Mazda CX-50 Forum banner

Drive with headlights off

10K views 39 replies 15 participants last post by  RedBaron 
#1 ·
At work, I have to enter through a gate. At night, we are required to turn off the headlights to not blind the security guard.
On my CX-50 the headlights are always on at night when in drive.
even selecting OFF- the headlights will stay on.
Any way to disable this ?
 
#2 ·
I asked my dealer today to see if there's an option in the module to permanently disable the auto on feature, and sadly there isn't. I haven't tried this at night, but I've had luck during the day with pressing the button at the end of the switch, then turning the lights to off.
 
#3 ·
At work, I have to enter through a gate. At night, we are required to turn off the headlights to not blind the security guard.
On my CX-50 the headlights are always on at night when in drive.
even selecting OFF- the headlights will stay on.
Any way to disable this ?
Go into the lighting setting in the infotainment.

Pretty sure it’s Settings>Vehicle Settings>Lighting>DRL Lights

But don’t quote me because I’m not in the car. You can turn the DRL option to “off” and it will disable the lights in drive while the light switch is in “off” position. While in Auto, they will function normally but will be off during the daytime by default until it gets dark enough to trigger the sensor.

So going into work, you’d have your headlights on AUTO and switch them to OFF when approaching your guard shack. =)
 
#25 ·
Go into the lighting setting in the infotainment. Pretty sure it’s Settings>Vehicle Settings>Lighting>DRL Lights But don’t quote me because I’m not in the car. You can turn the DRL option to “off” and it will disable the lights in drive while the light switch is in “off” position. While in Auto, they will function normally but will be off during the daytime by default until it gets dark enough to trigger the sensor. So going into work, you’d have your headlights on AUTO and switch them to OFF when approaching your guard shack. =)
This does not work on 2023 models, if the car is moving and it's dark the headlights will not go off when switching to off, only if car is sitting stopped, as soon as you move they come on. I too have to enter a gated military installation and cannot turn my headlights off at night or early morning, I just tell the guy there is no way. They get pissed. It's absurd to not be able turn off your lights ...very annoying, I hate it
 
#6 ·
I agree there should be an override for this setting. I remember when those of us that had our 50 before Christmas went nuts about this. Being the only car driving through a Christmas light neighborhood display that couldn’t turn off your lights was fun.
 
#8 ·
If you spin the headlight switch down to off after start up it's supposed to keep the lights from turning on. I find that the lights will still turn on as soon as it senses darker conditions. The button on the stalk is to keep the auto high beams from operating. Our CX-5 has normal headlight function with the OPTION to set automatic. Much prefer that set up.

Also, don't care for the auto park brake feature - not good for the life of the rotors confirmed by my Mazda technician and it drives me crazy that the fuel door lock open and closes each time I enter/exit the vehicle.

Despite these automatic "nannies" I really like the car.
 
#18 ·
At work, I have to enter through a gate. At night, we are required to turn off the headlights to not blind the security guard.
On my CX-50 the headlights are always on at night when in drive.
even selecting OFF- the headlights will stay on.
Any way to disable this ?
Did you try my suggestion? While I haven't tried this at night, it works in my garage and when going thru the car wash. When the auto lights come on, you'll see 2 indicators on the dash. The one on the left is a headlight with an "A", meaning auto lights are enabled, the other is the lights on indicator itself. Press the "A" button that's at the end of the light switch stalk. You'll notice that the "A" indicator on the dash is no longer illuminated. Now turn the light switch itself to Off and see if the lights turn off and stay off. I've found that if I don't press the "A" switch first, rotating the lights to Off has no effect. And since auto high beams is controlled in the settings menu, I'm pretty sure that's not what that switch is for.

Car Speedometer Tachometer Steering part Odometer
Plant Car Vehicle Speedometer Motor vehicle
 
#21 ·
Did you try my suggestion? While I haven't tried this at night, it works in my garage and when going thru the car wash. When the auto lights come on, you'll see 2 indicators on the dash. The one on the left is a headlight with an "A", meaning auto lights are enabled, the other is the lights on indicator itself. Press the "A" button that's at the end of the light switch stalk. You'll notice that the "A" indicator on the dash is no longer illuminated. Now turn the light switch itself to Off and see if the lights turn off and stay off. I've found that if I don't press the "A" switch first, rotating the lights to Off has no effect. And since auto high beams is controlled in the settings menu, I'm pretty sure that's not what that switch is for.
Well hot damn... I never noticed that end button before! You forced me to go RTFM :)

This is what it says about that button (not sure if there are other functions or not). I always found that the auto-dim headlights to not be very responsive in my CX-50. They work better in our CX-5, plus you can dim by pulling the stalk back. The only way I knew (previously) to dim the auto headlights in the 50 was to turn it off auto - where I would then forget to turn it back on. This button saves that, thanks!

Motor vehicle Font Auto part Steering wheel Advertising
 
#20 ·
Hmm, when rolling thru the car wash tunnel, the speedo actually registers 1 mph and i-stop is deactivated, but my lights stay off. I'm traveling out of town a bit later and will be driving at night, guess I'll have to test this.
 
#27 ·
At work, I have to enter through a gate. At night, we are required to turn off the headlights to not blind the security guard.
On my CX-50 the headlights are always on at night when in drive.
even selecting OFF- the headlights will stay on.
Any way to disable this ?
I've tried everything, nothing works ....what a stupid idea to not be able to deactivate this feature
 
#28 ·
Absurd, you hate it, insanely stupid and stupid.
Sell it.
Going to drive you mad one day by the sounds of it.
In Canada we have mandatory day running lights (DRLs) for years.
Never heard anyone complain about them at all.

Just another government enforced nanny for those that aren’t smart enough to use them when required.
Kind of like the auto headlights that never turned on taillights, and people would drive in the dark with no rear lighting. Thankfully that feature has been modified to turn on taillights now.

Not sure what’s next to be forced upon drivers as vehicles seem to be more automated every year.

Fact of the matter is, drivers are getting more reliant on built in safety features that they have become worse drivers that don’t pay attention because the vehicle will do the thinking for them……sometimes.
🤔
 
#34 ·
I have one great reason why not being able to turn off your headlights when the car is in motion is actually dangerous. I was traveling down a road without any street lights and was suddenly hit by a snow squall.. very large flakes blowing right at me. My LEDs caused a reflection back at me where I can only see about one car length in front of me and sometimes even less than that causing me to have to reduce my speed to below 20 miles an hour in order to see the lines on the road. Being able to shut the headlights off and just have the parking lights and or hazards on would have made it more safe for me to see the road but still be lit up enough for other drivers to see me. In this situation not being able to turn off the headlights is completely and totally dangerous. The same we're probably apply to fog.
 
#37 ·
Has anyone tried the procedure from the CX-5 to turn off the DRLs? I've not tried it myself, but here are the steps I copied down:

Disable DRLs
NOTE: you must complete the whole process in under 23 sec.

1) Apply the parking brake (up/ON)
2) Press START button once (car set to ignition, but engine is off)
3) Press brake pedal down and hold during the whole time
4) Within 2secs from 3), turn parking light on and off 5 times. on - off - on - off - on - off , etc.
ending with the switch off - complete this within 5 secs
5) Within 2secs from 4), press hazard light switch 10 times (i.e. on and off 5 times) - complete
this within 5 secs
6) Within 2secs from 5), turn parking light on and off 5 times (same as step 4)

DONE:

7) to check if the DRL still comes on, simply disengage the parking brake. If it doesn’t come on, then you’re done. Otherwise repeat the process again.
 
Top