I was driving home tonight, and it was very foggy. (Bad enough where I had to slow down to about 10MPH). I tried turning off the headlights, but then I just got the DRLs, no fog lights. Is there no way to use the fog lights without the headlights on? I love the HID headlights, but in a heavy fog they are a pain! Just using the DRLs was better, but having the fog lights on would have been great.

 

There isn't a way to do that without doing some re-wiring.

 

Thank you for the confirmation of what I saw jakenbake.

What an odd design choice. It seems to totally negate the purpose of fog lights.

 

Most cars I have owned functioned this way: Solara, F150, GS300, TL, Prius, X3, RX400h, QX50. The only vehicle I have ever owned that you could turn on just the fog lights was my Tahoe. I am not sure why the Tahoe worked this way but it seems to be the common theme to have the fog lights linked to the headlights.

 

I think that now days that fog lights are just 'cool' ornaments. The true purpose of fog lights is for driving in fog, shining low on the road so the light does not reflect back in your eyes. Having the fog lights linked to the headlights defeats this purpose....

My 98 Mercedes could have just fog lights on, as well as my fathers Ram Truck, and old Pontiac, Chrysler LHS and several other cars I've had in the past. This is the first one I've had that you could not do that...

 

I have done this DIY for my Mazda Miata. The car was so low that one way of making sure you were noticed on the road was to have the fogs always on, especially on daytime.

Unfortunately somebody did the study and I followed the instructions. It has to something to do with constant power ON to the fogs. The fogs’ on-off is still with the original switch. The circuit however is now fed with constant 12V power and the power turns off when ignition is off, instead of a power ON through the headlight circuit. Basically on-off on demand when the ignition is on and auto off when the ignition is off.