Brand New CX-5, Dead Battery!

[mazda-mania]

We just purchased a 2023 Mazda CX-5. With 50 miles on the odometer, we went to a friend’s birthday party. Upon arrival, my wife turned the car off. It was a warm day, so I suggested rolling the windows down an inch to let out some of the heat. I had already opened my door, so she pressed the start button twice (ON), to provide power to the windows. I do not know if she turned the car off or left it on. We left the car and headed in.

About an hour later my wife brought a friend out for a tour of her new car. After the tour, she closed the doors. Her friend said she heard some beeping. My wife did not hear it. They both listened again and heard nothing. The beeping stopped, so she assumed all was OK with the car. Three hours later it was time to leave. We went to the car and the battery was dead.

A quick check of the battery with a VOM showed slightly over 3 volts. Very dead battery.

We had a friend jumper the battery to get it going again. After arriving home, we tried to figure out why the battery was dead.

We replicated turning off the engine, turning the car back “ON” to roll down the windows. Leaving the car ON, my wife and the key fob left the car (I stayed in the car). After closing the door, there was about 2 seconds of beeping. I assume this was a notice that the car was left ON. If the windows are up and there is loud traffic, this may not even be heard from outside.

I had assumed with auto-everything in these new cars, it would have automatically turned the car off to protect the battery.

I spent about an hour searching hundreds of pages in the 731 page PDF owners manual and found this:

“Do not leave the ignition switched ON while the engine is not running. Doing so could result in the battery going dead.
If the selector lever is in the P position, and the ignition is in ACC, the ignition switches off automatically after about 25 minutes”.

Hopefully this will help other new Mazda owners to be aware of the potential for battery drain if the car is inadvertently left ON. There is no auto-off feature to save you.

Cheers, TR

 

[skid00skid0]

I guarantee you that all car makers have had lawyers and engineers debate these questions. They didn't just forget to do it.

I'm from a generation where it was expected that everyone paid attention. Those who didn't, suffered in silence, or would get unrelenting teasing and derision.

 

[Conrad 16.5]

If only Mazda would adopt the use of RAP (retained accessory power) as nearly EVERY other car manufacturer does! RAP allows the power to stay on for a few minutes after the ignition is turned off so that the windows and/or the sunroof can be closed. To me it's very stupid of Mazda not to implement RAP in their vehicles. I'd love to hear their reasoning for not using it.

I don't know how many times I've had to turn the CX back on so that I can shut a window or the sunroof.

Mazda did get their head out of the sand with the MX at least. The windows in the Miata can be closed after the ignition is turned off. This allows the top to be put up and the windows closed without turning the car back on. As long as a door isn't opened first that is.

 

[Chocolate]

If only Mazda would adopt the use of RAP (retained accessory power) as nearly EVERY other car manufacturer does! RAP allows the power to stay on for a few minutes after the ignition is turned off so that the windows and/or the sunroof can be closed. To me it's very stupid of Mazda not to implement RAP in their vehicles. I'd love to hear their reasoning for not using it.

I don't know how many times I've had to turn the CX back on so that I can shut a window or the sunroof.

Mazda did get their head out of the sand with the MX at least. The windows in the Miata can be closed after the ignition is turned off. This allows the top to be put up and the windows closed without turning the car back on. As long as a door isn't opened first that is.

This is the company that spent millions of dollars on the MX-30. Which achieved 66 sales in 2023 before being discontinued. And sank a ton of money into continued rotary design with no production rotary. And made a huge car key to replace the slim one. And made a car with a touchscreen that you can't use (2017 to 2020 models). Sometimes questionable decisions are made along with the good ones.

 

[Chocolate]

WTF were they thinking?

 

[paris1]

We just purchased a 2023 Mazda CX-5. With 50 miles on the odometer, we went to a friend’s birthday party. Upon arrival, my wife turned the car off. It was a warm day, so I suggested rolling the windows down an inch to let out some of the heat. I had already opened my door, so she pressed the start button twice (ON), to provide power to the windows. I do not know if she turned the car off or left it on. We left the car and headed in.

About an hour later my wife brought a friend out for a tour of her new car. After the tour, she closed the doors. Her friend said she heard some beeping. My wife did not hear it. They both listened again and heard nothing. The beeping stopped, so she assumed all was OK with the car. Three hours later it was time to leave. We went to the car and the battery was dead.

A quick check of the battery with a VOM showed slightly over 3 volts. Very dead battery.

We had a friend jumper the battery to get it going again. After arriving home, we tried to figure out why the battery was dead.

We replicated turning off the engine, turning the car back “ON” to roll down the windows. Leaving the car ON, my wife and the key fob left the car (I stayed in the car). After closing the door, there was about 2 seconds of beeping. I assume this was a notice that the car was left ON. If the windows are up and there is loud traffic, this may not even be heard from outside.

I had assumed with auto-everything in these new cars, it would have automatically turned the car off to protect the battery.

I spent about an hour searching hundreds of pages in the 731 page PDF owners manual and found this:

“Do not leave the ignition switched ON while the engine is not running. Doing so could result in the battery going dead.
If the selector lever is in the P position, and the ignition is in ACC, the ignition switches off automatically after about 25 minutes”.

Hopefully this will help other new Mazda owners to be aware of the potential for battery drain if the car is inadvertently left ON. There is no auto-off feature to save you.

Cheers, TR

TR: Please see my response here: Have your battery "crash" on a new CX-5 after being parked for four hours? and thanks again for reporting this incident!!

 

[yrwei52]

This is the company that spent millions of dollars on the MX-30. Which achieved 66 sales in 2023 before being discontinued. And sank a ton of money into continued rotary design with no production rotary. And made a huge car key to replace the slim one. And made a car with a touchscreen that you can't use (2017 to 2020 models). Sometimes questionable decisions are made along with the good ones.

You failed to mention the promised SkyActiv-X / SPCCI / HCCI 2.0L. Isn’t it supposed to be the future of the Mazda with breaking-throuigh technology on BOTH performance AND efficiency? Where is it?

 

[Chocolate]

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt on that one! It sounds good on paper, but yet to be widely produced.

Making a key design that is larger, heavier, less convenient to access the manual key, and uses more parts than the previous design, is truly mystifying though!

 

[yrwei52]

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt on that one! It sounds good on paper, but yet to be widely produced.

It only sounds good on paper with HCCI concept which has no ignition system and turbo. Once it becomes SPCCI / SkyActiv-X it’s too complicated and expensive, and failed to deliver good performance and fuel efficiency. It has no benefit of the doubt there since it has been in the market worldwide for several years other than in North America. The sale of SkyActiv-X is pitiful and Mazda Australia had pull the plug on this engine.

Making a key design that is larger, heavier, less convenient to access the manual key, and uses more parts than the previous design, is truly mystifying though!

Don’t you think this’s Mazda’s way trying too hard to be different from everybody else?

 

[mazda-mania]

I don't know if you are old enough to have seen early Mazda commercials.

Their trademark was "Mazda goes HMMMMMMM"

Mazda RX-3 Commercial

Piston engine goes boing, boing, boing, boing.Mazda engine goes Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

www.youtube.com

The cars used to go Hmmmmm.

Now the Mazda customers are scratching their heads and going Hmmmmmm?

 

[mazda-mania]

Here is a recent thread from a new Mazda owner, that likely fell victim to the same "Ignition On", auto-off failure, with drained battery result.

Have your battery "crash" on a new CX-5 after being parked for four hours?

Less than 2 months old CX-5 premium with 1k miles. Wife parks it for a late afternoon musical event in mild temperature and when she returns it won't turn over. Dash lights and gauges are going crazy, under hood relay of some sort is clicking and a weird buzzer is intertitently going off behind...

mazdas247.com

 

[stickerbush]

The volume of the warning beep may be adjustable, worth checking the infotainment system settings. It's quite loud on my 2020 CX5, not something that I could miss.

 

[Martyd]

If only Mazda would adopt the use of RAP (retained accessory power) as nearly EVERY other car manufacturer does! RAP allows the power to stay on for a few minutes after the ignition is turned off so that the windows and/or the sunroof can be closed. To me it's very stupid of Mazda not to implement RAP in their vehicles. I'd love to hear their reasoning for not using it.

I don't know how many times I've had to turn the CX back on so that I can shut a window or the sunroof.

Mazda did get their head out of the sand with the MX at least. The windows in the Miata can be closed after the ignition is turned off. This allows the top to be put up and the windows closed without turning the car back on. As long as a door isn't opened first that is.

The windows will operate after OFF for about 40 seconds per the manual

"The power window can be operated for about 40 seconds after the ignition is switched from ON to ACC or off with all doors closed. If any door is opened, the power window will stop operating.

For engine-off operation of the power window, the switch must be held up firmly throughout window closure because the auto-closing function will be inoperable."

 

[mazda-mania]

The windows will operate after OFF for about 40 seconds per the manual

"The power window can be operated for about 40 seconds after the ignition is switched from ON to ACC or off with all doors closed. If any door is opened, the power window will stop operating.

For engine-off operation of the power window, the switch must be held up firmly throughout window closure because the auto-closing function will be inoperable."

Thanks for the confirmation.

Unfortunately when somebody opens one of the doors, THEN suggests rolling down/up the window, you will need to mind the "ON" button to be sure it gets turned back "OFF".

 

[Odrapnew]

It's fairly common these days for accessory mode to remain active for a period of time after shutting vehicle off and then all power shuts down when a door is opened.

My wife's 09 CX9 would beep a few times when you got out of the vehicle with the key on you, but still running or in run mode. My Explorer and Edge both honk the horn 2 times (which is sometimes annoying).

Slightly off topic, but I remember when I first drove a car that kept accessory power on for a short time after turning the vehicle off (this was late 90's). I turned the key off but the radio remained on. I sat there trying everything to get the radio to turn off until it eventually turned off after the preset time (something like 5-10 minutes). Never dawned on me to open the door.

 

[yrwei52]

It's fairly common these days for accessory mode to remain active for a period of time after shutting vehicle off and then all power shuts down when a door is opened.

My wife's 09 CX9 would beep a few times when you got out of the vehicle with the key on you, but still running or in run mode.

Unfortunately my 2016 CX-5 GT AWD doesn’t retain any power for a short period of time on certain systems such as power windows and moonroof after the power shut off. This’s something caught me by surprise that a 2016 vehicle doesn’t offer such feature that I can find even on my previous 2001.5 VW Passat!

 

[Conrad 16.5]

The windows will operate after OFF for about 40 seconds per the manual

"The power window can be operated for about 40 seconds after the ignition is switched from ON to ACC or off with all doors closed. If any door is opened, the power window will stop operating.

For engine-off operation of the power window, the switch must be held up firmly throughout window closure because the auto-closing function will be inoperable."

This may be true for other model years but it's certainly not true for the 2016.5.

On the 2016.5 the only way to keep powering some of the systems is to hold the shifter button in while turning the ignition off. Other than that, EVERYTHING shuts off with the ignition.

 

[JR3975]

If only Mazda would adopt the use of RAP (retained accessory power) as nearly EVERY other car manufacturer does! RAP allows the power to stay on for a few minutes after the ignition is turned off so that the windows and/or the sunroof can be closed. To me it's very stupid of Mazda not to implement RAP in their vehicles. I'd love to hear their reasoning for not using it.

I don't know how many times I've had to turn the CX back on so that I can shut a window or the sunroof.

Mazda did get their head out of the sand with the MX at least. The windows in the Miata can be closed after the ignition is turned off. This allows the top to be put up and the windows closed without turning the car back on. As long as a door isn't opened first that is.

RAP systems are only active until the door is opened, unless you're talking about Jeep Wranglers with the doors removed. There is no door pin to trigger the system to turn off so it stays active for a few minutes before timing out.

 

[Conrad 16.5]

RAP systems are only active until the door is opened, unless you're talking about Jeep Wranglers with the doors removed. There is no door pin to trigger the system to turn off so it stays active for a few minutes before timing out.

Yes, thank you for that information. Did I give you any indication that I didn't know this?

And no, no one was talking about Jeeps here.

 

[JR3975]

Yes, thank you for that information. Did I give you any indication that I didn't know this?

And no, no one was talking about Jeeps here.

Since it was clearly stated in the post that the vehicle was turned off, then he opened the door deactivating the RAP system, your rant about Mazda not having a RAP circuit make no sense. That was my only indication that you didn't understand RAP or that Mazda utilized it.