‘Automatic headlights’ don’t work in fog?

[u/clynchy97]

About 40-50% of the cars we passed on the road today had no headlights on or only had the dim side lights. Do automatic lights not work in fog for these modern cars? Seems super sketchy

[u/curiousredder]

I feel that the issue is that DRL are often so bright that a driver can believe they have their "lights" on (and in some cases i've seen the dashboard backlighting on too, reinforcing this belief).

DRL's should include rear lights too, or should be present only when fully functioning auto-lighting is also present.

[u/dirty_hooker → u/curiousredder]

Precisely. There is absolutely no reason at this point not to have all four corners lit up by default. You should be able to toggle them off for reasons but they should kick back on the next time you start the vehicle.

[u/L3XeN → u/dirty_hooker]

There is a reason. Legislation stupidity.

Up until 2010 DRLs could use the position lights, but with modified front lights to be brighter. This meant whenever they were ON you had front DRLs and rear position lights (standard rear lights).

Then EU decided that DRLs should be separate, so rear position lights were no longer allowed by default.

Currently I've only seen "rear lights with DRL" as an option you can turn on in settings in some new cars. Everything else requires coding (which I do, because not having them ON is stupid)

[u/bearded_dragon_34 → u/L3XeN]

It’s also annoying to me that in the US, some European brands (BMW, Volkswagen) delete the rear fog lights, and non-European brands don’t include them at all. As though we’re all too stupid to use them properly.

Fortunately, my ‘22 XC90 has them.

[u/ZPrimed → u/bearded_dragon_34]

The majority of Americans (I'm from the US, FWIW) are idiots that think more lights = better.

So they turn on the front fogs when it isn't foggy. And they don't realize that rear fogs are something else (and are supremely annoying to drive behind when it isn't foggy), so they turn those on too.

As someone who actually understands proper lighting, I have coded mine functional in my BMW, but I only turn them on in fog or blizzards, or if some idiot is tailgating me.

[u/hello_raleigh-durham → u/curiousredder]

in some cases i've seen the dashboard backlighting on too,

Definitely the case in Ford Transit vans. Amazon drivers have no clue why everyone's flashing their lights at them.

[u/janck1000 → u/curiousredder]

I think in Scandinavian countries rear lights are on along with DRLs.

[u/uncletaterofficial → u/curiousredder]

Most cars have digital dashes now, there is no “backlighting” per se so that automatic feedback of “it’s too dark to see my gauges, I need to turn my lights on” isn’t there anymore. And that’s assuming most people even look at their gauges.

[u/elislider → u/curiousredder]

Its a 2 part problem that car manufacturers could solve but apparently don't understand how (I mean cmon, GM is still making cars that the reverse lights are also used as parking/marker lights, so nobody behind you in a parking lot can tell if you're backing up, or just parked idly). but in the vast majority of cases, its because the gauge backlights are on regardless of whether the headlights are on. The 2nd part of the problem is cars that dont have a setting for "headlights always on when the car is on, and off when the car is off", instead most cars only have the settings for "headlights on" (meaning you'd have to remember to shut it off every time you turn the car off) and "auto sensing on" (which is better than nothing but depending on the car's auto sensing can result in no headlights during daytime)

[u/moeterminatorx → u/curiousredder]

I feel like they dash should stay dark. Modern cars, dash lights up based on how dark it is outside leading ppl to believe their lights are on. If dash don’t light up, it’s usually a sign to turn on lights.

[u/Dissapointingdong → u/curiousredder]

That is 100% the case in my truck. The DRLs are so high and so bright I have no problem driving with them and think my head lights are on weekly.

[u/virtual_gnus → u/Dissapointingdong]

This is why I got into the habit years ago of just turning my lights on every time I start the car.