Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Autowirral DRL's Are Not Foglights

Just for the peeps who keep flashing me, and other drivers no doubt, that DRL's are NOT foglights. Its very distracting! On my car they are a separate bulb in the foglight housing, not in the headlight housing.



So please make sure its proper fog-lights being left on that you are flashing, if you feel you have to of course.

Im sure I will keep getting flashed, but hey, its good to vent every now and then

I've a similar problem but mine is getting flashed as people think I've left my main beam on as I've fitted hid's it's annoying but I don't let them bother me anymore

I had that a few times with the xenons in my old car, but I got used to it as it usually was just on the motorway in the dark, but during the day its quite odd to keep getting flashed (about 10 times in the last month). My knee-jerk reaction is to think something is wrong with the car.

Im sure I'll ignore it over time, Im getting used to it now. Just every now and then I forget Its just people thinking they are doing good, when theyre just causing more potential problems lol.

Oh and the funny looks that you sometimes catch when you ignore them lol

Loads of cars have their headlights way too high, usually because they've fitted a bulb themselves and don't know what they are doing.

If HID's are fitted for main lights, it is now compulsory to have headlight cleaning and a self-levelling system fitted. Strangely the MOT hasn't been updated to include this (it is stated as optional and must be working if fitted, if unable to test you are given the benefit of the doubt) but it can invalidate your insurance.

Likewise Daytime Running Lights do not appear in the MOT yet the old UK dim-dip system that was outlawed by the EEC, does???

The xenons on my old car were factory fitted, so had the auto-leveling system with washers. Still got flashed.
The DRL's on my new car are factory fitted too and Im getting flashed.:D

Cant win

I didn't know it was now mandatory on new vehicles, I just thought all Manufacturers had jumped on the DRL bandwagon.....

One thing that confuses me, if its mandatory, im assuming because its a saftey thing, why can you turn them off?

All these new bulbs blind me,even in the day time....and yes I have regular eye tests. Wish I knew why :((

Maybe people are flashing to warn you of a speed trap ahead. That is a very common but illegal reason for headlight flashing. Most of these "warnings" are pointless as it is not always clear who it is being directed toward.

As you say, it's sometimes because the bulb has been fitted incorrectly, but that'll only affect one headlight. If both are too high, the car probably has a levelling switch somewhere which is in the wrong position. It can be very hard to find - the one on my Mini is well hidden and doesn't illuminate with the lights, so you can't find it at night when you really need it!

....or what its being directed towards.

No, its definitely because of the DRL's, like I said, 10 flashes in the last month, in broad daylight, on town roads, with no speed trap afterwards.

Didnt have that many flashes before.

I will admit they could look like my foglights, because it is a bulb not LED's, and its in the foglight housing, not the headlight housing or eleswhere like most.

Here is what I mean;


As you can see, single housing, DRL on the left (on) Foglight on the right (off).

Cant people just ignore it, rather than trying to make a point of it? The only time really I flash someone is if they forget to put their lights on at night.

I think on the new MOT if you have retrofitted HID's then the self leveller has to work or its a fail. If they are manufacturers OEM and you have just swapped then they will be self levelling anyway cos thats what I have fitted on mine