Where are fog lights on a car?
Fog lights, whose purpose is to increase your ability to see in inclement weather, are placed far closer to the road than ordinary headlights. With fog lights on, you can see a long distance ahead and avoid any potential accidents caused by poor visibility.
Fog lights are for use during poor weather where visibility is reduced, like in misty, rainy, foggy, or dusty weather. Unlike headlights that can be too bright in low visibility situations and threaten the driver’s eyesight, fog lights make it safer to drive and provide greater comfort.
Additionally, many cars (used to) come with built-in rear fog lights that are considered by some to be extremely helpful in preventing rear-end collisions during foggy conditions.
What Are Rear Fog Lights?
While front-facing fog lamps are designed to help you see where you’re going in poor visibility, rear fog lamps are designed to help prevent a car from hitting you. In very poor visibility conditions, your tail lights may not alert other drivers to your presence until it is too late if those drivers are not driving at a safe speed for the prevailing conditions.
The light from rear fog lights is similar in brightness to that of brake lights, and for safety reasons, brake lights must be used in conjunction with rear fog lights when the latter are installed.
Rear fog lights are bright lamps used to improve visibility in dirty conditions, such as at the rear of a long line of traffic. This can be helpful to drivers, but there is also potential to mistake regular brake lights for rear fog lights. In order to prevent this, regulations specify that rear fog lights must be located a certain distance from the brake lights and lighting regulations on some vehicles make use of only a single rear fog lamp instead of two.
Do All Cars Have Fog Lights?
No, but, while fog lamps are becoming less popular on newer models, they do matter if you have them. These handy lights are there to help you see the ground better in bad weather situations—making them crucial for drivers who are older, driving at night, or in an unfamiliar area.
While most older cars were produced with built-in fog lights, newer cars have started phasing out fog lights and many owners – especially truck owners – look towards aftermarket bolt-on fog lights that can be mounted in various locations, ranging from bumpers to A-pillars.
Aftermarket Fog Lights – Mounting Locations
If you’re itching to get some new fog lights and are considering where to mount them, you have quite a few options:
- Bumper / Bull-Bar Mounted Lights
- A-Pillar / Ditch Mounted Lights
- Roof Mounted Pods / Light Bars
- Rear Mounted Fog Light Inserts
- Rear Mounted Light Bars
Please keep in mind that the selection of aftermarket lights is somewhat limited in terms of light bars which can switch to fog beam patterns, but, nonetheless, they do exist. Pod lights featuring the fog beam pattern, however, are much more widely available from multiple manufacturers, which we cover in our Best Fog Lights series.Â
Of course, there are some creatively / rather exotic placement options for fog lights, such as rear mounted fog lights, but that’s usually dependent on a specialized roof rack.
Should I Buy & Install Some Fog Lights?
Many drivers do not use fog lamps, and many don’t think they need them for driving in low visibility. Some drivers don’t even want them installed on their car. Fog lamps are becoming less popular because people don’t think they are necessary. The NHTSA states that they are supplemental and not required by law.
If you don’t agree with the drivers mentioned above, if you’re a fan of safety over convenience and always being prepared, you may want to consider some of the cutting-edge aftermarket fog light systems. We’ve done our research and even tested quite a few of the most popular kits and we invite you to check out what we consider to be the absolute best fog lights on the market:
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