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My friend asked me to change the globe as only 1 RHS reverse light was illuminating. I changed the globe on the LHS and noticed, the same problem....No light on the LHS, but the RHS was working. Closer examination - which I should have done first LOL - revealed the LHS has a red plastic inner covering, whereas the RHS reverse light has clear covering as you expect.

Fiddling with the dash light controls, it seems the LHS red reverse light does illuminate when I move the 'light' switches on the steering wheel controls to something that is perhaps FOG mode? Not too sure...(It does NOT illuminate with the normal lights either ON or OFF)

Why would one reverse light be RED and only work in strict circumstances (ie FOG) and the RHS reverse light is normal? Can someone explain either WHY this is like this, or how I have misunderstood this.

(Yes, the car is in reverse when I test this...)

Thanks

Grantly
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2 Answers2

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It is very common that cars have a (white) reverse light on one side and a (red) rear fog light at the same place of the other side.

As you noticed, the reverse light is on when you shift into reverse gear, and the rear fog light can be turned on by a rear fog light switch... (Obvious, isn't it?) You'll also find out that the fog light can be on when the gear is not in reverse...

The rear fog light is much brighter than normal backlight and is used when the fog is too dense for normal back light. Under normal conditions, it is too bright and can dazzle others.

Ah, and the rear fog light is independent from the front fog light.

sweber
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  • Yes its obvious now, but not so obvious when I was alone with no mirrors to reflect the functioning lights lol. It helped when someone else assisted me to see when the lights illuminated – Grantly Oct 21 '16 at 16:46
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I did try to google this, and originally failed, but when I used a more general search I found this:

https://www.quora.com/Why-do-most-of-the-new-cars-nowadays-have-a-single-reverse-gear-light-in-the-rear

Apparently you can have a high power red reverse light for FOG, but it uses the same globe so I still don't see how it is brighter or safer than a white light....

Grantly
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