Fog/driving lights in MOT?

He's right.

But surely, you either have driving lamps, in which case they're pointless in foggy conditions, or fog lamps, in which case it's pointless having them coming on with main beam?

Any lights which are fitted to the car must be in a working condition, this applies to all light, be it spot lights, extra brake lights, fairy lights etc apparantly,

I got this one thrown at me when i mot's a 1971 beach butty, i'd fitted fog lights to the rear, which arent required by law on a vehicle of that age, one of them was out, but as they were fitted, even tho they werent a legal requirment, the tester made me replace the blown bulb beofre he'd issue the certificate.. i think he was just looking for something to do really, as half the mot tests didnt apply to my car.. security and operation of doors and handles.. not got any, bonnet/engine cover can be opened to inspect engine/braking components.. not got a bonned/deck lid, emmisions test.. not needed, cars too old and so on.

You'd neet to make sure of this, but maybe disconnecting the wiring, and removing the bulbs, maybe even covering the spot lights could allow a pass, i had roof mounted driving lights on my last van, they came on with the high beam only, but were switchable, i.e i could turn them off, but not on indipendantly of highbeam, and the inspector would ask me to turn the spots off when flashing the headlights.. but i think that was mainly because they were shining in his eyes :)

maybe just turning them off so they don't come on with the high beam will do, reversing lights arent checked as part of the mot, so i guess they could be out, but as they dont see them coming on.. or trying to, then they dont bother, if they see the spots coming on, and giving piss poor output etc, they may want to do sommat.

I had some 5 watt bulbs in my front indicaters, to illuminate them when the side lights were on, like american cars do, i had to remove the bulbs at every mot, as the tester would show me the manual where it says sidelights must be white, i had sidelights in the headlights that were white, but he wouldent accept that, i also had 4 green, 2 purple, 24 orange and 4 red fairy lights around the van, all on with the sidelights and he never got bothered about those.. nor the illuminated VW badge with chasing led's around the circle part or the tacky night rider orance chaser lights in the grill, just the bloody extra bulbs in the indicator lens.. and yes i still had the 21 watt indicator bulbs in them.

Well,I thought they were fog lights only, as I had never used them, but last week, I actually flashed someone,and the front headlights didnt flip up(its a Ford Probe with flip-up headlights),yet there was still a light from the front, so after checking, they do indeed flash instead of the headlight, but I didnt get round to seeing if they were acually fog lights! Alan.

Front fog lights are not needed to be in working order for the mot. If rear fogs are fitted they must work (at least the offside one).

Reverse lights do not need to work

MrCheerful

Agree completely with Derv Man - "fog lights" without the main headlights are illegal but are the only time they are of any use so why have them unless you are a young tosser in a Peugeot or a rich tosser in a BMW

bumper,these

My 405 passed with only one of the front fog lights working, also the reverse lights were not working. I would like to say that I'm not entirely sure the MOT place did a thorough job, still clunking at the front end.

CampinGazz ( snipped-for-privacy@m.ta) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Not so. Only "required" lights have to work. At the front - sidelights, dip, main beam, indicators. At the rear - tail, brake, indicators, fog when fitted.

If there's three brake lights, they've all got to work - if there's four tail lights, they've all got to work - my XM has four, and one of the bulbs had gone (the two on the tailgate don't last long at all) - even though the legal minimum was there, it was still (correctly) a fail. In practice, it was "here's the certificate, put a bulb in there or else..."

Rear fog lights don't have to be fitted to anything prior to 1/1/80, but must work when they are fitted.

Absolutely.

I hope the plods charged you, for serious offences against good taste....

Are you sure this is illegal. I've seen many quality cars (BMW etc) in foggy conditions using only foglights, which seems sensible to me. It's pointless to have headlights and foglights on at the same time as the reason for low mounted front foglights is to improve illumination and to prevent glare from reflected light. It's only the boy racer brigade who use them both, purely for effect - 'Look at me - I've got lots of lights'.

Terry D.

In the lighting Regs there are no such thing as driving lamps, they will be position lamps, head lamps etc etc. they must have a type approved marking and for front fogs it is B which will be marked on the glass yours will probably have this on it.

it is legal to use front fogs instead of headlights in a 30mph lit area only

Hopefully not.

It's stupidity unless it's foggy.

I should of added only when it is foggy of course

the relevant regs are here:

Requirements about the use of headlamps and front fog lamps 25.-(1) Save as provided in paragraph (2), no person shall use, or cause or permit to be used, on a road a vehicle which is fitted with obligatory dipped-beam headlamps unless every such lamp is kept lit-

(a) during the hours of darkness, except on a road which is a restricted road for the purposes of section 81 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 by virtue of a system of street lighting when it is lit; and

(b) in seriously reduced visibility.

(2) The provisions of paragraph (1) do not apply-

(a) in the case of a motor vehicle fitted with one obligatory dipped-beam headlamp or a solo motor bicycle or motor bicycle combination fitted with a pair of obligatory dipped-beam headlamps, if a main-beam headlamp or a front fog lamp is kept lit;

(b) in the case of a motor vehicle, other than a solo motor bicycle or motor bicycle combination, fitted with a pair of obligatory dipped-beam headlamps, if-

(i) a pair of main-beam headlamps is kept lit; or

(ii) in seriously reduced visibility, a pair of front fog lamps which is so fitted that the outermost part of the illuminated area of each lamp in the pair is not more than 400 mm from the outer edge of the vehicle is kept lit;

(c) to a vehicle being drawn by another vehicle;

(d) to a vehicle while being used to propel a snow plough; or

(e) to a vehicle which is parked.

(3) For the purposes of this regulation a headlamp shall not be regarded as lit if its intensity is reduced by a dim-dip device.

or if you want to look yourself here:

The problem is that the fog lamps point down at the ground and it can be quite hard to see the car when you're coming the other way!

The highway code says dipped headlights (which then don't reflect back) and fog lamps.

If they're just on the flash (ie not coming on with normal main beam) I'd have thought that was a great idea on a car with pop-up headlights. It'll reduce wear, delay and generally improve safety.

TimM ( snipped-for-privacy@nospam.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

If the fog's bad enough, then dip beam can reflect back. I've (thankfully not often) come across fog that's thick enough that sidelights & fog lights is the best combination.

It's fog like that that should be illegal....

If front fogs aid safer driving, then surely ALL cars should have them fitted as standard and not just the higher spec models. Also, why is it that big heavy cars are usually fitted with louder horns?

Thank God that Nova's don't normally have front fogs. Otherwise there'd be an even larger army of idiots driving round with foglights on in clear weather. :-)

Not too sure about that one. We've got a Micra, which has fairly loud horns. Also got a Daewoo Nexia (a fair bit bigger), which had fairly pathetic horns - not really loud enough to get the message across when someone's about to pull in front of you etc. A pair of air horns sorted that out - they're bloody deafening :-)

Cheers

Dave P

It's a £30 fine from the police for using foglights in clear weather. I tend to flash such people just to remind them.