[Guest]

The red reflector RAV's have on each side of the bumper area in the rear.

Has anyone put an actual light housing/socket in there and wired it for either an additional brake/tail/fog light? I want some type of rear fog setup on mine and this seemed like a good place to put it.

I know others have wired the main tail light unit to accomodate this but I was thinking otherwise.

Any ideas?

jerij

 

[Jeff]

I think Derek did a while back, there used to be a DIY on that...

 

[Guest]

The rear red reflector are just that reflectors there are no wiring loom or socket for rear fog lamps here.

In Europe all cars must have a least one rear fog lamp. Toyota fit this one (pic below). In the UK this rear fog lamp is located on the right hand side and are port fitted I believe and very ugly as well.

Hopefully Toyota don't do this again for the next RAV4 and have the rear fog lamps built-in to the rear lamp cluster as it so ugly having a single rear fog lamp which is clearly an after thought !!!.

 

[Guest]

I like the idea of mounting fog lights in the recessed reflector housings. I would imagine I would have to get 12V/15-20 amps from the battery to power the fog lights with a relay for the low voltage control circuit tied into the existing backup lights and/or manual switch. I thought I could tie into an existing 12V/15-20 amp circuit (I'm basically lazy), but then I realized that it wasn't such a good idea, it really should have it's own fused power source since it's such a high draw item. I would love to have them also manually switched so I could wack those tailgaters that are always on my a**.

 

[Guest]

Are rear fogs legal in the US?

 

[Becky J.]

I remember reading that U.S. Mini owners who were angry about their rear fog being disabled could go back to their dealer and have it activated, I believe for no charge. Apparently quite a lot of Mini owners were really mad about the non-working rear fog I guess. Anyway, I would assume that means they're legal here, though I must admit I've still never seen a working one.

Becky

 

[Guest]

When I had my Mini, I had the rear fogs turned on by the dealership also. The computer wasn't programmed for the rears so it had to be activated. You also had to purchase the replacement switch as the '04 and previous didn't have one.

Oddly enough, the '05 models come with the rear fog switch already in place (due to customer demand I think). I still don't know though if the dealership has to turn it on once purchased OR if they are still legal.

I have seen a couple of cars here that had them, a Volvo I believe was one of them.

This doesn't answer the legal question but I still believe these lights are EXTREMELY helpful in rainy, foggy weather, legal or not....

And yes, they are also good to keep those tailgaters off of you a little. My life seems to be ruled by Murphy: If all my tailgaters were driving $40k+ cars I wouldn't mind maybe, but usually all I see are one working headlight, part of a bumper, and no grill...


jerij

 

[Jeff]

Rear fog tail lights are legal here in the US, many European-made cars have them such as Audis and Volvos.

I personally don't like them. The vast majority of people that do have them on their cars leave them on all the time which irritates me. They may help in dense fog but are an annoyance the rest of the time, just like fog and driving lights. I only use my fog lights in bad road conditions out of courtesy for other drivers.