[Geezer]

I have had my CX3 since last November last year, so it is almost a birthday boy. There is only one thing that really gets me steamed, and it is the tendency for the main display to suddenly fade to black for no apparent reason. I will be driving along on a beautiful sunny day when I feel the need to check my nav screen and find there is nothing but black. My map has gone along with everything else that was on the display leaving behind a black scary, creepy nothingness in tune with Halloween (which is almost upon us). I almost expect a creepy clown to pop up and scare the crap out of me! It usually takes a couple of minutes before the display returns to a normal working unit.

Does anyone else have this happen?

 

[17CeramicMetallicGT]

Sounds like a software issue to me. What has your dealer said about it?

 

[Vipre77]

Does the radio and everything work other than the display itself? If so, it could be simply a faulty backlight on the display where operation is intermittent, or maybe related to temperature.

Mine did something similar... at first. Started with the screen going black but the FM radio was still working. I could change volume, but not channels. Eventually that quit, too and it was almost totally dead. The system would boot with the Mazda logo and as soon as the distraction warning screen was supposed to pop up, it would crap out. After some monkeying around with trying to force restarts and trying odd button combinations it eventually got stuck in a boot loop that I couldn't recover from even after disconnecting the battery. After a couple days it totally died except for the back-up camera display which always worked correctly at all times thoughout the ordeal. My dealer ended up replacing the infotainment computer because it wouldn't even accept a software update. It would reboot itself before the flash could be completed.

 

[NotAPreppie]

Mine went black and stayed that way. I could still use the voice command to change audio source and such but nothing showed on the screen.

A trip to the dealer had them replacing the command unit (or some such thing) while installing some new scratches around the screen in my dash

 

[Geezer]

Hi again. It did it again today and I discovered that it actually does not go black (ie no back light) but it dims below the level that you can actually read what is on the screen. The radio still plays and if you look really hard you can make out the GPS map. It is as if it dims like it does if you are in sunlight and you turn on the headlights manually - which on my car for some reason dims the display to a level as to be unusable. But on my car I leave the light switch on Automatic continually, so I don't know what makes the display dim on its own for no reason.

By the way, I don't understand why the display dims when you manually switch on the headlights. It makes it impossible to drive with your lights on during the daytime (which is what I used to do with my last car).

 

[NotAPreppie]

You should be able to use the dimmer stalk to change the brightness.

 

[jtonline]

See here about changing instrument panel and dashboard illumination, including how to cancel dimming if you use your headlights in daylight:-
https://www.mymazda.com/MusaWeb/cx3/contents/05020106.html

The auto/day/night brightness & contrast of the Infotainment screen is adjusted by going to the Settings app. and choosing the Display tab. See page 5-40 of your Owners Manual:-
https://s3.amazonaws.com/tsd.mazdausa.com/Mazda_Owners_Manuals/2016/2016_CX3_OM.pdf

 

[Geezer]

Actually the LED daytime running lights on the CX3 are pretty bright so I don't bother to turn on headlights during the daytime like I used to with my old Forester but this is not the issue that I refer to. I have tried all the settings to adjust the brightness of the centre display using all the techniques mentioned in this thread but the blackout of the display panel (actually I should say "Grayout") comes on suddenly and without warning and apparently without reason. So I will have to take this up with the service manager and if necessary escalate it up to Mazda Canada.

 

[Vipre77]

Mine went black and stayed that way. I could still use the voice command to change audio source and such but nothing showed on the screen.

A trip to the dealer had them replacing the command unit (or some such thing) while installing some new scratches around the screen in my dash

Same here.

 

[jtonline]

... on my car I leave the light switch on Automatic continually, so I don't know what makes the display dim on its own for no reason...

With the light switch set to Auto and the infotainment screen brightness set to Auto, the headlights will come on and dim the display if the ambient light/rain sensor that looks out the windscreen goes into shade. If that's not what's happening, then yes, you have a fault.

... By the way, I don't understand why the display dims when you manually switch on the headlights. It makes it impossible to drive with your lights on during the daytime...

Because you would normally be using your headlights at night when you'd also want the display dimmed. For occasions when you want headlights on during the day, you cancel dimming as per my earlier post.

Actually the LED daytime running lights on the CX3 are pretty bright so I don't bother to turn on headlights during the daytime...

Unless it's foggy during daylight