V70: Rear fog lights

[ray.ward]

Noticed this morning that my V70 only has one rear fog light?

I don't know why but it irritates me that I only have one rear fog light.

Is it as simple as was on my previous Skoda Octavia and just enable the second fog light as I strongly suspect that the wiring and bulb are already in place?

[Paul Wildsmith]

If its the same as my 2010 S80, then wiring and everything is there but you can't have both on without the blub failure device activiating. Bit disappointing as I'd successfully enabled the other side on all previous models. Latest systems are clearly too clever ...

[MartinK]

I hadn't noticed. A previous car (VW) had the same, when I examined it all I actually had to do was add a bulb, and then 2 fogs. Looks like the Volvo system is a bit smarter.

On another car I had to replace tail light bulbs (kept blowing). I'm now using LED bulbs with a 10000 hour warranty (not blown one yet). I understand some cars (Volvo included I guess) don;t like LED's - the "brain" realises there's lower-than-expected current being drawn (LEDs use much less than normal bulbs) and suspect a fault...thus making the swap from normal to LEDs more awkward.

Not sure of the safety benefits (or not) of a single light. It may improve safety? A couple of years ago, one of my mates ran into the back of the car in front...because he had fogs on (when they weren;t really necessary) and failed to see the brake lights come on - in this instance, a single fog may help.

On a different note (not that this is really the point), I have to say I haven't used fog lights (front or rear) for at least 2 years (not at all on the Volvo which I have had for 12 months) - unless it's to put my rear fogs on when some arse has his front fogs on behind me for no legal or moral reason. The highway code states that visibility has to be less than 100m to use (front or rear) fogs - it's very rare where I live that visibility is that bad... I don't use rear fogs if I can see the car behind in the mirror (as I am sure he can see me if I can see him!)... I know of a few people who have been stopped for driving with (usually front) fogs on illegally - a great reason for police to stop & breathalyse drivers commuting to work in the morning during the festive period!

[Tigerseye]

I'm sure it is for safety reasons as Martink mentioned. You will see on motorways particularly when following a car with two fog lights makes it difficult to see the brake lights - two lights are just not necessary.

It's a major gripe of mine that people don't know when to use them anyway. If they read the highway code they would realise that the times they should use them are few and far between. Like Martink, if you can see the car behind you why have them on? I think I have used my fog lights twice in the last five years.

[ray.ward]

This all makes perfect sense to me and now understand the benefits of having a single operating fog light.

Thanks to everyone for their input

[AlanB]

Don't use the fogs much myself, but last time that I did, it was in France and I thought... this is a but daft, the headlights may have been adjusted for driving on the right, but the rear fogs have not.
Personally, I think that it makes more sense to have them on both sides anyway, having them on just one side only really makes sense if you can see the vehicle and therefore they probably shouldn't be on (or else you are just too close). If you can't see the vehicle, then 2 lights make good sense.
I just wish I knew how to get the tailgate cluster off the car; I undid the 2 bolts on the inside, but it didn't seem to want to come off, and I didn't want to break it. The handbook describes removal for the body mounted cluster only. If I could get at them, I might see if the bulb failure would accept 2 LED lamps where it might show a fail with one LED or 2 filament bulbs.

[stejan1965]

OK Here's a slightly anally retentive addition to this thread:
It's (very) foggy this morning so I used the fog lights. 2 things I notice:

1) There is only a single rear as per the point of this thread. But it is on the offside. The manual says it is on the "left side" which presumably means nearside. Some error in the conversion of the manual for right hand drive?
2) In the instrument binacle I only get an indicator for the front lamp being on and not the rear. Odd.

[SouthOxon]

I have asked about fitting a second rear fog light to my soon-to-be-delivered V70 and the dealer tells me;

Our workshop has now investigated the possibility of the second fog light adaption and I can advise it is possible. However it is not just a case of fitting a bulb in an unused fitting unfortunately and will require a new nearside rear lamp assembly (for a left hand drive model which has the appropriate bulb fitting plumbed in) together with some bespoke wiring. We can do this for a subsidised £176.25 if desired.

Don't think I will bother.

[gtr1000]

Originally Posted by stejan1965

OK Here's a slightly anally retentive addition to this thread:
2) In the instrument binacle I only get an indicator for the front lamp being on and not the rear. Odd.

Ain't this annoying. What were Volvo thinking of when they left the rear fog warning light off the dash display?

Watch out for my de-badged blue V70 at Handy Cross.

[tommyweaves]

Originally Posted by SouthOxon

I have asked about fitting a second rear fog light to my soon-to-be-delivered V70 and the dealer tells me;

Don't think I will bother.

At least they made the effort to find a solution, I doubt many dealers would even bother trying to figure it out.

(Have you got your car yet?)