Are the OEM Fog Lights designed to work this badly?

Driving back home last night after a nice dinner with my wife enjoyable live Jazz music, and it's the country. There are no street lights. It's farm country. It's snowing pretty hard. I turn on the fogs, and thought, wait-what? They seem to be angled out, and add very little additional illumination down low.

Do the OEMs work this badly on everyone else's Taco?
Wow - I was expecting a bit more effectiveness under the circumstances.
Could it be that for snow, they aren't that useful, but better for fog? With them angled out, I can imagine how they would aid in seeing the lane marker, and the side of the road...

 

I always thought mine were pretty effective, but I rarely drive in the snow. How do you think they do in situations without snow? It could be that the snowflakes were obstructing a lot of the light. Someone with more knowledge of lighting will be along.

 

Mine only angle up and down, but they are the wide angle fogs in my Tacoma. Tundra has the OEM LED’s

 

It’s normal- fogs are intended to help you see the fog line on a Hwy and other parts of the edges or the road without sending glare reflecting back into your face.

 

It is my belief that this is exactly the purpose of fog lights.
Ever notice that in a snowstorm high beams are worse than lows? Snow scatters light much more than rain, so both high beams & fogs really can't be very effective in snowy conditions

I guess 'badly' is subjective. I think that they work just fine in foggy & rainy conditions.
What annoys me are those who NEVER shut their fog lights off. They can be a bit of a challenge to oncoming traffic in clear conditions. My old tired pupils seem to narrow quickly from oncoming light but once past they can be slow to widen.

 

I'd take that any day, for about the past couple of years (it seems, I am not sure exactly how long it's been) it seems about 1 in every 5 or 6 vehicles is driving with their F'n high beams on all the time.

 

Do you have the OEM LED fog lamps or the basic halogen units?

During the 3G run (I believe it was 2020) Toyota discontinued using the better performing H11 fog lamps for the TRD models and stepped down to the base H16 version found in other Tacomas.

There are plenty of upgrade options as found in this thread.

In a pinch early 3G H11 fogs are a very cheap upgrade option with the OEM LED being another mid-price option. The Diode Dynamics SS3 are where you want to be if you want truly high performance units.

 

Well thanks for all the feedback. Re-assuring. OK, they are working as designed it is!

I don't know why I expected more, except, this is the first time owning a truck (I had a Jeep but that was down south), and now I'm up quite a bit higher than an Audi A4 or Subaru Outback, and yeah, the snow wasn't providing for much forward illumination for the fogs.
But, if the intended purpose is locating center-lane marker to one's left, and the side of the road and it's marker to the right, then it seemed to be doing that.

I'm with you, but for me, it's not from the fog-lights of others as much as it's from their headlights, and usually not because of others leaving their high-beams on, but that F'ing Sh_tty Awful "cold" (as opposed to warm incandescent color) LED lamps, probably not aimed correctly. Those are the killers for seniors like me. I REFUSE to use COLD LED bulbs in all applications, automotive or other. YMMV - no intention to start a warm vs. cold war, I just can't stand them, like I just can't stand pitch correction / auto-tune in new music recordings. I think I'm getting old.

And yeah, I'm a luddite, which is funny, because I use high-technology every day on the job.

Fairly certain they are the non-LED variety in my TRD Sport.

 

I was very disappointed as well with my stock H16 bulb fogs. Replaced them with fogs from a 2019 that used H11 bulbs. I replaced H11 bulbs with yellow H9’s and results were much better but still not satisfied. So I yanked OEM fogs out and replaced with aftermarket LED fogs from Diode Dynamics. Satisfied.

 

H11 bulbs can be easily converted to H16’s- just snip off the tab between a H11 bulb’s plug sockets with small diagonal cutter or a knife. You can also do the same for your halogen H16 low beams too- either just pull off the green tab on the H16 low beam light socket to turn it into a H11, or snip the prongs off the H11 bulbs to turn them into H16’s.

 

Yes, you are correct. However I think the lenses on the H16 fogs are plastic while the lenses on the H11 fogs are glass. Not sure how the H11’s extra heat output will affect the plastic lenses?

 

I drive through some farmland here in MT in the snow, pretty much I just leave the fog lights on all the time for that extra road edge visibility. Not much is going to help you see straight ahead in a snow unless you get down there and add MORE lights.
(which some people do, but damn near all of them with those LED bars and whatnot just wire them to the damn headlights so their on all the time and blinding people. Hate that lazy wiring.)

 

I'm no lighting expert but my understanding is that a true "fog light" is amber or yellow in color which doesn't reflect off of rain, snow or fog back at the driver. OEM lights in the fog pod location below the headlights are actually a "driving light". These lights can actually make it harder to see when used in conjunction with the headlights in said conditions.

 

Fog lights in the "old days" were only in yellow. I'm talking 1950's to 1970's. I had them an all my rides back then. Now a fog light can be yellow or white with the new technology. The lights below the headlights can be any type of light. Fog, driving or other. Anyone remember aircraft landing lights on your car? I used them too.

 

From a geezer who has lived in The Great White Northwest for 25 years...
Fog lights are not intended for you to see better through the snow. Maybe fog, but not snow. They are NOT the magical 'Hollywood Premier' searchlights blasting through the weather and lighting up everything for 3-400 yards. (Wouldn't that be nice? And not having to watch for a deer to decide to commit suicide right in front of you?)
There is one thing and one thing only you can do in the snow... Low beams, and slow waaaaay down.
Let the ants-in-their-pants idiot behind you blast by you and kill themself.

 

it's the race of the tortoise and the hare.

 

It's how I got this old without killing myself... (I tried when I was young, but failed.. LOL!)

 

Yes, one of the things I didn't mention is that I want to avoid having one of the deer here come though my windshield. The high-beams provide a good deal of lighting and help you see the reflection of their eyes on the side of the road with advance notice if you're paying attention.
In a snowstorm and fog, you are definitely correct, slow down, way down. And if it's a white-out, try to get off the road. Even if you slow way down in those conditions, your forward situational awareness is only a few feet forward of the front bumper.

 

Lights don't help with deer. You can mount the sun on your hood and it won't stop that dumbass 20 yards in the bush from darting out 10 feet in front of you at 40 mph. I've seen deer run into the side of vehicles. No amount of light will prevent that shit.
And my.OEM dogs work fine. Dense fog, turn headlights off and still be able to creep between the lines that you see. Same in a snowstorm. Fogs are designed for slow visibility.

 

keep your headlights on; if they aren't on, neither are your tail lights. especially in heavy fog roll the window down and listen for traffic or the sound of crunching metal and slow down accordingly. if you have running lights, leave them on. You may have slowed down, doesn't mean someone isn't racing up your chute, give them every indication of an oncoming obstacle.