I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: __ Auto Lights & Wiper function
Read the manual and have gone through the various menus on the car’s settings but first time driving the car in the dark last night and with the lights switch set to ‘Auto’ the headlights did not come on automatically when I started the engine. I had to manually turn them on.
The Auto lights menu setting was set to “Medium”.
It doesn’t make clear the various levels in the manual what sensitivity “High” to “Low” equates to. Maybe I am being really dense on this as my Volvo lights override the DRLs quite quickly even just driving through heavily tree shaded stretches or if the wipers turn on.
If I understand the system in the Mazda the lights and wipers use the same sensor? If this is the case, I have noticed that the auto wiper function is a bit “hit and miss” in it’s operation. On my recent drive to Speyside in torrential rain they worked but a similar wet drive last week they refused to operate on ‘Auto’, requiring me to turn them on manually.
Is there a known problem with the sensor failing or being inconsistent in working or is it a case of operator error?
The car is due a service in about 4500 miles so it will be flagged with the dealer when it goes in…
Thanks in advance
Bob
The lights and wipers don’t use the same sensor but they could be in the same module. The auto wipers on all cars can be a bit hit and miss, also in the settings you can turn the rain sensing off and just have manual wipers with variable intermittent speed.
As for the lights there is something wrong there, they should have come on. The sensitivity is how dark it i before they come on, but I find medium works fine.
Just tried this ‘workaround’ while out in the car this morning - works fine so have turned off the “Auto Wiper” function for now. This option was a footnote in the wiper section when I looked at the manual again!!!
I’ve always found the auto wipe on my Volvos to work perfectly - I’m going to assume the sensor is faulty as, mentioned below, it works both the lights and wipers…
KJ-MX5 - I knew I’d read it somewhere - from the “Lighting Control” section in the web manual… “The light sensor also works as a rain sensor for the auto-wiper control.”
The sensors are in one module but are two different areas within the module.
The light sensor measures light from above and in front of the vehicle to operate the lights. The rain sensor looks at how light is reflected off the windscreen to determine if there is water on it.
The sensitivity in the settings only adjusts the auto lights.
