A bright idea

[Moi]

One irritating thing about the company car, you can't turn the fogs on unless the lights on are, ie, not DRL.

Not asking Gremlin, just an observation...

In the past, like last millennium, owned a Sigma with OEM foglights that were part of the headlight assembly. With that car you had two options: headlights and parking/side lights OR foglights and parking/side lights. The car was wired that way and when either were on the tail lights were on too - no rear foglight fitted.

To get a WoF then it was either headlights or foglights - not both at the same time.

So, have NZTA changed the regs on headlights/foglights so you can have both on? [bit pointless when headlights reflect back off the fog particles - try driving in fog at night]. Or are WoF checks not done on lighting properly? Or has the vehicle not got a WoF?


Also, the number of vehicles with lights that are not white facing to the front or not red facing to the rear [not commenting on orange indicator lights or reversing lights].

[neels]

So, have NZTA changed the regs on headlights/foglights so you can have both on? [bit pointless when headlights reflect back off the fog particles - try driving in fog at night]. Or are WoF checks not done on lighting properly? Or has the vehicle not got a WoF?

The rules around that seem to have varied over the years. At one point I had a ford fairmont with factory fitted and wired fog/driving lamps, which I had to rewire I think 3 times to satisfy the changing WOF requirements in the time I had the car.

I think now they work mostly on the basis that they're ok if that's how they were fitted at the factory, because there are so many variables, I did have to adjust a fog light recently to point it the right way so there are obviously still some rules.

Something new to me a recently was that it was ok to disconnect a fog light with a discoloured reflector, previously experience had been that if it was there it had to work, ended up having to fix it anyway as the car kept getting angry and telling me the lamps had failed...

It would be nice if the lady with the estima van who lives near me didn't feel the need to drive with the low beam, high beam and fog lights all on......

[Gremlin]

So, have NZTA changed the regs on headlights/foglights so you can have both on? [bit pointless when headlights reflect back off the fog particles - try driving in fog at night]. Or are WoF checks not done on lighting properly? Or has the vehicle not got a WoF?

I think now they work mostly on the basis that they're ok if that's how they were fitted at the factory, because there are so many variables, I did have to adjust a fog light recently to point it the right way so there are obviously still some rules.

It's pretty much this at a high level. If it's OEM, the manufacturer has had to satisfy multiple sets of regulations around the world, and we're far too small to be trying to throw our weight around with special regs. You'll see it multiple clauses that if it's OEM, then it's OK. There are still performance requirements, ie, around headlights that they throw to the left, not right, not too high, but this is all adjustable (and can get out of adjustment). You only start running into issues if you change from OEM, as then... well, it's not OEM, and the usual regs are in effect.

The only time I've seen it not work, and I tried to go as far as calling NZTA, that motorcycles were not fitted with park lamps according to the VIRM, therefore couldn't have them. My owners manual specifically mentioned operation of the park lamp, but VTNZ and NZTA declared it as a forward facing position lamp (limit 2), which technically didn't actually meet the intent. Anyway, I'd fitted two additional forward facing position lamps, and was now out of compliance, as they counted 3.

In the end, the NZTA call went nowhere. I told them it had a park lamp, they said it didn't, I told them forward facing position lamps stated a demonstration of the outline of the vehicle, in the centre didn't work... but they either didn't really care, or didn't understand. It was like talking to a brick wall that wouldn't forward me to a manager. No idea if those specifics changed, I had to change otherwise it was a hassle every year.