Sure. That's why they are still available on the Prius.

 

I use to think the same in regards to energy & fog lights on the TCH. And the LED tailights surely use less energy than traditional lights. But the Prius comes with fog/driving lights though. So I don't buy the energy argument anymore. I use to have clear fog/driving lights on my last car and I really enjoyed having them. The additional lights really helped illuminate the road in spots the main lights missed.

I'm eagerly anticipating being able to add these lights to my tch with a new corosponding steering wheel stalk like the xle comes with.


This is one of only a couple things I feel toyota missed on the tch. They need fog lights, folding side mirrors with turn indicators, and the mirror controls need to be illuminated! other than that the tch is perfect in my eyes!

 

Hard to say really. The Prius may use the same system conceptually, but it is a completely different car when it comes to energy supply and demand capacities. I'm not sure a direct comparison really reveals the minds of the Toyota decision makers, but I'll admit the true reasons the TCH doesn't have FLs could be far less interesting...

 

Perhaps Toyota felt they were redundant since the low beams are already projectors, similar to fog lights.

 

This makes a hell-of-a lot more sense than any supposed power issue. The Prius Fog Lamps are accessories if you opted for the HID lamps. Their narrower beam needs to be filled in more than the wider beam of the TCH ?
If Toyota was concerned about the miniscule power consumption of fog lamps they would scrap the DRLs, Power Moon Roof etc.

Fog lamps are still an option on the XLE which does not have HIDs even as an option though. So the mystery still persists.

J

 

And that is why I started looking for more obscure reasons... The TCH is definitely in the upper end of the Camry scale, yet something as cheap to do as FLs doesn't get included. They can't get rid of DRLs as they are mandatory in some sales regions. Every car has that capability built in and in some cases whether a car is equipped with DRLs or not is just as simple as a missing fuse. (The Sienna being one example).

 

Whatever the real reason is it's probably the same one they used to not include "Auto Up" on the driver's side window. A rediculous exclusion IMHO.

 

I think the reason FL's aren't standard goes back to the same old standard, MONEY. When you add up the numbers, giving out free fogs on a car which already costs more than your standard doesn't usually make sense, especially when you can up charge an avg 250-300 for them as accessories.

I figure the same goes for the side mirror and moon roof controls not being lit, and the sides of the leather seats being vinyl. Those features were standard on my old accord (except FL's) which was the same price new as the base THC.



I've always found FL's extremely useful. They're not just for fog, they illuminate a wider and lower path even below the low beam's point. This allows you to see thing on the sides of your car as you take tight corners, or are going past some large bushes, etc. I believe this is why Nissan Maximas used to have their FL's aimed at about a 30deg angle to the sides.



FL's are cheap enough to get later, and I prefer getting PIAA's anyway (Better lighting and not as likely to crack from rock chips).



I just don't understand why HID's aren't even an option. I'd pay extra for them in a second. I hate going back to halogen bulbs! At least projectors do a much better job than free form assemblies, but HID's would make it for me.

 

I installed some aftermarket Fog lights in my car last week, but wanted to use the production switch like the SE or XLE. After installation, I took it to my dealer to get the parts as you mentioned in your earlier thread. Nobody seemed to know anything about using the XLE switch in the Hybrid and they recommended I leave the car there over night so they could "research" using an XLE light stalk. They claim the harness in the Hybrid doesn't include wires for fog lights. After 3 days they finally called and said it would probably take 3 to 4 hours including cutting into the production wiring to make this work. I will be picking my care up this afternoon, without them being wired, but They promised to give me the wiring schematics for both the XLE and the Hybrid.

 

Did you run wires yourself when you say you "installed them" or did you just mount them?

Please update this when you get a chance.