Trying to figure out how to adjust dash illumination (i.e. make it brighter during the day). Instructions seems to say turning the little **** that resets the trip odometer will do it but I can turn it 'till the cows come home and no effect. Likewise, at night seems impossible to dim it down. At one point the manual says push the button to brighten during daylight but all that does is cycle from trip A to trip B. Spoke to dealer and he directed me to a **** that does not exist either in the car or the instruction book.


I live in Florida and wear rather dark sun glasses and dash (speedo and tach) are almost invisible when driving during daylight.


Please do not direct me to "TV" screen controls which are separate from speedo and tach as I can and have adjusted them. And there is no way I'm taking this in for a warranty repair. Been there done that with other cars with under dash problems and usually they may fix problem but create others in doing so.


Does anyone else have this problem or is my CX-5 an anomaly?

 

According to my 2016 CX-5 manual illumination can only be adjusted when headlight and parking lights are on. Also
Canceling the illumination dimmer
When the headlight switch is in the
or On position, the illumination of the instrument cluster dims.
When driving on snowy or foggy roads, or in other situations when the instrument cluster's visibility is reduced due to glare from surrounding brightness, cancel the illumination dimmer and increase the illumination intensity.
To cancel the illumination dimmer, rotate the **** clockwise fully. You will hear a beep sound and the illumination dimmer will be canceled.


Both of these functions work fine on my CX

 

My CX-5 works in the way you have described however I live in Florida and with very dark sunglasses it would be nice to be able to make the dash brighter DURING THE DAY so it was more visible. Don't they have bright sun in Japan?

 

This was the case for me also, I initially had two settings, so dim you can't see it during the day, and overly bright at night... but all of a sudden one day it all started working...

You are using the correct **** (little one above and between speedo and gas gauge) mine really didn't start working until about 4k miles..

Only suggestion I have is try re-zeroing your trip counter a few times, slowly turn the **** as you press it in. Kinda just fidget with it a bit..

But to answer your question, I have experienced this and don't know what truly was the fix, but didn't do anything specific to get it working..

 

Unfortunately, I'm not sitting in front of a CX5 dash at the moment. The dash light dimmer will be different than that of the trip reset, but the same style, usually opposite of the trip button. If you turn the ****, it will dim or brighten the dash lights with the headlights on. In addition, they have what is called a "parade or funeral" mode. Pushing the **** in, with the headlights on, will put the dash lights in a brighter mode, as if the headlights were not on. I'll be able to plant my butt in a CX5 tomorrow and be able to know for sure where the dimmer is at. If different than what I just described, I'll update.

 

YUP, I misspoke. The trip reset controls dash lights. Headlights HAVE to be on. There is an audible beep when you turn it to the high max and when you go to the low side max.

 

With my 2016 Tech Pkg, the adjustment range is awful. It is either fully bright or fully dim. Trying to get the brightness to adjust somewhere between the extremes just doesn't work.

I've given up trying.