97 A4 - Why no option for the light bulb on the right rear side?

Hi - I went to replace a light bulb on my a4 this weekend and came
accross the strangest thing...

On the right side rear, the inner most light (narrow red), the harness
can accept a bulb, but the plastic bulb shileds seem blocked for the
bulb. Meaning if you pluged a bulb into the harness you would not be
able to plug the harness into the shield.

Was looking on ebay and say someone selling a matching OEM set, and
sure enough, theirs was the same way, the left side could accept the
bulb, but it was blocked on the right.

Any ideas?

On 5 Sep 2006 20:01:34 -0700, "Dave" > wrote:

>Hi - I went to replace a light bulb on my a4 this weekend and came
>accross the strangest thing...
>
>On the right side rear, the inner most light (narrow red), the harness
>can accept a bulb, but the plastic bulb shileds seem blocked for the
>bulb. Meaning if you pluged a bulb into the harness you would not be
>able to plug the harness into the shield.
>
>Was looking on ebay and say someone selling a matching OEM set, and
>sure enough, theirs was the same way, the left side could accept the
>bulb, but it was blocked on the right.
>
>Any ideas?

Rear fog lamp. One side only (drivers side, I believe)...

/daytripper
'00 s4 6spd

"Dave" wrote
> Any ideas?

Most European cars have the rear fog light only on the driver's side so
that people don't confuse it with the brake lights.

Pete

On Tue, 5 Sep 2006 23:42:21 -0400, "Pete" >
wrote:

>Most European cars have the rear fog light only on the driver's side so
>that people don't confuse it with the brake lights.

I don't know about other countries, but in the UK, a nearside fog lamp
is permitted, but often not fitted. I don't think that the reason for
this is as you suggest, but rather simply the marginal cost. If fog
lights are to be useful, surely two are better than one?
Unfortunately, the reality is that that would, in practice, probably
mean two to be abused instead of just one...

Peter.

Peter > wrote:

> On Tue, 5 Sep 2006 23:42:21 -0400, "Pete" >
> wrote:
>
> >Most European cars have the rear fog light only on the driver's side so
> >that people don't confuse it with the brake lights.
>
> I don't know about other countries, but in the UK, a nearside fog lamp
> is permitted, but often not fitted. I don't think that the reason for
> this is as you suggest, but rather simply the marginal cost. If fog

Yep if you save a penny in a bulb, penny, in the extra wire, and a few
pence in the man hours saved not fitting all the above, multiplied up by
a million cars is £30,000, multiplied by all the other places they've
saved a penny (clips instead of screws x numerous places etc etc) and
you've made a hell of a saving in the year.

I'm contemplating enabling the left hand 'fog' on the 80 and then
convert the fogs to brakes and fogs to brakes [1]. Currently the car
uses twin filament bulbs for the brake lights and I prefer them on a
seperate bulb for clarity, and the fogs just being 'brighter' rear
lights [2]. The secondary bonus is that you can then pre 'arm' the
foglight then switch on the sidelights which I've always found to be
very effective against tailgators.

[1] Assuming there are no legal 'issues' of having the brake lights on
the tailgate and not on the main body.
[2] My old Cavalier came from the factory like this and I liked the
idea.
--
Jon B
Above email address IS valid.
<http://www.bramley-computers.co.uk/> Apple Laptop Repairs.

Hello Dave,
Same thing happened to me with my 99 A4. I could not find a match
anywhere. No bulb would fit in there. So finally, I simply cut/trimmed
the plastic with an exacto knife until the bulb fully fit.
I'm sure there is probably a better solution but it suited me fine.

Dave wrote:
> Hi - I went to replace a light bulb on my a4 this weekend and came
> accross the strangest thing...
>
> On the right side rear, the inner most light (narrow red), the harness
> can accept a bulb, but the plastic bulb shileds seem blocked for the
> bulb. Meaning if you pluged a bulb into the harness you would not be
> able to plug the harness into the shield.
>
> Was looking on ebay and say someone selling a matching OEM set, and
> sure enough, theirs was the same way, the left side could accept the
> bulb, but it was blocked on the right.
>
> Any ideas?