Daytime running lights dim/flickering

Daytime running lights dim/flickering/gone

I have a feeling the replacement units are of higher quality. We haven't seen any posts about a replacement headlight unit having any problems yet. Famous last words though....

(whistle)
I'm relieved to see the driver-side failed too as I was worried about possible mismatched light color and output due to different versions of OEM LED headlight and the second LED headlight would fail after the warranty period. I sure hope Mazda and Stanley have finally figured out the culprit of the quality problem on this expensive LED headlight which is supposed to last a lot longer after so many revisions within 2 years of production with the latest "J" version.

Yeah if the cost of replacement on these LED DRLs is similar to incandescent or halogen bulbs, nobody would complain! But now you're talking about $1,250 list for a single replacement unit of LED headlight for flickering DRLs! With labor Mazda dealer often charges $1,500 for a single LED headlight replacement on something which is supposed to last a lot longer than 2 years!

The only good news out of this is the list prices on latest "J" version of these LED headlights are cheaper now:

UNIT(R) HEAD LAMP - MAZDA CX-5 Right with LED
KA0G-51-031J (Replaces: KA0G-51-031C, KA0G-51-031D, KA0G-51-031G, KA0G-51-031H, KA0G-51-031)
List Price: $1,059.36

UNIT(L) HEAD LAMP - MAZDA CX-5 Left with LED
KA0G-51-041J (Replaces: KA0G-51-041C, KA0G-51-041D, KA0G-51-041G, KA0G-51-041H, KA0G-51-041)
List Price: $1,048.88

Hopefully the problems on LED headlights have been truely fixed after that many revisions during these 2 years ⋯ (nailbyt)
 
I'm relieved to see the driver-side failed too as I was worried about possible mismatched light color and output due to different versions of OEM LED headlight and the second LED headlight would fail after the warranty period. I sure hope Mazda and Stanley have finally figured out the culprit of the quality problem on this expensive LED headlight which is supposed to last a lot longer after so many revisions within 2 years of production with the latest "J" version.

Unfortunately I never saw the part numbers when mine were replaced. I don't believe they were indicated on the invoice.

Regarding color consistency, is that why I occasionally see CX5s with two yellow LED DRLs? I always thought it was some weird angle causing them to look bright yellow....
 
Daytime running lights dim/flickering/gone

Unfortunately I never saw the part numbers when mine were replaced. I don't believe they were indicated on the invoice.

Regarding color consistency, is that why I occasionally see CX5s with two yellow LED DRLs? I always thought it was some weird angle causing them to look bright yellow....
With original、C、D、G、H、J, 6 versions of LED headlights, I wouldn't surprised to see LED color and output mismatches among them. I may wait a little longer to see if there's "K" version coming out so that I can catch the latest revision for headlight replacement before my warranty expires!
 
I had my drive side replaced last week for the flicker, I have one of the original 2016 GTs from the first batch as I've had some of their initial issues like headlight clouding.

Unfortunately the colour of new one is much more yellow and diffused than the passenger side... it's actually kind of distracting driving down the street and the left side is yellow and the right side is blue. Gonna go back sometime next month and see what they say. They better give me a passenger side one to even it out.. can't imagine what the streets will look like when it starts snowing.
 
Daytime running lights dim/flickering/gone

I had my drive side replaced last week for the flicker, I have one of the original 2016 GTs from the first batch as I've had some of their initial issues like headlight clouding.

Unfortunately the colour of new one is much more yellow and diffused than the passenger side... it's actually kind of distracting driving down the street and the left side is yellow and the right side is blue. Gonna go back sometime next month and see what they say. They better give me a passenger side one to even it out.. can't imagine what the streets will look like when it starts snowing.
Had a chance to stop by my Mazda dealer this afternoon and I talked to my service advisor / supervisor who is very knowledgeable based on my past experience with him. I checked my last day of new car warranty making sure I don’t miss the date to get warranty service on my LED headlights and GPS system. He said they have been replacing LED headlights too many times which forced the parts department started keeping these expensive LED headlights in stock. And the expensive AFS alignment machine dealers have to buy from Mazda has been much busier than they thought it would be. Although both of my LED DRL failed and I don’t need to worry about color matching due to too many revisions on LED headlights, I asked him if I only had one failed and the replacement has different LED color than the other one, what can I do? He said if the color doesn’t match, he has no problem to replace the other good LED headlight to make sure they’re matching on LED colors. Hope this can help your situation.
 
Lots of good info here. Exactly what I would have said. If I have to replace another headlight assembly after warranty, it's time for a trade in.


this is impossible, the LED chips are soldered to custom printed circuit boards and then assembled into the housing, it's not like the interior dome lights where you can just pop them in,

when you get a chance take a look at the backside of LED tailights from the trunk area by removing the access panel. you'll just see wires coming out of the housing, no way to replace the LED if they fail.

and I'm 100% positive it's not the LED chips that are failing, in theory LED chips can last a very very long time. it's the control board circuitry that is the problem and causing the dimming and flickering

LED chips are actually very basic and reliable but there's a whole host of components that drives them,
LED drivers, voltage regulators, capacitors, resistors, etc.) if any one of those fail, it's very hard to troubleshoot......

just look at Figure 1 (typical halogen schematic) vs Figure 2 (typical LED schematic) in this link and you'll understand:

http://www.electronics-eetimes.com/news/big-lie-about-led-lighting

I've seen LED's fail far sooner than cheap halogens
 
welp, my passenger side just went dim at 42k miles. driver's side was replaced around 20k.
 
This thread is why I had the dealership turn OFF the DRLs ...

If I feel its dark or dim or foggy I'll manually turn on the lights.
 
I finally got my left side replaced last week, they are still slightly different colors but a lot closer than they were after only having the right side replaced (after DRL burnout) I was hoping the left side DRL would malfunction before warranty expires next summer but it didn't look like it was going to happen. Complained about color difference and the white residue instead; got approval from Mazda for replacement with a J headlamp. I have J headlamps on both sides now so hopefully they wont burn out and wont produce white residues. Will update in 6 months.
 
I finally got my left side replaced last week, they are still slightly different colors but a lot closer than they were after only having the right side replaced (after DRL burnout) I was hoping the left side DRL would malfunction before warranty expires next summer but it didn't look like it was going to happen. Complained about color difference and the white residue instead; got approval from Mazda for replacement with a J headlamp. I have J headlamps on both sides now so hopefully they wont burn out and wont drivproduce white residues. Will update in 6 months.
I guess Im a little confused. In your previous post you had driver-side headlight replaced and the DRL LED looked yellow. So Mazda replaced driver-side again with J version and its whiter and matches passenger-side DRL better which is still the original? But you then said both of your LED headlights are now J version? (uhm)
 
I guess Im a little confused. In your previous post you had driver-side headlight replaced and the DRL LED looked yellow. So Mazda replaced driver-side again with J version and its whiter and matches passenger-side DRL better which is still the original? But you then said both of your LED headlights are now J version? (uhm)

Oops, misstated in my first post.

Anyway the J lamp is the new lamp and it is more yellow than the original. It is not the DRL that is yellow but the actual headlight bulb.

Just passenger was replaced with a J lamp first, now driver side has been replaced with a J lamp. They are now both updated J models however one of them is still slightly bluer although less noticeable than before.
 
One of the DDLs in my wife’s 2016 CX-5GT went out. Same thing...the part retails at around $1,100 US, which makes it most feasible for us to get them replaced during the warranty company. Short of that it will not likely be long before you can purchase an after market unit online for much less. I recently replaced the headlights in my 2010 Mazdaspeed3 and found a great replacement unit on e-Bay. The dealer price is over $1,000. I think I paid something like $300 for the set, but that could be wrong.
 
chiming in on this issue. noticed drl flickering on our cx-5 couple of months ago. was picking up front and rear tie downs and asked the service department about it. they looked a little confused and never mentioned a tsb. made an appointment to have them look at it.
 
chiming in on this issue. noticed drl flickering on our cx-5 couple of months ago. was picking up front and rear tie downs and asked the service department about it. they looked a little confused and never mentioned a tsb. made an appointment to have them look at it.
Theyre acting like they know nothing about these LED DRL issues. My Mazda dealer has now made these expensive LED headlights available in stock due to frequent warranty replacement so that theres no waiting for customers.
 
So it sounds no one is having problems with the headlight itself, just the daytime running LED light that is failing? I am looking into getting a CX-5 in the future and if I get one with the technology package it would be nice to just turn off the daytime running lights if they fail, but if it is the headlight that is failing...that is a much bigger problem.
 
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