A technical question for the lighting system and bulbs

billzhangzy · Apr 13, 2016

Hi all
I've relocated from Seattle to Luxembourg, and somehow I decided to move my 2015 CX-5 with me.
Since I've arrived, now I need to change the yellow bulbs in the front corner (signal lights?) to white in order to be compliance with EU standard.

However, the local Mazda Dealer told me that I had to change the entire lighting set and the wirings because the EU made Mazda doesn't have same design and component as the US ones.
And I can't just change the bulbs.

To me, I completely don't understand. And I don't believe the manufacturer would design the car in the way it's some hard to fix and replace those components.

So my question is do you guys think this is reasonable?
Is it true that the whole lighting system is different between EU and US, so that changing a bulb is impossible without changing the whole module?
Ultimately, is there a way to just change the yellow bulbs to white?

Thank you

Bill

rsvinylgraphics · Apr 13, 2016

Check your owners manual for the bulb numbers, in your picture, one of them looks to be an 1157A bulb - the "A" stands for amber so you would just need to an 1157 (no a). 1157 is clear bulb.

Not sure what size the other bulb is...

yrwei52 · Apr 13, 2016

billzhangzy said:
Hi all
I've relocated from Seattle to Luxembourg, and somehow I decided to move my 2015 CX-5 with me.
Since I've arrived, now I need to change the yellow bulbs in the front corner (signal lights?) to white in order to be compliance with EU standard.
View attachment 213749

However, the local Mazda Dealer told me that I had to change the entire lighting set and the wirings because the EU made Mazda doesn't have same design and component as the US ones.
And I can't just change the bulbs.

To me, I completely don't understand. And I don't believe the manufacturer would design the car in the way it's some hard to fix and replace those components.

So my question is do you guys think this is reasonable?
Is it true that the whole lighting system is different between EU and US, so that changing a bulb is impossible without changing the whole module?
Ultimately, is there a way to just change the yellow bulbs to white?

Thank you

Bill

You can't blame this on car manufactures as EU has different regulations than the US. Their turn signals have to be independent from parking lights, tail lights and the US only side markers. The tail lights normally have no issues as US only red rear side-marker and reflector are built into whole tail-light unit which doesn't interfere EU's regulation as long as the amber rear turn-signal is separated from them like CX-5 does. Mazda also moved US only red rear reflectors into rear bumper, used for rear fog light in EU.

Unfortunately you don't have a LED equipped 2016 CX-5, otherwise you can do this simple mod and your CX-5 would totally meet EU lighting regulations.

Changing your front amber turn signal and parking light dual-filament 1157NA bulb to clear 1157 bulb won't solve your problem either. Because by doing this, you lost front "amber" turn signal, and clear/white turn-signal definitely doesn't meet EU regulations.

You can try those switch-back LEDs discussed in the same thread but designed for replacing your different 1157NA bulbs. At least now you have an independent bright-off-bright-off pattern of front amber turn signal in the dark when your parking lights are on, and a white parking light when the turn signal is off. The only question is your turn signal and parking-light are still at the same location, I'm not sure if the inspector will have an issue on this. Make sure to get "Type B" switch-back LEDs mentioned in this post hence your turn-signal is kind of flashing independently from the parking light. Of course you have to get serial resister and cut the wiring harness to prevent hyper-flashing.

I'm not sure if rear fog light is required in Luxembourg. If it is, that would be a bigger issue for you.

You should have found out all the EU automobile regulations before you considered shipping your US version CX-5 to Luxembourg. Now you're there, you may have to pay the "penalty" to the Mazda dealer or whatever the shop dong the inspection so that you can pass it and legally drive your US version CX-5 in Europe.

yrwei52 · Apr 14, 2016

The other reason the Mazda dealer in Luxembourg wanting the whole headlight unit replaced is because the US headlight lens on CX-5 only stamped SAE/DOT certification and doesn't have any E-code approval such as "E4" because E-code headlights have specific standards on light output pattern and cut-off. I'd suggest after you switched "switch-back" 1157 LEDs, try to find a smaller shop which can do the certification, and may be they're not as picky as a Mazda dealer who knows your US headlights are not EU certified.

Krychekxf · Apr 14, 2016

Did they give you a quote to change the lights? I was at my dealer getting an oil change and recall fix and the guy told a lady that was having some work done on her car that they noticed her back tail light was out and said it would be $60 to fix it (change the bulb). I can only imagine how much it would be for the whole unit. The lady replied to the guy..."you're killing me"....lol.

billzhangzy · Apr 14, 2016

yrwei52 said:
You can't blame this on car manufactures as EU has different regulations than the US. Their turn signals have to be independent from parking lights, tail lights and the US only side markers. The tail lights normally have no issues as US only red rear side-marker and reflector are built into whole tail-light unit which doesn't interfere EU's regulation as long as the amber rear turn-signal is separated from them like CX-5 does. Mazda also moved US only red rear reflectors into rear bumper, used for rear fog light in EU.

Unfortunately you don't have a LED equipped 2016 CX-5, otherwise you can do this simple mod and your CX-5 would totally meet EU lighting regulations.

Changing your front amber turn signal and parking light dual-filament 1157NA bulb to clear 1157 bulb won't solve your problem either. Because by doing this, you lost front "amber" turn signal, and clear/white turn-signal definitely doesn't meet EU regulations.

You can try those switch-back LEDs discussed in the same thread but designed for replacing your different 1157NA bulbs. At least now you have an independent bright-off-bright-off pattern of front amber turn signal in the dark when your parking lights are on, and a white parking light when the turn signal is off. The only question is your turn signal and parking-light are still at the same location, I'm not sure if the inspector will have an issue on this. Make sure to get "Type B" switch-back LEDs mentioned in this post hence your turn-signal is kind of flashing independently from the parking light. Of course you have to get serial resister and cut the wiring harness to prevent hyper-flashing.

I'm not sure if rear fog light is required in Luxembourg. If it is, that would be a bigger issue for you.

You should have found out all the EU automobile regulations before you considered shipping your US version CX-5 to Luxembourg. Now you're there, you may have to pay the "penalty" to the Mazda dealer or whatever the shop dong the inspection so that you can pass it and legally drive your US version CX-5 in Europe.

You are absolutely right! Thanks for your reply!
I was not fully clear about the requirement, now after talking to a mechanic and reading your reply. I understand it now.
The side lights in the back can be turned off, that's not a big deal, and registration authority didn't ask me to equip the rear fog light.
As you said, the dual functional signal lamps are the main issue, which does require not changing the lamp but modify the whole wiring and controlling.
The "Type B" switch-back LEDs you mentioned seem to be a good solution, or should I say the only solution if I don't want to change the whole lighting system.
Just to make sure I understand this solution.
I will need to get the "Type B" switch-back LEDs + the load/serial resistor + cut the wiring harness for the existing amber signal lamps.

Do you know if the model in the ebay link can be applied on CX-5? It says "not compatible" and whether this is considered to be a simple mod that any mechanic can do it?
Since that one doesn't send to Luxembourg, do you see any same model on Amazon.com? How about this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)

Thank you very much!

yrwei52 · Apr 15, 2016

billzhangzy said:
You are absolutely right! Thanks for your reply!
I was not fully clear about the requirement, now after talking to a mechanic and reading your reply. I understand it now.
The side lights in the back can be turned off, that's not a big deal, and registration authority didn't ask me to equip the rear fog light.
As you said, the dual functional signal lamps are the main issue, which does require not changing the lamp but modify the whole wiring and controlling.
The "Type B" switch-back LEDs you mentioned seem to be a good solution, or should I say the only solution if I don't want to change the whole lighting system.
Just to make sure I understand this solution.
I will need to get the "Type B" switch-back LEDs + the load/serial resistor + cut the wiring harness for the existing amber signal lamps.

Do you know if the model in the ebay link can be applied on CX-5? It says "not compatible" and whether this is considered to be a simple mod that any mechanic can do it?
Since that one doesn't send to Luxembourg, do you see any same model on Amazon.com? How about this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)

Thank you very much!

The https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned) of Type B switch-back LEDs provided by Anonymous MD are for 7444NA bulbs used on 2016 CX-5 LED headlights, not for 1157NA bulb sockets you have. You can see the video provided by the eBay seller how this Type B switch-back LED works. Basically you want turn-signal blinks as amber-off-amber-off (Type B switch-back), not amber-white-amber-white (Type A switch-back). Unless the seller has a video showing how his LED works, otherwise it's hard to tell.

Here is https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned) selling on Amazon. This is what you need but I doubt it's a Type B though. Send an email to seller making sure they're Type-B switch-back LEDs.

This https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned) on Amazon are Type B but expensive.

This https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned) are Type B too.

You then get a set of 50W-6Ω load resistors for above Type B switch-back LEDs on Amazon. Many cars can use electronic flasher relay instead of load resistors to prevent hyper flashing. Unfortunately CX-5 may have flasher relay built in somewhere and nobody knows where the relay is.

"I will need to get the "Type B" switch-back LEDs + the load/serial resistor + cut the wiring harness for the existing amber signal lamps." Exactly. The only tricky thing is finding one of the two power (+12V) wires for turn-signal and hook up the load resister. You leave the second positive (+12V) wire alone for white parking LED chips on the LED.

I assume you have 1157NA bulbs for front turn signals. To make sure, either check your owner's manual, or pull out the bulb and check the number stamped on the bulb base.

Anonymous MD · Apr 15, 2016

https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned)

these look like type B . looks like resistors come with it if you want em .

A technical question for the lighting system and bulbs

billzhangzy

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rsvinylgraphics

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yrwei52

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yrwei52

2016 Mazda CX-5 GT AWD w/Tech Pkg

Krychekxf

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billzhangzy

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yrwei52

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Anonymous MD

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