AWD activation

wbw

:
'16 Chevy Equinox 3.6 AWD, 2017 VW GTI
I know that the CX5 is a front drive biased vehicle and the rear drive gets activated as necessary. Does anyone know if the rear drive is activated whenever the car starts from a standstill. Some AWD cars do. My Equinox (which has a Haldex system) will put power to the rear wheels every time it starts up from a stop. I like that setup. Do we know if the CX5 does that? I've watched video reviews of the CX5 but am not certain if it functions this way. I know that it comes on when there is slippage or it predicts slippery conditions.

In snow conditions, I like that my Equinox always starts up with AWD. I find that it also makes it easier for me to drive the Equinox up onto ramps for changing oil. I have had FWD cars where the front wheels would slip some when tying to get on the ramps. I find that my AWD setup just walks right up the ramps because the rear wheels are pushing it. So hoping that the CX5 works that way also.

Thanks
 
It does under certain circumstances. The car takes feedback from various systems to try and judge whether the road conditions warrant running some power to the rear wheels all the time. We know for sure that having the wipers on affects it, and this winter I have become convinced that it takes cues from the turn signals too. It also looks at the wheel speed and yaw sensors in the ABS system, and the external temperature sensor.

I feel like they could really use the front camera system for something like this. The camera can "see" headlights from other vehicles and objects so why can't it "see" snow flakes? Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't.

There are times when I know for sure the vehicle is powering the rear wheels even though there is no slipping, you can just feel it and you can sense it in the steering response.

My only gripe is that sometimes the system seems to actually make front-end plow worse instead of better. Think parking lot turns and such where you wouldn't use your turn signal. The chatter from the front wheels pushing sideways actually causes a malfunction that disables the adaptive front headlight system in mine. It's happened a dozen or more times now.
 
Thanks guys. So what I'm hearing is that the AWD is not necessarily engaged every time the car starts up from a standstill. Just if it thinks that there will be a problem.
 
No, I think the CX-5 automatically sends a small amount of power to the rear wheels at start. If you put the car on a lift, you can see it. I think Chris posted a video a while back that showed this.

On the CX-9, and this sounds counter-intuitive, putting the car in sport mode seems to force more power to the rear right from the get go. Not sure if the CX5 is similar.
 
No, I think the CX-5 automatically sends a small amount of power to the rear wheels at start. If you put the car on a lift, you can see it. I think Chris posted a video a while back that showed this.

On the CX-9, and this sounds counter-intuitive, putting the car in sport mode seems to force more power to the rear right from the get go. Not sure if the CX5 is similar.

Thanks. That's encouraging.

I sent an email to Mazda a few hours ago asking about this. Have not gotten the reply yet. I'll post when I do.
 
This should be a sticky, dammit!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPyRCkt1GHw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuqjdcDvncs

Yes, it sends more power to rear at startup.
Yes, it sends more power when going uphill.
Yes, it sends more power when flooring it.
Yes, it sends more power when it's raining.
Yes, it sends more power when it's snowing (below freezing).

I've owned an audi awd with torsen diff, a mitsu eclipse awd with LSD, an outback with LSD, an outback w/o LSD, an impreza w/o LSD, and the CX-5.

The CX-5 has the best driving performance. The LSD outback had the best 'it's way to ffkg deep snow' performance.

Unob is still talking out his @zz.
 
This should be a sticky, dammit!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPyRCkt1GHw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuqjdcDvncs

Yes, it sends more power to rear at startup.
Yes, it sends more power when going uphill.
Yes, it sends more power when flooring it.
Yes, it sends more power when it's raining.
Yes, it sends more power when it's snowing (below freezing).

I've owned an audi awd with torsen diff, a mitsu eclipse awd with LSD, an outback with LSD, an outback w/o LSD, an impreza w/o LSD, and the CX-5.

The CX-5 has the best driving performance. The LSD outback had the best 'it's way to ffkg deep snow' performance.

Unob is still talking out his @zz.

Thank you. Very informative videos.
 
My understanding from one of Dave's talks is that the 2017 and 2018 always have at least a small amount of power going to the rear wheels. That may have changed with the 19.
 
My understanding from one of Dave's talks is that the 2017 and 2018 always have at least a small amount of power going to the rear wheels. That may have changed with the 19.

I can’t speak for 2nd gen but 1st gen sends 1-2% power to rear at all times.
 
Last edited:
Pretty sure it is powering the rear wheels from a stop, at least sometimes. In my previous car (FWD Mazda 3), I would have a big problem with wheel spin from a start in wet conditions, even with good, new tires. But I cant get the AWD CX-5 to spin the wheels in these conditions at all, even with a much more powerful engine. It launches smoothly every time under any level of acceleration (again, in rain, have not seen snow or ice yet).
 
Last edited:
I have noticed two things with this awd system. You can get the wheels to slip if your front wheels are on the gravel and the rear wheels are on the road (our drive way) and you want to just drive away. The other thing that I have noticed is that during rainy weather with wipers on it consumes slightly more petrol (gas) than other wise on the same stretch of road, perhaps due to activation of awd during rain, activated by wipers. And it does not have to rain heavily. I can understand that awd is useful in heavy down pour with water planing risk and wheel slippage risk causing loss of traction but in moderate to light rain is that necessary? That I consider to be a disadvantage because the anti skate function of even the 2wd car takes care of water planing, if it was to occur even in heavy rain. I have noticed that a few times with our 2wd cars in the past. Are Mazda being over cautious?
 
Last edited:
The car ALWAYS sets off in AWD. The rear axle drive clutch is fully engaged and backs off steplessly as the speed increases. The time st which the rear wheel drive begins to disengage depends on throttle position. Drive hard and it stays engaged longer. If you drive carefully on a flat or falling gradient and it might be disengaged by 20-30 mph. Think of it as being associated with the accelerator and the harder you press the more it engages. If you are cruising under light throttle, it might be fully disengaged but if you floor the throttle it will fully engage again. There are many other reasons it will engage and given the scale of the AWD system, it is about as capable as a small SUV can be. If I can work out how to attach a pdf from this flippin mobile interface......
 
You can add a gauge in Forscan to watch real time transfer of power to the rear as well as watch your rear diff temps.
 
The system monitors 22 inputs, in my experience in bad weather it's remarkably proactive.
 
My list only shows 17 but still impressive. Show me your list.........
 

Attachments

  • AWD inputs.pdf
    54.2 KB · Views: 300
  • AWD system.pdf
    153.5 KB · Views: 299
Back