2015 Mazda CX-5 Rain Sensor Attachment

I had my 2015 Mazda CX-5's windshield replaced by Safelite recently. Sure enough, I got the SCBS Clear Windshield Completely warning soon thereafter and neither the rain sensor nor auto-light sensor works. I can tell they cracked part of the sensor cover that goes over the sensors, but I am having trouble figuring out how the rain sensor actually attaches to the windshield. Right now, it basically just rests against the cover or dangles down if you remove it; it does not stay attached to the windshield. There is no clip or anything for it to attach to, so did they break it off or is that gel pack that they were supposed to replace and clearly didn't used to secure the sensor to the windshield?

Also, if anyone can easily remove their cover and snap a picture of the sensors against the windshield, that would be awesome. I tried finding pictures of this online without success.

Finally, while we're at it, has anyone had success moving the SCBS sensor slightly to get rid of the error or did they just really mess up?

Mazda looked at it when I had my oil changed but said it requires 1-3 hours at $125/hour plus parts to try and figure out what's wrong. I was told they need to compare it to another CX-5 to see what happened. I would think given it's their car, they should know how the sensors attach and can quickly fix this. I was very surprised and disappointed.

Thanks

Safelite botched your windshield replacement! They apparently installed a non-OEM windshield which is not designed for CX-5 with Technology Package! I had my 2016 CX-5 with Tech windshield replaced due to hail damage and the only such windshield available is from Mazda OEM and it's expensive ($666.25!). Those sensors are not supposed to be held by the gel pack. The replacement windshield should come with all the plastic sensor mounts/clips pre-glued on the windshield so that the installer can easily unclip old SCBS and rain sensors out and clip back to the new windshield. They need to be secured and can't be just hanging inside of the sensor cover. The service manual also said the adjustments with special Mazda equipment are required on both sensors after the windshield replacement. My installer didn't do it for obvious reason, but luckily both SCBS and rain-sensing wipers seem to be working find after the windshield replacement.

Sensor cover is not too difficult to remove if you know how to do it. Check this thread, How To Remove the Sensor Cover Behind the Windshield and there's instruction provided by Kedis82ZE8. From picture, SCBS sensor is on the left and rain sensor is on the right. They both are secured by plastic mount with clips.

Don't waste your time and money to have Mazda dealer looking at the problem! Apparently your dealer doesn't know too much about this either. Go back to Safelite demanding them to get a correct windshield reinstalled. And ask for compensation on damaged sensor cover. And if a correct windshield installed and you're still having those problems on SCBS and rain-sensing wipers, those sensors may need adjustment by Mazda dealer after Safelite's screw-ups, so be at front with Safelite about these potential expenses.

I don't know why you needed windshield replacement at the first place. But you should always seek warranty replacement if there's no obvious sign hitting by a rock and stress cracked from sensor area. For 2015 CX-5 with Tech, there may be aftermarket windshield available as the windshield with Tech for 2015 MY is different from 2016 MY.

yrwei52 said:

I finally decided to do something to our loose auto-dimming rearview mirror with HomeLink on Sunday before the weather is getting too cold and the tabs of plastic cover may become less flexible and more fragile. I guess I was lucky none of the tabs been broken after I separated the windshield sensor cover. Again thanks to Kedis82ZE8 otherwise I would need to get the new cover!

The T20 screw holding the heavy mirror was loose. I tightened it up but not too much as I'm fully aware the weak windshield issue on CX-5 and many people had line crack developed from this sensor area due to stress fracture which might be caused by the heavy mirror attached to a small metal plate glued to the windshield, definitely not sensors as these sensors looked pretty light-weighted and attached to larger area of the windshield.

I've seen at least one forum member mentioned having the loose auto-dimming rearview mirror. That's why I went ahead and checked ours for sure ours was loose too. I suspect Mazda is intentionally not putting enough torque on this T20 screw to prevent adding too much uneven force by the screw itself against the metal plate and windshield, hence loose mirror after the delivery. But leaving the mirror loose may also contribute possibility of line crack on windshield as the base of the mirror will keep banging the windshield. To me, the design needs to be improved. At least the metal plate which glued to the windshield where the heavy mirror attached to should be larger and thicker!

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Just learned the light sensor for Auto-light control is from rain sensor! From page 4-59 of owner's manual:

Auto-light control
...
The light sensor also works as a rain sensor for the auto-wiper control.

Always thought the light sensor is on the dash near the windshield.

And here are a couple of pictures of my replacement OEM windshield before installation. You can see pre-glued plastic sensor mounts / clips at the center top of the windshield:

Thanks for the info. It surprises me that a nationwide company like Safelite would offer to do an install for a windshield they can't do properly. Then again, not much surprises me with poor customer service these days. That said, when you set up your appointment, they ask for the CX-5 VIN to ensure the windshield is the right one for the relevant sensors your car has. There is no excuse for the windshield to not work right. Moreover, when I was at Mazda, I even asked if there was any difference from a third party brand or OEM since I could get Safelite to install a third party windshield for $300 less, and the guy at Mazda said there's no difference.

I figured out what's wrong with the SCBS sensor last night. The mount that holds the sensor to the windshield looks like it was just reapplied from old windshield to new windshield, so the double sided tape that holds it to the windshield is weak and does not stay stuck against the windshield. Therefore, the mount slightly comes off and the sensor then aims at the black around the sensor, causing it to trigger the warning. If I push the sensor mount up, the warning goes away until the stickiness loses grip again. If they reapply the sensor mount with a fresh set of double sided tape pads, I think the SCBS issue goes away.

As for the rain sensor, I see the picture in that thread you linked where someone shows their rain/light sensor mounted. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-...da%2520CX-5%2520Windshield%2520Sensors_02.jpg I don't see where it's being held to the windshield by a clip (as opposed to some double sided sticky gel pack). Looking at the rain sensor itself, I didn't see where it would even clip into anything. Can you give a little more insight here? I am trying to go back to Safelite today (or I might push it to later next week) with all the information I have to make sure they can fix it, as I know if I leave it to them to figure out, it won't get done right.

Last, my windshield had a few chips from rocks, one that was close to the bottom of the windshield and caused a crack all the way up in front of the driver, so I got it replaced, not expecting all these difficulties. I had to pay out of pocket (my insurance only covers repairs, not replacements and the deductible isn't worth going through insurance, so I went with Safelite figuring they'd have this down given their size. Guess not...

SeaMazdaOwner said:

I figured out what's wrong with the SCBS sensor last night. The mount that holds the sensor to the windshield looks like it was just reapplied from old windshield to new windshield, so the double sided tape that holds it to the windshield is weak and does not stay stuck against the windshield. Therefore, the mount slightly comes off and the sensor then aims at the black around the sensor, causing it to trigger the warning. If I push the sensor mount up, the warning goes away until the stickiness loses grip again. If they reapply the sensor mount with a fresh set of double sided tape pads, I think the SCBS issue goes away.

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No, your windshield simply doesn't have the proper mounts and clips from factory. Those black plastic mounts with clips you saw on my replacement windshield are factory glued on the glass and will never fall off like yours using the "double tape"! The SCBS sensor has to be mounted at precise position and that's why the mount has to be done at windshield factory. Even the after-market CX-5 windshield for Tech should have those mounts pre-installed in the factory. Safelite should never use "double tape" for these sensors which not only won't hold those sensors long due to the heat and strength of the tape but also won't keep the sensor securely at precise position.

SeaMazdaOwner said:

As for the rain sensor, I see the picture in that thread you linked where someone shows their rain/light sensor mounted. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-...da%2520CX-5%2520Windshield%2520Sensors_02.jpg I don't see where it's being held to the windshield by a clip (as opposed to some double sided sticky gel pack). Looking at the rain sensor itself, I didn't see where it would even clip into anything. Can you give a little more insight here?

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The mount and clips for rain sensor are on the windshield. Since your windshield doesn't have those, so you can't see what are supposed to hold the rain sensor. Look carefully on the picture I posted in the thread, there're two long clips on the sides and two clips at the top and bottom of the rain sensor. Those clips hold the rain sensor. No gel pack or double tape.

Safelite simply installed wrong windshield in your CX-5 with Tech. The windshields between non-Tech and Tech are different and have different part numbers due to these additional pre-installed sensor mounts and shade. This applies to after-market windshields too.

Moved to appropriate sub forum

Brought my car to a different Safelite and the technician immediately saw the mess I was dealing with due to the incorrect bracket. He said you often need to go with the OEM windshield when you have all these sensors, but they will give you the third party one unless you ask for OEM. He ordered me the OEM windshield and is just charging $78 more for the difference in price for the parts. Considering any company that used OEM wanted $300+ more, I consider that pretty fair. Plus, since having the windshield replaced, I ended up with a few chips and one decent crack that would have needed repair, so a new windshield for $78 is quite nice.

Not really relevant, but just giving a plug for Safelite because I was expecting them to tell me to take a hike and was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. We'll see how it goes once it's installed early next week.

Bringing this thread back to life. As my rain sensor bracket has detached from the bottom, however still firmly attached at the top. And I do see a small strip of double sided tape beneath the lower part of the bracket, whcih is no longer sticky. Any ideas, other than replacing the entire windshield, on how to glue it back down? I'd rather not remove the entire bracket. I can slightly pry the bottom bit and tried to put some glue in there but it is not sticking to the old tape. Removing the old tape would be difficult as scraping at it would damage the black paint on the glass. Help.

gdizzle said:

Bringing this thread back to life. As my rain sensor bracket has detached from the bottom, however still firmly attached at the top. And I do see a small strip of double sided tape beneath the lower part of the bracket, whcih is no longer sticky. Any ideas, other than replacing the entire windshield, on how to glue it back down? I'd rather not remove the entire bracket. I can slightly pry the bottom bit and tried to put some glue in there but it is not sticking to the old tape. Removing the old tape would be difficult as scraping at it would damage the black paint on the glass. Help.

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Although you didin't say, I believe your current windshield has got replaced before and it's not OEM. Those plastic brackets holding SCBS and raining-sensing / auto-headlight sensors are factory glued onto the windshield which won't get loose easily. They definitely won't use "double-sides" tape to hold the brackets onto the position. If I remember it correctly the black glue is used at factory as I could see some extras along the side of brackets on my OEM replacement windshield. I believe someone replaced your windshield, somehow reused previous brackets with double-sided tape.

If I were you I'd unclip the sensor from bracket, try to clean up the tape at the bottom end of bracket first. The black painting on windshield is pretty strong and I wouldn't worry too much scraping it off. Windex or any kind of window glass cleaner is the best friend to clean up the glue on window (learned from an inspection station who frequently needs to clean up the sticker on windshield). Once cleaned, use some black soft-and-flexible glue or seal to glue the bottom side of bracket back. Wait until it's totally set and put the sensor back.