hecdog

Hey, I just bought my my04 ml350 and I'm loving it so far--except I gotta do something about it's minivan profile, gotta get some 20's and a spoiler! Anyway, it has a switch for front and rear fog lamps, but it has no rear fog lamps. When I toggle the switch to and from front and rear only the front ones turn on. The salesman said that the switch heats up the fog lamps to defrost them...sounds like a bunch a bologne to me. what do you guys think?

pointman

rear fog light is in only one of the rear housings. press the button when lights are on and you will see one side illuminate brighter than the other.

saturnstyl

My experiance: I work at a dealership. The salesman will tell you anything to sell you a car and/or keep you off his ***. They don't have to deal with the customer after the fact, we do. We constantly have to correct misunderstandings of the vehicle features, percieved problems, etc.....
I HATE salesmen. Its very hard to find one that really knows thier stuff, and is honest.

hecdog

let me see if I understand...one of the rear tail lights (which are red) will be brighter than the other? what's that for? why not light both?

pointman

thats right... its to make the truck more visible in the fog...dont ask me why... seems strange to me to, but thats how benz did it, and how they've done it. german engineering, dont ask why... just enjoy.

ChampML

The rear fog lamps are common in Europe (Mercedes as well as most other cars). The idea is that the brighter left rear light, similar to brake lights with the right side bulb out, draw attention. It is the same idea as the third center-brake light.

IMHO turning the the rear fog light on is worth the effort. Though sooner or later somebody is gonna get pulled over by a zealous officer for having lights burnt out.

autogunner

Thats correct ChampML left taillight is brighter on left hand drive Mclasses and right is brighter on right hand drives. It makes a little differance if it is real foggy, and also helps you see a little better, close up when your backing up in the fog. Autogunner. P.S. Their is no heating element for any of the lights! They are lights and they get hot enough all by themself.

Stiggs

I think this issue of "why not light both rear fog lights" has been done over and over.
I think the idea is that if you only see one bright light, it will get your attention better. If you see two bright red lights, you are more apt to think "Brakes"!!

Better to have 1 rear fog light than 2 if you ask me. People would think my brakes are stuck in the fog with 2 lights.

LVDell

This is a light (in addition to the fog driving for being seen) is used when parking in Europe....think of ALL the narrow street parallel parking there is. Concept is you leave this light illuminated and your tail will be seen and notbe clipped. I asked this very question when I spent time over in Europe. Hope this helps a bit.