Fog Lights Idiot Light

[LexKid630]

hi, i was wondering if there is suppose to be an idiot/pilot light in the gauge clusters of the rx300's when the fog lamps are turned on.

thanks

[wwest]

Low beam indicator serves as fog light indicator since absent modifications the fog lights can only be on with low beams.

[Rx-Fan]

I always thought that not having an indicator lamp for fogs on was dumb too.

[LexKid630]

turns out that since i got my rx300 in '03, i've always had my fog lamps on! I didn't even know it until the other day when i looked wondering if i even had fog lamps.. My old explorer had a light that went on on the center console (a stupid place for it but watever) when they were on. on the rx300 they put the switch for them on the directional/all the other 50 switches "bar" on the left of the steering wheel. who would have known they were on without an idiot light...errrrr

[wwest]

Most Asian manufacturers seemingly do not know of the benefits of using fog lights without the backscatter interference of the low beams.

Hard to understand and even harder to figure out how to get around their fog light circuit restrictions.

[SW03ES]

I drive with the fogs on all the time anyways.

I don't know why there isn't a light. On my ES there's a fog light indicator, on the LS I know there isn't one, niether is there one on our Prius.

[SKperformance]

who need the light

once you read the manuakl you know if you have them on or not by turing the switch

to top it off fog lights are useless

i have never seen one that works great in real fog

other than the 3rd rear taillight ones which really help you see the car with them infront of you

[ColinBarber]

I drive with the fogs on all the time anyways.

I don't know why there isn't a light. On my ES there's a fog light indicator, on the LS I know there isn't one, niether is there one on our Prius.

←

On the series I RX300 in the UK there is an indicator on the dashboard. I seem to remember reading that the series II doesn't though.

It's illegal to drive with fog lights on in the UK, front or rear, unless visibility is severely reduced.

[wwest]

"unless visibility is severely reduced....."

DUH......!!

FOG lights, for use when driving in fog (and MT snowstorms) wherein normal forward lighting will create back-scatter which interferes with the driver's forward vision.

Fog lights have a wide pattern and a low cutoff and the typical amber color aids human vision in low light conditions.

[SW03ES]

People around here in european cars with rear foglights leave them on in all kinds of weather, its very annoying...

[LexKid630]

Actually in my old explorer they worked very well. If it was extremely foggy out, i would turn the regular low beams off and turn on the fog lamps. They were located on the low bumper area therefore lighting lower to the ground. This helped b/c: since they're closer to the ground, they go through less fog distributing the light more on the street rather than in the moisture in the fog. The regular low beam headlights were higher up so it only illuminated the fog 2 feet infront of the car blurring my vision, rather than the road.

The reason the fog lamps on the rx300 don't work is b/c they're only like 5 inches lower than the regular low beam headlights. And to top it off they're the regular yellow halogens; much less brighter than the xenon headlights.

I wasn't asking if they're useless or not on the rx300; i already knew that, i've had them on for 2 years not noticing a diference. I was asking why there wasn't a pilot light in the cluster to let the driver know they are on.

[SW03ES]

Thats what wwest is saying, on the Lexus you can't operate the fog lights independent of the low beams. What year was your Explorer, thats not possible on my Explorer either and its a 97.

[LexKid630]

I had a 2000 explorer. The fog lights were changed in shape and position a bit

[LexKid630]

Low beam indicator serves as fog light indicator since absent modifications the fog lights can only be on with low beams.

←

What i don't understand about this is well...how?...I thought the low beam (regular headlights) indicator was the green circle thing on the cluster to the top left of the 60 mph mark of the gauge cluster of the rx300....How can this ALSO be the fog light indicator as well?

I keep the bar switch thing on the left of the steering wheel on "auto" ..During the day the lights don't go on. When it gets dark out the headlights go on, and the little green light on the cluster does as well. This's wat i'm talking about when i say pilot light. If that green light didn't come on in the cluster, i wouldn't know the lights were on, unless i saw the reflection off a car in front of me or saw the center console lights go on.

..but if i turn the fog lights on, no light goes on in the cluster. So pretty much there's no way to tell if they're on unless i went outside to look.

I was just wondering if a bulb was out in my cluster or something, or if this was normal...

[LexKid630]

pretty much every possible thing that could, has gone wrong with my rx300...ughh i hate it and it's only 2 years old. The dealer must hate me b/c it's all under warranty and they end up fixing all of it. A bulb going out in the dash wouldn't surprise me. Im just waiting for those stupid needles to go out....

[wwest]

Since the low beams are ALWAYS on with the fog lights why do you even care if the fog lights are on or off, it makes no difference whatsoever. You could probably just remove the fuse and never notice.

And the fog lights on my RX300 are the AW type, only a slight amber tint. Immediately on purchasing the vehicle I changed out the bulbs and rewired the system so I could use my fog lights independently of the low beams.

I can assure you that the RX300 fog lights are mounted low enough, and the AW's have enough amber tint that they are VERY useful in foggy conditions.

The night lighting at all the local ski areas is of the HID type, and you would be amazed at much better you can see with an amber lens in your googles.

[ColinBarber]

Most Asian manufacturers seemingly do not know of the benefits of using fog lights without the backscatter interference of the low beams.

Hard to understand and even harder to figure out how to get around their fog light circuit restrictions.

←

Must be a reason why there is this restriction on US vehicles.

They certainly do know about using fog lights without low beams because you can do just that on Euro spec RX300s (and other models), just need the side/parking lights on. You also get a front fog light warning light on the instrument cluster along with the rear fog lights and side lights warnings.

[SW03ES]

The dealer must hate me b/c it's all under warranty and they end up fixing all of it.

←

Why would they hate you? Dealers don't do warranty work for free LOL, Lexus just pays them instead of you. They LOVE you.

Colin- Some cars have fogs independent of lows its not a US reg.

[LexKid630]

The dealer must hate me b/c it's all under warranty and they end up fixing all of it.

←

Why would they hate you? Dealers don't do warranty work for free LOL, Lexus just pays them instead of you. They LOVE you.

Colin- Some cars have fogs independent of lows its not a US reg.

←

...well you know what i meant, lexus must hate me for all the probs im having with the rx. It's there fault for making a faulty one though, it's not my problem everything's broken on it...lol...i would sell it but for petes sake its only 2 years old...it must be cursed...

[wwest]

There can't be a US restriction since many US vehicles allow fogs only and european cars with that feature are allowed in.

Maybe like DRLs, smoke'em if you got'em.

No US laws for, or against.