rphman

i have a 2010 glk with regular tail light bulbs...

my wife was following me home tonight and she noticed the drivers side bulb on bottom is brighter..so i remove the access panels on inside of cargo area..unclip the panel with bulbs..on each side..and the driver side is indeed burning way brighter than passenger side...

why is this? is there an eletrical issue..? i switched out the bulbs thinking one might be going out..so the passenger side one in the driver side bottom slot and it burned alot brighter...????any input?

thanks
Wade

MKenM

Check your headlight switch. When you have the headlights on all the way to the right and you pull the switch out to the 2nd detent that puts the rear fog light on. That's what it sounds like.

EnigmaAW

+1 agreed with mkenm- rear foglight light

NYCGLK

+1

rphman

you guys are correct...illuminates the same on each side..when the fog lights are NOT on..when i pull the switch out..and the foglights in front are on..the drivers side rear light illuminates brighter but the passenger side does not..

so what is wrong? bad switch or wiring issue? both the passenger and driver sides should illuminate the sam when the the switch is pulled ou..correct??

thanks
Wade

GLKKa2H

Neither of them; there's rear fog lamp on driver's side only. Pulling out the
exterior lamp switch to the first stop switches on the front fog lamps, and to the second stop the front - and rear fog lamp(s).

MKenM

If that were to happen it would look like you were riding the brake and no one would be able to tell when you were stopping via your brake lights.

I think the MB did it wrong. I had the fog light on one time and when I came to a traffic light the guy in back of me got out of his car to tell me there was something wrong with my tail lights.

They should have made it a separate light if they were going to have a light. I end up not using it.

n5160u

Like most drivers I have encountered here, I suppose you drive with your fogs on all the time just to show you got them.
Do you know when it is appropriate to drive with the front fogs on or when it is proper to use the rear fog light?
In North America BMW disabled the rear fogs on their cars because they use high intensity halogen bulbs on both sides for rear fogs and as a component of their active brake light function. If these lights were used as rear fog lights in clear conditions they would generate excessive glare and possibly blind the drivers following the vehicle with them on.

I will confess that I never drive when it is foggy enough to need rear fogs because the drivers here are idiots. Most drunks fixate on bright red lights figuring they are following a car in front of them and a bright rear light tends to screw up their depth perception even more. This is why you see so many wreaked cars that have nailed a light pole dead center. In almost every case the driver hit the pole thinking the stop signal was a car he was following.

n8nu

That's the European way ( I believe) - driver's brake light is on 'full' for driving in fog.

So if it's the break light that's on full, what are the lights in the bumper? Are they simply reflectors?

MKenM

Yes

n5160u

On European cars, the rear fog lights have to be separate from the brake lights and the brake lights have to be separate from the tail lights. This may not be true on some versions found in North America since many European cars sold in USA have unique to the USA light fixtures in the rear as well as USA DOT spec headlights which are illegal to use in Europe. Some car builders are allowed to use a brighter signal light in the tail light for the rear fog function but generally this is only allowed if there are multiple tail light positions on the same side of the vehicle and one of the tail light positions stays as a tail light.
Mercedes has been using a higher wattage single filament signal lamps for the rear positions on cars without LED brake lights. This lamp is driven at a lower power setting using PCM when it is used as a tail light but can be run at a much higher light output when it is used as a brake light by changing the PCM duty cycle. This allows tail light positions to be used as brake lights if the primary brake light position has an error.

Now, can anybody tell me why passenger cars sold in USA with LED turn signals are only allowed to use RED LED's? BMW E46 sport package cars had yellow LED's but the current production models of any European car normally having Yellow LED signal lighting now only have red LED's or yellow light bulbs.

allanX204

The 2nd picture (red car) looks more like a "Photoshop"

GLKKa2H

I don't know, but think it could be conservative handling/thinking of the issue, either by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and/or North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

NHTSA has obviously addressed the issue, seen by two references The Effectiveness of Amber Rear Turn Signals for Reducing Rear Impacts:
- Comments: http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketD...HTSA-2009-0095
- Report: http://www.nhtsa.gov/DOT/NHTSA/NRD/M.../811%20037.pdf.

From the latter: "Rear turn signals on passenger vehicles in the United States are permitted to be either amber or red -". To me it seems there is at least some work ongoing, which at it's conclusion may lead to amber rear LED turn signals being allowed in NA.

From what I have noticed, is Canada awaiting to mandate amber rear turn signals, but has to conform with the NAFTA regulations. Or are they allowed?

n5160u

This happened in Vernon , B.C. back in 2009

The driver hit the left turn light at 48th Ave. and 27th St., shearing it off at the base, and then kept driving on about 2 kms. to Squires Four Pub; Where he stopped for more beer!! How drunk do you have to be to NOT notice that you are carrying a lamp standard? (It has/had an Alberta plate on the truck. No one said anything about a smart driver.)

The truck was towed about 2.5 kms., with the light still pinched between the two tow hooks and bent bumper, to the Vernon Towing yard, where it took several good hard pulls with a backhoe to get the pole free.

allanX204

kimberlybakery

I have a 2011 glk 350. my rear tail light are regular light. if I buy the new led rear tail light will it work.

n5160u

If you upgrade from the standard light fixture to the same style fixture with only the turn signal LED's it should work, but if you attempt to use the newer style All LED light fixtures from the face lifted models I can't answer that, but I would assume that the lower power draw with the LED Tail and Brake lights would cause the defective light monitor system to throw an error message.

MKenM

What you have to keep in mind is if the front directional is a standard filament and the rear is the same, by putting LED's in the rear there will be an impedance difference. You will get a fast flash from the directional and it may throw a code. The way to alleviate that would be to install a resistor pack across the wiring for the positive and ground leads of the LED directional.

The resistor make the car think there is a standard filament bulb there. The resistors only go across the directionals and not the brake or parking lights.

GLKKa2H

- or one could simply follow the evolution and buy CAN bus LEDs: http://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/l...579-52-231066/