single fog light on

[Blackhawks]

I have an issue with the driver's side fog light intermittently turning on, but not by choice.

Anybody else having the fog light(s) turn on out of nowhere?

[twelve535i]

Is the light turning on as you're making a turn?

[aw305]

The fog lights turn on as you turn your steering wheel.

[Blackhawks]

No... This is a sporadic turn on out of nowhere and stays even if the car is in park.

However, I never heard of the fog turning on when you turn the steering wheel. You bullshitting me? Lol.

[aw305]

Its true. To help you see as you turn. At night with the auto headlights turned on turn your steering wheel all the way to the left or right and then hop out and take a look

[Blackhawks]

Holy shit... You're right and I never noticed the trend. I still think it's stupid. Lol. Thanks guys.

[X54TH]

My E70 was the same way. The direction in which you turn will activate the that particular fog light. It's weird. I remember getting my E70, we went out for dinner and said wow burnt out fog light already. Funny thing I had only noticed this when I was parked in front of a window. When I turned the steering wheel I realized what these fog lights were doing.

[JDoc]

It's acting as a cornering light when you turn. I found it occasionally useful when making a turn in pitch black darkness.

[MysticBlue]

They also come on when you put it in reverse. (If your lights are in "auto").

[42pilot]

Originally Posted by Blackhawks

Holy shit... You're right and I never noticed the trend. I still think it's stupid. Lol. Thanks guys.

Are you talking about the fog lights recessed in the front fascia? If so, how can those possibly help lighting during a turn? And they come on in reverse? You're right- silly/stupid.

[lowlevelhell]

Originally Posted by 42pilot

Are you talking about the fog lights recessed in the front fascia? If so, how can those possibly help lighting during a turn? And they come on in reverse? You're right- silly/stupid.

Turn them on some night as you're driving. You'll note that they throw light about 40 degrees wider than the headlight. It is actually helpful, especially when I leave our pitch-black work parking lot.

[MysticBlue]

They are already there, and everything is run by software, so it's nothing but programming the software to do it, as opposed to more hardware in the form of turning lights built into the light housing. They do what turning lights do... light at a greater angle. So, it makes sense to me. As far as reversing, if you think about it, when you are in reverse, you are most likely backing out of a driveway or parking space and at some point you are going to turn the steering wheel sharply which swings the front end out. That's when it's easiest to run into something. Not the perfect solution, but as far as I'm concerned, the more light the better. There's no downside to it working the way it does, so why not?

[42pilot]

Originally Posted by lowlevelhell

Turn them on some night as you're driving. You'll note that they throw light about 40 degrees wider than the headlight. It is actually helpful, especially when I leave our pitch-black work parking lot.

I'm going to try it. I can't imagine a recessed light providing that much peripheral light - but I would be happy to be wrong.

Now if it requires that I turn on the fog lights to get the turn and reverse benefits, then I still say that's silly. Why not have the computer do it automatically?

[Doanster]

Originally Posted by 42pilot

I'm going to try it. I can't imagine a recessed light providing that much peripheral light - but I would be happy to be wrong.

Now if it requires that I turn on the fog lights to get the turn and reverse benefits, then I still say that's silly. Why not have the computer do it automatically?

Everything is automatic, at least on my LED-equipped car. It's just the "more light is better" concept. The biggest gain is from the headlights rotating into the curve/turn, but the fog light I'm sure helps somewhat. That was the first thing my SA told us before we left the dealership. "If your friends or neighbors tell you one fog light is burned out, it's just the adaptive headlight system kicking in."

One last thing... anytime I put the car into reverse and the headlights are on, the driver's side light moves horizontally towards the middle, focusing the beam even further. I think I have a vid of this if anyone is interested.

[X54TH]

Originally Posted by Doanster

Everything is automatic, at least on my LED-equipped car. It's just the "more light is better" concept. The biggest gain is from the headlights rotating into the curve/turn, but the fog light I'm sure helps somewhat. That was the first thing my SA told us before we left the dealership. "If your friends or neighbors tell you one fog light is burned out, it's just the adaptive headlight system kicking in."

One last thing... anytime I put the car into reverse and the headlights are on, the driver's side light moves horizontally towards the middle, focusing the beam even further. I think I have a vid of this if anyone is interested.

That would be interesting to see.

[Terp335]

Originally Posted by X54TH

That would be interesting to see.

+1

[RR-NYC]

Auto mode does that and it looks horrible. It doesn't help that it's practically useless

[FamilyMan]

You know that X5 commercial with the grandma in the 3rd row?

Well towards the end of that commercial they make a right turn and I noticed that the right fog light was off.

I thought it was a blown light and that they missed it during the filming of the commercial.

Didn't think much of it and then when I took delivery of my X5 the salesperson told me about the feature.

I thought it was cool from an engineering stand point, but not super useful.

[stewy604]

Can this be turned off with coding? If so, I'd like to do that...hate the "turning" feature with one fog light coming on. Adaptive lighting is good enough for me.

[MattBianco]

I have this on my MB as well. On the MB, the fogs acting as cornering lights during a turn, make a huge difference. In the X5 with the LED package, you cannot see any difference during the turn.

My guess is it is either a poor design or the lights are not aligned. I don't like messing with the alignment so for now, the cornering lights are more like decorative lights for the cars in front.

Anyone else note this?

[crackerjack15]

Wow. I noticed one foglight on the other night too pulling out of parking spot. I thought something wrong with my coding. I stopped and pressed fog light button on and off and only turned left one on/off. Right one stayed on, but I had wheel turned. Pretty cool if you ask me.

[42pilot]

Ok - I admit this one works fairly well. I went out tonight and drove around my property (yep, 4 wheeling on the farm) and it works pretty well. I've owned the car for 18 months and never known this - that's how big of an impression this feature made on me Even recessed, the fog light nearly reaches 45 degrees left or right to light up the area (fairly close-in area, but ok).