CX-5 Daylight Running Lights ?
 

I'm in my first week of Mazda CX-5 ownership (Sportnav Plus). So far very pleased with my purchase. Changed from a small Volvo and the quality of the CX-5 seems just as good as the Volvo, in fact the interior is a much nicer place to be ! One thing that is an enigma to me is the operating conditions of the Daylight Running Lights (I searched the forum under the topic but got no results, hence my making comment here). Having got the CX-5 home and parked on my drive, I wondered what the DRLs looked like, so got out and looked ..... nothing ! Looked in the handbook and found no clues. Occasionally, when out driving and pulling up behind other cars, I could see reflections in their bodywork of my lights, but couldn't ever see them when parked. Even tried parking my car on the drive with the wheels chocked, handbrake off, engine running ....... nothing. Has the car got a fault I wondered ? Decided to ask the dealership and was told that the DRLs only come on when the car is travelling at 6mph +. What in the name of the gods is the logic behind that !? Is this method of operation something that meets legislation in a country other than the UK, and Mazda have just replicated it for UK cars (to make life easier for themselves by minimising the number of different specs. of cars), or is it just someone's idea of a joke !? I'll be interested to hear comment (on the subject, not my inane question).

Have someone else sit in the driver's seat with the transmission in gear, parking brake off, and then take a look.

It's an oddity all it's own. My 2017 does the same thing. I guess it comes in handy so as not to distract other drivers in parking lots or on the roadside. I noticed it the first time while in a drive-thru lane at a take-out food place. Slip the tranny into park and off they go, put it back in drive to pull forward and the lights come back on.

Thank you for the suggestion Schmeig. Did the experiment but no lights came in to view. The wife suggested she stand in front of the car whilst I accelerated up to 6mph + and she would watch for the drl s coming on. I must admit there was a grain of an idea sprang to mind when she suggested this (but I didn't go with it as I didn't want to damage my new motor !!!).

My Grand Cherokee also does this. As soon as the vehicle goes into Park, the DRL's go off.

Much easier to check if you pull up to a storefront which has glass windows low enough you can see the car reflection. DRLs only come on when you shift into Drive. If you pull into a parking stall with the DRLs on, they go out as soon as you put the transmission in Park.

My 2015 and 2017 CX-5 both behaved like this.