fog lights problem .....

how do i turn them on


the button to the left of the steering whell next to the cruise control right?

i know its stupid

by the way 2002 subaru impreza wrx

Yes, the button to the left of the steering next to the cruise control light.

Did you get an owner's manual with the car?

no i did not get the manual with the car

and that doesnt seem to be working any ideas on y or what i could be doing ?

Did you check the fuses?

how do i check the fuses??? which fuse

You need to get the owner's manual, without it you're like a fish out of water on this car.
The fuses should be in the passenger foot well side.

On another note, if you have the high beams on, the fog lights don't come on.

BTW, is this your first car?

ya i bought it reposesed so no owners manual

and yea this is the first car that iv owned myself

freaktrays right you need to have the headlights on for them to be on and also if the highbeams are on they shut off unless you rewire them so there on the same loop as the parking lights, thats what i did so now there on all the time......MUCH easier to see at night with the fogs and highbeams....

Why do they turn off when the highbeams are on? I've always wondered that, but never remembered to ask...

ive also thought about it and i cant think of one logical reason....more light is better...plain and simple

Tonight, for instance, I'd have preferred to have the foglamps on an entirely separate circuit from the head lights. The whole point, from what I can tell, of fog lamps is that they're lower to the ground and shoot under the fog, whereas regular headlight beams hit the fog and just cause the light to reflect back at you. This is one of my next projects. I'll prolly just wire them into the parking lamps like "donkeyboy" did.

Fog lamps are for inclement driving conditions, they're not made for conditions when the visibility is perfect.
I only turn mine on when it's raining heavily, snowing, or if it's actually foggy.
Only in the worst conditions will you find regular headlights reflecting off the fog, normally the fog will actually seem to absorb the light, this is where the fog lights benefit you by shining upwards from the lowest point. Use high beams in fog and you'll notice they're actually useless in fog and will just cause it to become a wall of white in front of you.

The reason the fog lamps turn off when you turn on the high beams has to do with amp draw. If you were to run high beams and fog lamps together, you can actually over stress the circuit and cause the fuse to blow, simple as that.

I've noticed so many drivers misure their fog lamps since they simply don't understand the purpose of them, it's actually annoying.

[QUOTE=freakray]this is where the fog lights benefit you by shining upwards from the lowest point. QUOTE]

Hey Freakray, I don't believe that the fog lights shine upwards from
the lowest point. I believe that they shine horizontal to downward, otherwise, it would destroy its whole purpose of shining the light low. As someone mentioned, the purpose of the fog light is to keep the light path low, so that the light doesn't reflect off of the fog up to you, thus requiring the light path to be low and away.

If you have high-beam on, it would be reflecting off of the fog right in your face, so there is no point in having the fog lights on, thus programmed to turn off when high beam is on. As you know if you have driven in foggy situation, high-beams actually makes it harder to drive by causing excessive reflection from the fog, and shouldn't be used in foggy driving condition.

For that reason, I don't think it would bother anyone to have the fog lights0 on all the time, although in non-fog situation, fog lights shouldn't help with the visibility since it shines too low for normal driving, even in rain.

Hey Freakray, I don't believe that the fog lights shine upwards from
the lowest point. I believe that they shine horizontal to downward, otherwise, it would destroy its whole purpose of shining the light low. As someone mentioned, the purpose of the fog light is to keep the light path low, so that the light doesn't reflect off of the fog up to you, thus requiring the light path to be low and away.


You're quite right, I worded that poorly :icon16:

What I meant is that although the beam is pointed in a horizontal plane, it forms a 'V' in its projection so enabling it to illuminate further into the fog before the fog completely voids its purpose.

the statement about foglamps not shining upwards. My father is an over-the-road truck driver and he is consistently complaining about people's foglamps at night always hitting his mirrors. Now, you figure he's sitting somewhere between 6 & 8 feet high. How would that work if they didn't shine upwards some? I don't think that the "V" factor would be strong enough to bug him that bad. I mean, him and other drivers have actually had hour-long conversations about which color is the best for tinted lenses to keep the light from hurting his eyes while driving at night. Currently, to anyone who's interested, the general concensus says yellow "hunting" goggles

Many people fail to realise that the light reflects upwards off the road too, which adds to the glare these things create.