[condor]

Though the name says Fog lamps, the bulbs in this position are regular ones and not exactly suitable for fog. Yellow better in fog.

However, I have found these very useful to light up the road surface in near distance, between the vehicle and to the point where low-beams can light up effectively. I want these lamps on my vehicle, and hope main-stream cars dont adopt this approach. Though logically, the thought process of main stream cars aping luxury cars looks quite likely.

And no, no LEDs unless they are regular 4300k.

[venkyhere]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

Ghats will teach you lessons, sadly they are found only down south.

When you design a vehicle forgetting the need for adequate cooling, you now have to mount radiators \ heat exchangers on either side of the bumper. Usually this ducting for these new radiators are exactly where the Fog lamp used to be, so good old fog lamp is out replaced with marketing BS.

this is the real reason, I was going to type the same. Cooling ducts in the erstwhile foglamp location (in variants with smaller engines that dont require the additional cooling, the ducts are blanked off with plastic). Afterall, it's a fight of constraints - as small a nose as possible to reduce frontal area, as much cool air as possible without increasing drag massively => the foglamp is the victim who gets the axe. Then on, it's 'dressing up' with marketing - headlamps are so good, you dont need foglamps.

The purpose of foglamps is not because they just "provide extra lighting". It is because of the "kind of lighting" that they provide :
1) they light up the road from as low a source point relative to the driver's eyesight as possible
2) their reflector design is aimed to spread it widthwise, so that not only does the driver get to see the white lines in the middle of the road ahead of him, but also the two white lines near the bushes on either side.

To really understand the benefits of 1 and 2, driving up/down a hill station between 4am and 7am is enough.

[07CR]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Luxury car makers are dropping fog lamps

Even the humble Renault Kiger is trying to grab the headlines from the Luxury Bargos!

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by condor

Though the name says Fog lamps, the bulbs in this position are regular ones and not exactly suitable for fog. Yellow better in fog.

What you are referring to is selective yellow, it blocks out the blue which in Halogen terms is not necessary. You lose light in the process which could have been used instead for better illumination, therefore normal halogen light works best - even in fog lamps - as long as its beam pattern and position is designed properly.

You have to send the entire spectrum of visible light out preferably as close to sunlight for things to reflect it back to you according to their abilities, if you send only yellow light out.. I think you can imagine.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Aditya

We have already seen that the trend of adding or deleting features starts with luxury cars and, with time, flows down to mainstream vehicles. We can bet that this trend of omission of fog lamps is certain to make it to regular cars shortly.

Sorry to say, but a misrepresentation of the actual developments that are going on. The sort of headlights luxury cars today come with are ages ahead of any fog lamp which existed earlier. With the introduction of LED lights, and with multi beam array LED modules, you can literally project text in front of the car. Hence, a pair of fog lights are useless to have. And no, this isn't cost cutting of any sort and is rather a development that has shot prices of headlights over the roof.

Who said that modern Mercs don't get fog lights? It is indeed present, just as a part of the main headlight assembly.

[Motor_Monk]

I would like to mention 2 aspects of fog lamps I have noticed before

1) Mass/premium segment often takes inspiration of trend from Luxury segment. I feel that is the reason new vehicles have fog lamps masked in different shapes & not a typical oval or round shape. Hence one can miss it with no fog lamp setup.
e.g. Mahindra Alturas-G4 Front LED Foglamp, attached image for reference

2) As it is already highlighted before, in luxury vehicles fog lamps are a function of main headlamps & hence you will not find separate fog lamps. I would like to share How & Why part of discussion.

Let me draw your attention to a feature called Enhanced Fog Lamp from Intelligent lighting system of Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

How to activate?
Press of a rear fog lamp switch
Operates only below speed of 70 Km/hr

What it does?
Right side headlamp will swivel outwards by 8 degrees
Simultaneously lowers the cone of light

Benefits for customers:
This illuminates the nearside of the road more efficiently, improving the driver’s visibility in this fogy condition.
At the same time this wider light distribution reduces back-glare in foggy conditions.

The enhanced fog lamp function is automatically switched off when the vehicle speed exceeds 100 km/hr. As it understands higher cursing speed & concludes there is no requirement of fog lamp to be switched on. Thus, provides effective energy management as well.

Benefits for Manufacturer:
Efficient energy management as mentioned above
More freedom to designers while working around the front bumper
One component is reduced, thus, providing costing advantage

One point to note, sometimes a variant of same generation vehicle had fog lamp & a higher variant of same generation vehicle didn't have the fog lamp. (e.g. W204 Classic Vs. Avant garde variant)
Because, if the vehicle (lower variant) didn't have Intelligent lighting system, it used to have a regular fog lamp.
This answers why W212 didn't have a fog lamp, because it had ILS(intelligent lighting system) & enhanced fog lamps which was missing in W211 & hence it had different fog lamps

All the luxury manufacturers are using similar features in headlamps with 5/6 different modes for different driving conditions.
I have been very closely associated with Mercedes-Benz cars & hence used it as an example. However, Audi, BMW and all other luxury cars have headlamps functioning as fog lamps.

I will try to find a cut of user manual & paste in the thread.

[NiInJa]

One simple observation, all photos of old vs new where the newer cars don't have separate fog lamps have latest LED setups as against HID projectors or normal reflective type high beams. Things have moved fast as far automobile lighting is concerned, even the cheapest Kiger gets awesome LED headlamps now. Normal Halogen bulb based headlamps will be replaced the same way smartphones replaced simple digital cameras.

I am a big fan of this LED tech as far as focusing and intensity is concerned, only wish the lights were yellowish as they are less effective in rains.

[ajmat]

On a lighter note!

Are fog lamps necessary when one merely switches on the hazard warning lights in adverse weather conditions and speed on regardless!

[COMMUTER]

There are very few of the OEM foglamps that perform in a barely noticeable manner at the very least. I invested a sizeable amount of time and money in getting the OEM Foglights added on to my Figo's bumper at the FASS and got sorely disappointed. Frankly, I had to step out of the car and walk over to the front to know whether they are switched on in the first place!

If one is to encounter challenging fog conditions unexpectedly, they need to be having real foglamps(aux lights) to be able to drive with reasonable safely.

I frequently have to deal with an unwanted convoy of vehicles, including luxury marques and big SUVs, when I tackle Foggy weather on highways with my aux lights. I frequently have had to slowdown to make them loose interest and let them fumble on on their own.

The whole lighting ideology of the luxury marques after the introduction of LEDs is more about being the most blinding to oncoming traffic rather than helping their drivers to see better. They are trying to reassure their buyers that their lighting is aggressive enough inspite of the lack of possibility of an upgrade. They must have figured out that the stylish yet ill-designed foglamps are mostly useless in both the practical and 'blinding' aspects and got rid of them.

It is a bad move on their part.

[nandrive]

Originally Posted by nikhil.sikka

My Skoda Yeti's fog lamp throw is adequate if driven in well lit area . I rarely use headlights in Delhi.

In NSW Australia using fog lamps in normal conditions is illegal and attracts fine . Not sure what law says in India.
https://www.mynrma.com.au/cars-and-d...t-on-fog-lamps

[adwaith]

We have the GLE and I had a tough time figuring out how the fog lamps worked. Apparently the beam instead of focusing onto one point like normal spreads out.

For me at least, I find it difficult to see in the fog with the white LEDs. I'm more comfortable the yellow halogens.

[gururajrv]

Makes absolute sense to delete fog lamps on such high end cars when their headlights are so darn bright and powerful. It shows the confidence of the automakers with their new tech toys on board. We can expect this cult to be followed on our mid range cars soon enough when they catch up on the tech to be equipped on the headlights. Whatever we have currently equipped on our cars now is mostly the derivative / direct implementation from big guns who once had this equipped or introduced as a new tech.

[Aromal]

I also think removing fog lamps has to do with the regulation in European countries, the main market of these European manufactures like Audi, BMW, and Mercedes. The driving license book Sweden says, ''Foglamps are not permitted to be used in the dark unless there is heavy rain or fog.'' Also, ''Fog lamps are not permitted to be used with dipped headlights''. There are other regulations preventing using fog lamps in combination with other lights such as auxiliary lights, daytime running lights, etc. So I think, removing foglamps can be a matter of regulations too.

[car-go]

And I was wondering why my Jeep Compass Sport comes now without foglamps! :-) So the story does not end with luxury car makers only. Drove brielfy in the rains but did not have much of a problem with the LEDs. This may hence, trickle down to more and more cars going forward.

[learning_cars]

Looks like the Toyota UC HyRyder is also following this trend now. Not sure how exactly will it work in this cars case. I personally use fog lights to compensate for my Polo very poor headlights and it does help. Haven't really driven in fogs so never used it for intended purposes.