I would never think of using the high beams in fog or snow. Anyone with common sense will realize that high beams just don't work in these conditions. Additionally, I just don't like it when something is rigged in a way to prevent me from doing so, especially if there are still good reasons to be able to have this functionality.
There is some practicality to using high beams + fog lights, which is my main reason for this mod. It is extremely dark in rural Alaska in the winter, and most of our roads are not lit. Low beams are usually ineffective on windy roads (even if you have Euro spec lights), so you end up driving with the high beams. In doing so, you lose peripheral vision due to the lack of width of the high beams. The fog lights have a very wide pattern, and help illuminate the edges of the road. This complements the narrow pattern of the high beams. With all the wildlife here that could jump out unexpectedly, I feel that this combo of lighting is actually safer than the default US setup.
w123's are rare enough around here, I don't want to risk crashing mine because of some mandated fog light "lockout" that I could easily bypass.
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Originally Posted by pj67coll
Interesting write up. But I have to ask. Why the hell would anyone ever want to use foglights with high beams? I had occassion to use the fog lights often on my 116 many years ago. They were fantastic. I'd go so far as to say I was in the safest car on the road in my area both in terms of seeing and being seen. But using high beams in that fog simply created a overpowering white out type glare that basically blinded me an made it impossible to drive. I would never use high beams in fog.
- Peter.
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