Auto Lights Setting

Faults and Technical chat for the Mazda CX-3
Idavies999
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Post by Idavies999 »

Hi

Can anybody help me with the settings for Auto Lights. Mine is set to Medium currently but I'm not sure which settings making the auto lights more or less sensitive, e.g does Low mean they are less sensitive. The auto lights don't seem to come on the same as other cars do so i can be sat in traffic and other cars lights come on but mine don't, yet if its dark they do.

Thanks
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Deleted User 1027

Post by Deleted User 1027 »

Sorry but don't use auto lights for a safety reason.

An example is yesterday i was travelling on the motorway at 11.00am and it was lashing it down and if i had left my lights on auto they would not have come on as the light levels would not have activated them.

However you could hardly see 100 yards in front of you and needed headlights to be seen to other road users.

The number of drivers with no lights was probably down to auto lights and this is one reason i don't use them.
Strangways
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Post by Strangways »

I'm with MJC on this, I don't use them for safety reasons either. I once had them on auto and they turned themselves on. The guy waiting to pull out of a side road thought I was indicating to him and pulled straight out in front of me. Needless to say I will never use auto lights again.
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jtonline
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Post by jtonline »

Refers to sensitivity. If High the lights will come on when the ambient light is brighter than if set to Low.
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HouseSpider
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Post by HouseSpider »

MJC1216 wrote: Fri May 31, 2019 9:15 am Sorry but don't use auto lights for a safety reason.

An example is yesterday i was travelling on the motorway at 11.00am and it was lashing it down and if i had left my lights on auto they would not have come on as the light levels would not have activated them.

However you could hardly see 100 yards in front of you and needed headlights to be seen to other road users.

The number of drivers with no lights was probably down to auto lights and this is one reason i don't use them.
So in the bad weather you override the auto change the setting to on. By not using the auto function you still have to be aware to put your lights on in such a situation. So not really any difference.
But by not using the auto function you're in danger of forgetting to turn the lights on at dawn or dusk which I have seen so many times. As much if not more dangerous than in rainy conditions.
Additional flashing lights is a warning signal - see the highway code. You should always be aware someone might pull out of a side road irrespective of your lights or other road users.
I always have my auto lights on set to the most sensitive setting.
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Strangways
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Post by Strangways »

HouseSpider wrote: Sat Jun 01, 2019 7:22 pm
MJC1216 wrote: Fri May 31, 2019 9:15 am Sorry but don't use auto lights for a safety reason.

An example is yesterday i was travelling on the motorway at 11.00am and it was lashing it down and if i had left my lights on auto they would not have come on as the light levels would not have activated them.

However you could hardly see 100 yards in front of you and needed headlights to be seen to other road users.

The number of drivers with no lights was probably down to auto lights and this is one reason i don't use them.
So in the bad weather you override the auto change the setting to on. By not using the auto function you still have to be aware to put your lights on in such a situation. So not really any difference.
But by not using the auto function you're in danger of forgetting to turn the lights on at dawn or dusk which I have seen so many times. As much if not more dangerous than in rainy conditions.
Additional flashing lights is a warning signal - see the highway code. You should always be aware someone might pull out of a side road irrespective of your lights or other road users.
I always have my auto lights on set to the most sensitive setting.
How on earth did you manage to drive in the days before we had auto lights? Maybe if you are unable to judge when your lights should be on or off you should just keep them on all the time. Then everybody would be happy.
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hsdejong
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Post by hsdejong »

MJC1216 wrote: Fri May 31, 2019 9:15 am An example is yesterday i was travelling on the motorway at 11.00am and it was lashing it down and if i had left my lights on auto they would not have come on as the light levels would not have activated them.
From the CX-3 Owners manual :
If the headlight switch and the windshield wiper switch are in AUTO, and the wipers are operated at low or high speed by the auto wiper control for several seconds, bad weather conditions are determined and the headlights may be turned on.

I can confirm the above function from my own experience.
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HouseSpider
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Post by HouseSpider »

Strangways wrote: Sat Jun 01, 2019 9:04 pm
HouseSpider wrote: Sat Jun 01, 2019 7:22 pm
MJC1216 wrote: Fri May 31, 2019 9:15 am Sorry but don't use auto lights for a safety reason.

An example is yesterday i was travelling on the motorway at 11.00am and it was lashing it down and if i had left my lights on auto they would not have come on as the light levels would not have activated them.

However you could hardly see 100 yards in front of you and needed headlights to be seen to other road users.

The number of drivers with no lights was probably down to auto lights and this is one reason i don't use them.
So in the bad weather you override the auto change the setting to on. By not using the auto function you still have to be aware to put your lights on in such a situation. So not really any difference.
But by not using the auto function you're in danger of forgetting to turn the lights on at dawn or dusk which I have seen so many times. As much if not more dangerous than in rainy conditions.
Additional flashing lights is a warning signal - see the highway code. You should always be aware someone might pull out of a side road irrespective of your lights or other road users.
I always have my auto lights on set to the most sensitive setting.
How on earth did you manage to drive in the days before we had auto lights? Maybe if you are unable to judge when your lights should be on or off you should just keep them on all the time. Then everybody would be happy.
You seem to have misread my post. Whether you use the auto headlights ( and it doesn't work quite as hsdedong has pointed out) or not, you still have to manually change the light setting.
You are implying that because you have had one instance of the auto system flashing someone it is therefore unsafe for everyone. I would say it was the driver pulling out that was unsafe, not the system. If you have the blind spot monitoring system and someone else side swiped you, would you blame the system or the other driver?
By your standards you will blame the systems and tools rather than any operator error?
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Turbo
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Post by Turbo »

Mine in the 5500 miles I have driven it has operated 100% flawlessly, couldn't be better
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AndyRen
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Post by AndyRen »

Only time my lights are NOT on auto is after a service (or MOT) where the mechanic has reset them to 'off' (but without going out to the car I couldn't tell you what particular setting they're on))
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