fogs. Unfortunatly though, rear fogs are EXTREMELY bright and very annoying unless there is fog. If BMW made the rear fog switch soft so that you had to press it every time the car started (so you couldn't just leave them on and forget it), it might be OK. Even then, I guarantee you'll see some moron driving around with them on for no reason...

[spydrz]

I had them on my old A4 Quattro many years back. They were useful for reminding people behind you that they're driving with their brights on. Otherwise, I agree with all the other posts--people would drive around with them on because it looks cool.

[Broken1]

Originally Posted by Tierfreund

...
But that´s just theory. You´ll often have people doing 100mph with their rear fogs glowing happily. What´s wrong with that picture?

I wanted to quote all of what Tierfreund said. I bloody agree.

It drives me farking nuts here when assholes (excuse) drive around with their rear fogs on.

No1: They are as bright if not brighter then their brake lights, so it makes it difficult to determine when they are braking

No2: It has a blinding effect second to none and has absolutely no safety value in clear or rainy weather.

No3: Most idiots use it here when it's raining (with otherwise decent visibility) and it just makes matters worse by glaring off the wet roads

No4: The E90 has double fog lights, ie fogs on both sides - which makes the blinding effect worse.


In my 3 years of driving a BMW, I have only used my fog lights once. I was driving and the fog was so think in a dip on the road I couldn't see anything - I used my rear fogs so that cars behind me could see me (hopefully) and as soon as I could see in front of me again I turned them off. They were on for about 3 minutes in total...since then I have never used them again and probably won't for a while...

One thing that is at least better : Manufacturs have now made it so that the foglights automatically turns off when that car turns off (or the lights turn off) - the flip side is that the idiot drivers are SPECIFICALLY TURNING the DAMN fog lights on for some god unknown reason - pure idiocy!

Also note: This entire post relates only to rear fog lights. I have no problem whatso ever with front fog lights as they don't affect me in anyways, and poeple can do what ever they want as long as it doesn't affect me. REAR fogs do affect me as I have almost been in an accident caused by them... :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Here is a photo for the poster that asked for it...the very annoying blinding rear foglights are shown by arrows.

[Broken1]

And for the 80% of you who voted yes to the poll...answer the question WHY????????

[ZenDriver]

And for the 80% of you who voted yes to the poll...answer the question WHY????????

Well, BMW owners use to be classy. Now the 3 series has become a life support system for people's chromed dubs, overpriced thumpy stereos and Xenon interior lights. Any lighting system that will attract as much attention to the car is a good thing to these people.