Reverse Fog Light December 19, 2006

Rear foglights???

I’ve never heard of this feature offers on automobiles … well with the exception of off-roading vehicles … but not on street driven cars.

From what I understand, MINI being an European automobile, rear foglights are a safety necessity in Europe where the fog can be thick and visibility compromised. Therefore MINIs shipped over-seas are factory equipped with the rear foglight feature. However, in the United States there are many states which deem the implementation of rear foglight illegal, specifically California.

To make a long story short, MINI was forced to offer rear foglights as an option rather than a standard feature on U.S.-bound MINIs.

Ok so what??

Well if you are like me and didn’t see the need for the rear foglight option, you were provided a black plastic cover used to fill-in the void. Not only is this useless but also cosmetically unappealing.

During my last visit to MINI of Hawaii’s Service Center I inquired on the costs to retrofit Kahu with the rear foglight option.

$284 which included labor!! WTF!? I was told that all MINIs come pre-wired from the factory for this option, so I’m guessing installation would include the following:

• Rear foglight part, including installation
• Toggle switch, including installation
• Software programing to active rear foglight

Couldn’t justify their price but couldn’t stand that black plastic thingy.

Enter MyMini.com which retails the Reverse Foglight Kit designed by ****. For $31, which includes shipping to Hawaii, I had the same cosmetic look as the dealership-installed rear foglight option, with a working additional reverse light. For another $12, MyMini offers a similar kit to integrate a fourth brakelight.

Not bad, I’ve saved $253 while keeping the stock rear foglight appearance. Did I mention the housing is Original Equipment Manufactured (OEM)? Yep.