OEM bumper lights and JDM reverse lights

I know that the rear fogs should be brighter, but the point in having them lit up, to be on while the lights are on, so it is not a good idea, to be used as fog lights.
 
Interesting thread.
One question: If I buy these on eBay or the OEM EU rear fog light kit, what do I need to do to have the rear fog lights connected to the front fog lights and not to the tail lights?
To me, fog lights (front and rear) should only be on via a switch, I don't want the rear on with the tail lights. Others may think differently.

you can wire them to the same circuit, or import the EDM switch that lets you turn on rear only, and front & rear
 
you can wire them to the same circuit, or import the EDM switch that lets you turn on rear only, and front & rear
Rear fog light is only on one side, never been on both! For left-hand-drive vehicles like in Germany, only left-rear fog light lit up almost as bright as brake light. When you see one single bright red rear light on the left and lower part of rear end, you know the rear fog light is on. For right-hand-drive vehicles like in UK and Japan, the rear fog is located at lower right rear end.

Even if you get OEM headlight switch with front and rear fog lights for US version CX-5, you still have problem to activate front and rear fog light indicators in the instrument cluster which are not only required by regulation outside the US, but also you have to relay on rear fog indicator to tell if it's on or not. The reason is rear fog switch is a toggle switch by regulation and can only be turned on after the front fog been turned on. The stalk switch position will always stays at front fog position and can't tell the rear fog is on or not by switch position.

Of course you also need to lay missing wire harness from front cabin to rear end for rear fog light with OEM headlight switch with front / rear fogs.

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I think it's more for looks and also just auxiliary lighting to let rear drivers know you're stopped, I've seen a couple of cars now on the road with lighted bumper lights, I have no issues with them blinding me, like Chris_Top_her said, they're no brighter than OEM regular running brake lights and they're aimed downwards.......I've also seen OEM Lexus RX, Audi A5, and Inifiniti EX with lighted bumper lights straight from the factory not modified by owners.....



someone did the same for the 1st gen CX-9, I plan to do this mod also....

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Rear fog light is only on one side, never been on both! For left-hand-drive vehicles like in Germany, only left-rear fog light lit up almost as bright as brake light. When you see one single bright red rear light on the left and lower part of rear end, you know the rear fog light is on. For right-hand-drive vehicles like in UK and Japan, the rear fog is located at lower right rear end.

Even if you get OEM headlight switch with front and rear fog lights for US version CX-5, you still have problem to activate front and rear fog light indicators in the instrument cluster which are not only required by regulation outside the US, but also you have to relay on rear fog indicator to tell if it's on or not. The reason is rear fog switch is a toggle switch by regulation and can only be turned on after the front fog been turned on. The stalk switch position will always stays at front fog position and can't tell the rear fog is on or not by switch position.

Of course you also need to lay missing wire harness from front cabin to rear end for rear fog light with OEM headlight switch with front / rear fogs.

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great, tell me something I didn't know
some cars do come with both rear fog lights or one that works for any country (middle of bumper), but the former is very rare.... rear fog lights are very bright as required by UN regulation and could be as bright as brake lights
 
I think it's more for looks and also just auxiliary lighting to let rear drivers know you're stopped, I've seen a couple of cars now on the road with lighted bumper lights, I have no issues with them blinding me, like Chris_Top_her said, they're no brighter than OEM regular running brake lights and they're aimed downwards.......I've also seen OEM Lexus RX, Audi A5, and Inifiniti EX with lighted bumper lights straight from the factory not modified by owners.....



someone did the same for the 1st gen CX-9, I plan to do this mod also....

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so add more lights to the back for "visibility" while losing retroreflectors in the process, meaning someone can't see your parked car well and rear ends your parked car? (rolleyes)
the Lexus, etc cars have them because regulations requires backlit SIDE retroreflectors, they just happen to be also visible from the rear... they're not there to help others see you better from behind while you're driving down the road... that's what the tail lights are for!
 
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so add more lights to the back for "visibility" while losing retroreflectors in the process, meaning someone can't see your parked car well and rear ends your parked car? (rolleyes)
the Lexus, etc cars have them because regulations requires backlit SIDE retroreflectors, they just happen to be also visible from the rear... they're not there to help others see you better from behind while you're driving down the road... that's what the tail lights are for!

whoa, chill man, if anything the Durango's are more blinding and distracting than two little lights on the bumpers that we're talking about.....and not sure what you meant by losing retro reflectors ? the original poster is using OEM Mazda parts that still reflect light

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so add more lights to the back for "visibility" while losing retroreflectors in the process, meaning someone can't see your parked car well and rear ends your parked car? (rolleyes)
the Lexus, etc cars have them because regulations requires backlit SIDE retroreflectors, they just happen to be also visible from the rear... they're not there to help others see you better from behind while you're driving down the road... that's what the tail lights are for!

Looks like your gonna argue every thing about a rear fog light at this point. Good thing it's all moot here in the USA. If someome rear ends your parked car because they didn't see a reflector there is a much bigger issue, like did your forget to turn your headlights on..What if they rear end your parked car in fog? Then what's the excuse? It was the fogs fault because the reflecting ability was reduced by it! (uhm)
 
whoa, chill man, if anything the Durango's are more blinding and distracting than two little lights on the bumpers that we're talking about.....and not sure what you meant by losing retro reflectors ? the original poster is using OEM Mazda parts that still reflect light

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adding those cheesy chinese LED bumper light replacements lots of car modders these days likes to do does NOT increase safety but in fact makes it WORSE... they have LED light bars only, NO retroreflector
it's clear based on what you said, you don't know what a retroreflector means: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retroreflector

reflectors are the shiny chrome stuff that's inside a tail light or headlight that needs a light bulb to work
RETROreflectors are "cat eye" pieces that's on the CX-5 rear bumper, the side of the tail lights, and the side of the headlights... they are passive and requires an external light source for them to work

the OEM parts are fine, regardless of which country it's meant for... by all means, get those... just stay away from the cheesy chinese ebay crap you had posted earlier
 
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Looks like your gonna argue every thing about a rear fog light at this point. Good thing it's all moot here in the USA. If someome rear ends your parked car because they didn't see a reflector there is a much bigger issue, like did your forget to turn your headlights on..What if they rear end your parked car in fog? Then what's the excuse? It was the fogs fault because the reflecting ability was reduced by it! (uhm)

you obviously never experienced absolute pitch black BFE country roads hundreds of miles from any city... without ANY retroreflectors on a car, especially a black one... you will NOT see it until it's too late, on any night
 
great, tell me something I didn't know
some cars do come with both rear fog lights or one that works for any country (middle of bumper), but the former is very rare.... rear fog lights are very bright as required by UN regulation and could be as bright as brake lights
Although both are red with similar intensity, the way to distinguish the brake lights and rear fog light is rear fog light has a single light but the brake lights have two on both sides with a third high-mounted red light. I haven't seen any rear fog light from factory with two red lights that is against the regulation in EU. Yeah single rear fog light that located in the middle like the Mini is a money-saving and one-size-fit-all way to meet the regulation for both right-hand-traffic and left-hand-traffic countries.
 
⋯ I've also seen OEM Lexus RX, Audi A5, and Inifiniti EX with lighted bumper lights straight from the factory not modified by owners.....
Yes I did see friend's Lexus RX 350 has two lighted rear bumper lights from factory on the other night. The intensity is low like the taillights and they serve as part of the taillights.
 
⋯ the Lexus, etc cars have them because regulations requires backlit SIDE retroreflectors, they just happen to be also visible from the rear... they're not there to help others see you better from behind while you're driving down the road... that's what the tail lights are for!
No in case of Lexus RX 350, the lens of those rear bumper lights, just like our CX-5, can't be visible from the side. Lexus make them lighted as part of taillight in US market simply is to show the distinctiveness for marketing. In other regions where the rear fog light is required, they will be served as rear fog on one of the locations. The rear side marker, or "backlit SIDE retroreflector" is build-in on the side of taillight unit, just like our CX-5's.

US DOT requires front amber side reflectors or "retroreflectors" with light starting in 1973; and rear red side retroreflectors with light starting in 1974. In addition, two rear-facing red retroreflectors are required with taillights since even earlier years. Those retroreflectors and lighted side markers are not required by any other regions in the world, hence car manufactures have to find a clever way to design different front and rear light housings for different regulations. Using rear bumper lights for rear-facing red retroreflectors for US market, and rear fog for other regions is just a simpler way for manufactures to meet different regulations.
 
Although both are red with similar intensity, the way to distinguish the brake lights and rear fog light is rear fog light has a single light but the brake lights have two on both sides with a third high-mounted red light. I haven't seen any rear fog light from factory with two red lights that is against the regulation in EU. Yeah single rear fog light that located in the middle like the Mini is a money-saving and one-size-fit-all way to meet the regulation for both right-hand-traffic and left-hand-traffic countries.

There doesn't appear to be clear definitions that allow or disallow 2 rear fog lights on a car
However, rear fog lights ARE permitted to be brighter than brake lights... Rear fog lights are allowed a maximum 300 candela (measured at 13.5 volts) for steady luminance or 840 candela for variable luminance, while brake lights are only allowed up to 260 candela... for either type of rear fog light, minimum intensity allowed are 150 candela measured 10 degrees axes to the left or right of the light and 5 degrees axes up or down of the light... while minimum minimum intensity allowed for brake lights are 60 candela

this is all under UNECE r38 and UNECE r7.... FMVSS/CMVSS 108 does have significantly higher allowable intensity limits for brake lights, which could by why you are saying rear fog lights aren't as bright, since rear fog lights are not regulated under "DOT" rules
 
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No in case of Lexus RX 350, the lens of those rear bumper lights, just like our CX-5, can't be visible from the side. Lexus make them lighted as part of taillight in US market simply is to show the distinctiveness for marketing. In other regions where the rear fog light is required, they will be served as rear fog on one of the locations. The rear side marker, or "backlit SIDE retroreflector" is build-in on the side of taillight unit, just like our CX-5's.

US DOT requires front amber side reflectors or "retroreflectors" with light starting in 1973; and rear red side retroreflectors with light starting in 1974. In addition, two rear-facing red retroreflectors are required with taillights since even earlier years. Those retroreflectors and lighted side markers are not required by any other regions in the world, hence car manufactures have to find a clever way to design different front and rear light housings for different regulations. Using rear bumper lights for rear-facing red retroreflectors for US market, and rear fog for other regions is just a simpler way for manufactures to meet different regulations.

Wrong. Older RXs had tail lights which did not have built in retroreflectors, necessitating the installation of non-integrated retroreflectors, which in this case at the bumper corners that also served as rear retroreflectors... the position of the bulb in the bumper lights also indicates its intended purpose, which is for illuminating the side retroreflector. Regulations does have minimum intensity limits and required viewing angles for the light source of a "side marker"... regulations also do allow the light source to be at a different location than the actual side retroreflector... it's allowances, I don't know because reading the US regulations sucks, thus I don't care to bother
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The side retroreflectors are now built-in to the tail lights on the latest RX though, thus there are only rear retroreflectors in the bumper now
ximm
 
Anyone willing to assist which color wires I should connect the DRL brake lights.

Link for diagram perhaps
 
I decided to go with the OEM housings and add a small aftermarket led sidemarker.

I bought them at Walmart for a few bucks. They probably make them to add to a trailer.

I drilled out the center part of the existing vestigial bulb holder. I had to enlarge the hole to 5/8 " so I used a rotary rasp I bought from Harbour Freight in a cordless drill.

I prefer to attach to the sidemarker bulb because this led is about the same brightness but it could be linked to the brake light.20200204_073714.jpg
 
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