Germancar1

Incredible isn't it? I wonder how much such occurences have cost Mercedes points in those Consumer Reports and JD Powers surveys?

M

tusabes

I just got a 2000 s class and this happened to me.... no owners manual...my neighbor came knocking on my door to tell me the right front parking light and taillight were on...i played with the headlight switch till it went off...

so we are supposed to keep the dial straight up and down, and not all the way to the left? what is the position all the way to the left for? why does it activate just the right parking light and taillight?

Barry45RPM

Up & Down is Off. ("0") Turning to the left activates the European feature of 1 light on when you're parked at the side of the road in the dark.

AMGTTV8

I'm sorry but whoever can't figure out how the light switch works is not worth the time of day - it really is simple stupid

Barry45RPM

He only asked for help... not a beating.

jcpca356

i am so with you on this one. i too turn on my high beams. it takes more effort to pull it out so the action is definitely deliberate...

Taimoor

Damn, i always do it and till now i had no idea that we have a rear fog light.
Ill be more careful next time.
lol

SAguirre

Well, what can you do?? I actually had to use the rear fog light this last December while driving in a monster snow storm at about 20 MPH. I was very grateful to have the extra visibility from the rear (especially since my car is white!).

My Audi also had just one fog light, but I wired it so now I have two. I sometimes pass the folks with their rear fog lights on and then I turn my on when I am in front of them. I noticed that Audi drivers are the most common offenders here in Colorado.

I know that MB light bulbs are not at full voltage when they are set to the "parking light" setting and that they go to full power when the rear fog is turned on. I have been wondering about these people who purchased after market taillights, does the fog light work correctly? I guess I should ask on those threads.

Steve

gaazmon

Ya, most people i see doing this are Audi drivers, but they have two fog lights, at least the older ones i always see doing. I also see a lot of MB drivers with it on, bothers the crap out of me. I've never seen anyone with a BMW with this or does BMW not have this.

eurotrash13

As I recall, cars in Europe used to have 2 rear fog lights. However this was very confusing as it also looked like someone could be hitting the brakes and it was less obvious when someone with fog lights on was braking (this is in the days that there was no 3rd braking light).
So in order to distinguish between brake lights and rear fog light, it was decided to disconnect one of the rear fog lights.

Do you really need to read the manual to figure out the symbols above the light switch?

SAguirre

Well, the Euro norm now (for a long time now) is to only have one on the driver's side. Not only that, the bulb for the rear fog light has to be a certain number of centimeters away from the brake light. Some US cars that are in Europe comply with this by loosing one of their reverse lights. Then they put the rear fog light in the reverse light's spot. England has it on the RHS and we have it on the LHS. I really don't know how it is that even some new Audi cars still have two. My 1995 Audi only had one, but I put a socket in and set it up so now it has two. They sure can be confused with stop lights though.

Mercedes uses the bus system to simply send more voltage to the two parking lights in that light cluster ( the bulbs are long life bulbs by not having them on at full brightness). In England, the computer is programmed to send more voltage to the other side. I wonder if there is a Star D. setting to make it light up both rears on the W211. That would be really bright!

BMW has totally disabled this feature. Audi disabled the side parking light feature that Mercedes still has. My Audi's blinker stalk still indicates that if you leave a side blinker on it would turn on the parking light on that side only if the key is out of the ignition, but that is disabled on it.

I wish US-American drivers were a bit more educated about this feature. When the visibility gets bad here in the USA, they turn on their emergency flashers. That is a disaster!

Steve

Polar Bear

Yeah - I always see S-Classes (and a few other classes) driving with the rear fog light on in broad daylight. That's just not something US drivers are not used to as no American, Japanese, or Korean cars have ever had this feature (at least US Versions). It simply boils down to people not reading how to operate the cars and not understanding the concept of a rear fog light.

MBUSA is GREAT about sending all of the materials you need to operate every feature in your car if you call the 1-800-FOR-MERC. They will even assemble the leather binder and cellphone books, etc., with the owner's manual. Not free, but all it takes is a call and a credit card number. Very convenient for cars that don't come with manuals.

jcpca356

it's just inconsiderate. jaguars have two of them in the back and they're even brighter than german cars. just high beam them they usually move over. i used to go in front of them and turn mine on but most of them are OBLIVIOUS. it's really annoying.

jcpca356

feels good to vent this one out. i've been driving for almost 30 years and never really had chance to publicly complain about this issue :-)

gaazmon

Ya, it's annoying that people don't even take the time to see what the switch does. I mean u can see at night that if you pull it back twice, the light switch, that one light comes on in the back.

I hate the Lexus drivers that always have their fog lights on. Why is it that almost all of them drive with it on, does it just come on automatically? WTF? It's so annoying. I also see a lot of chrysler 300 and dodge charger drivers with the fogs on, wtf, you think the car looks bad a** cause you have the fog lights on? I used to have a chrysler 300, didn't like the "image" that came with it, glad it was leased as they could never figure out what was wrong with the tranny.

Polar Bear

I like the Dodge Chargers pretty well. Wouldn't mind owning an R/T in black. I agree that the image of the 300s have been a little distorted over the past few years.

onthewall01

I had the same problem when I returned the vehicle from a test drive. The dealer noticed it and he couldn't figure it out either. I did after looking at it for a sec. Granted this was a used, non Mercedes, dealership but give guy a break. Natural intuition would say if far right is all on, far left is all off. What is the purpose of this anyways? Do the lights turn off after a bit and then turn back on when unlocking?

Polar Bear

When you are parking on the side of the road, turning the switch all the way to the left activates the left front and rear park lights. They do not turn off - they will stay on until you turn them off. They ONLY work when the key is turned off. One notch over to the right will activate the right side park lights if you are parking on the opposite side of the road.

The rear fog light is enabled by turning on the headlamps manually and pulling out the knob two notches instead of one.

Some things are just different on Euro cars and they are beneficial in some parts of the area but may not be used often here. In this area we rarely get fog enough to warrant a rear fog light, but in some areas they do. I guess like the headlamp washers. I find more humor in them than practical use, but I am sure some areas use them.

jcpca356

fog light "tuning" is big - many people actually put HID or those fake HID lights on fogs and think it's cool... obviously they're going to turn them on no matter what the weather is like. even people who don't tune them think having fogs on are cool. another problem is that some people adjust fog lights upwards so it's like staring at high beams

gaazmon

I can't stand that. I hate it when SUVs or especially trucks have aftermarket HID's like on the fog lights cause the frikkin things just shoot right at you. And when the f**ker is raised, I could the guy driving it.

Saw a Audi A8L 4.2L today (newer style) driving with both back fog lights on. It was so annoying cause the BMW behind him was scared the whole time and wouldn't speed up.

anwar_m14

Actually there are two rear fog lamps. it can be programmed with a scanner or so, according to the country and driver's side