claude4

Ok,

So is there a simple solution to this?

In the way of finding out what part needs to be added to the U.S. RX8 and where to get it, How much it costs and if the dealer could get it/install it?

Or do I have to find it as an aftermarket item? In which case I wouldn't know where to begin.

BTW: I appreciate the help.

Claude H.

TerenceT

miata's
http://www.miata.net/products/lights...rl_module.html

or buy the canadian version from a canadian forum user

claude4

So I just sent mazdausa an e-mail asking for the part number (s)they use on the RX8 to give it DRLs.

They do make the part(s), perhaps the wiring harness in the U.S. model lends itself to being readily modyfied?


Question is: Will I get a satisfactory answer or any answer, for that matter, from Mazda?

Claude H.

TerenceT

it'll be eaiser to find a forum user to go to the dealership for you

or you'll have to call mazda of CANADA instead, if mazda operates like say Honda
the CS dept only have US specs info

claude4

OK,

I may have to just remember to turn my headlights off when done using the car as I suspect that it would be almost impossible to get accurate info on the wiring diferences, if any, btwn US and Canada models. Let alone what would need to be done, correctly, to retrofit DRLs to a US RX8.

I tinker with computer networks, not cars.

Claude H.

spasso

I agree with you except your helmet statement. Helmets do a great job at 65 mph, I know from personal experience and am able to type this to you today because I chose to wear one.

spasso

Whenever someone with DRL is coming towards me on the road, I just pull on my flash-to-pass bright lights until I pass them and blind them just like they are doing to me, especially those saturns and SUV's. Maybe they'll get the picture that I don't want their lights blaring at me during the daytime. If you can't pay attention enough to see all the cars on the road then you need to start taking the bus.

One of these days I am going to buy a POS pinto or something and go around just running into people with DRL on purpose. I would love to get out of the car and say "Hey next time get your !&$&#@ lights out of my face during the daytime!"

You know we could also go around honking our horns every two seconds to make people hear us on the road too, but we don't... because it would be annoying as hell. Guess what, DRL are too.

Wing

WTF? DRL are NOT bright! They help especially when the sun is in your eyes you can see the car coming from farther away.

If you are staring at the oncoming cars so much that they are BLINDING you, you have a problem, more deep than I can imagine.

DRL are not really any brighter than a flashlight and they point pretty much at the ground. Heck even headlights shouldn't blind you during the DAY!

I'll find out how much the DRL kit is here in Canada for you guys.

spasso

Actually 75% of the ARE BRIGHT at least as bright as that car's BRIGHT Lights! Maybe they are not so in Canada, but I can tell you that especially saturns, toyotas, and most GM products have EXTREMELY BRIGHT DRLS.

I am not staring at cars but I do check every car on the road around me and know what they are doing or plan to do, that is part of driving.

If I came up to you and shined a flashlight in your eyes while you were driving would you find it a bit distracting?

RotorGeek

OMG

You need to go see a shrink. You wanna buy a POS pinto and start rammimg people off the road because of DRL's. Guess what ? You are losing it

spasso

I never said anything about ramming them off the road, they can stay on the road for all I care.

claude4

My God,

Who would have thought this question would have drawn out such emotion.

Let there be DRL's for those who want them. And for those who don't, let there be a switch to disable them.

Wing: I, for one, appreciate your looking into this in Canada. I live in New York and would love to have a way of retrofiting DRLs on the U.S. version, if possible.

Can it be that the wiring is the same in both US and Canada cars? Could it be as simple as adding the DRL module? I wish it to be so BUT fear it may not be so simple.

If there is a solution, I would be interested in what woud be required to either do it myself (If simple) or pass on the required instructions and parts to my dealer for them to do. Bear in mind that dealers are not the most flexible here in doing other than what the Mazda specs call for, if you know what I mean.

Thanks in advnce for your help.

Claude H.

ggreen29

I think DRL makes m/cycles less visible. They have a hard enough time in congested areas and anything that makes it harder for them without any real gain for anyone else shouldn't be imposed. Until DRLs came along when I saw headlights I knew it was either a m/c or some elderly doofus who still has 'em on from last night. Either way it meant to be more alert. Now it's becoming a false alarm.

Sputnik

Dude, GM DRLs are 40% of the lowbeams. Get over it.

---jps

spasso

NEW ones are yes, NEW MODELS. What about all those who went and had the dealers change their cars so they would also have DRL. Tell me under oath that all GM DRLs are 40% power and you can go to jail for perjury.

Besides, 40% light is still 40% too much during the day.

Next somebody will decide it will be safer if we all drive around with big *** flashing strobe lights like school busses, hey "IT HELPS VISIBILITY" right???????????????

Well guess what, I don't want to see your flashing strobe either, I mean, ****, if you can't see a big yellow school bus on the road you seriously need to have your license revoked.

Sputnik

They've always been.

You might want to check the facts before you embarass yourself, again.

---jps

spasso

ok, check the facts...

NHTSA regulations take precedence over any and all state laws, so now DRLs are legal in all states, when two-thirds of the states had previously banned DRLs altogether. Even worse, NHTSA permitted DRLs to be implemented on high beam headlamps at up to 7000 candela. This is well above the threshold for discomfort glare. Why? So that GM could make DRLs on the cheap.

GM began installing DRLs immediately on some models in 1993. By 1997, all GM vehicles had installed. GM has kindly offered to SELL you a kit to convert your current vehicle to DRLs. How thoughtful -- and how very profitable. Unfortunately, many of these kits simply turned on the lights with no reduction in wattage!

Finally, in 1998, after receiving several hundred complaints about the excessive glare and the overall effectiveness of DRLs, NHTSA proposed reductions in DRL intensities. The proposed reductions were overly generous to the auto manufacturers by permitting high beam DRLs to be used for another three years. In the end, after 4 years low beam DRLs would be allowed if they were no stronger than 1500cd above the horizontal. Due to vehicles operating at a higher voltage in the real world than in the lab, this figure would approach 2000cd when the car hit the road. In addition, there was no limit placed on the intensity below the horizontal. With such extreme vehicle height differences that we have today, from the Corvette to the 3500 Silverado, glare would continue to be a problem. Why the lax rule? Because NHTSA doesn't want to upset GM and its bottom line.

General Motors (required like all carmakers to install DRLs on vehicles sold in Canada) repeatedly lobbied the Federal Government to allow GM to install Canadian-style DRLs on its US cars in order to save the costs of producing separate wiring for Canadian and American cars. The Department of Transportation finally bowed to GM pressure in 1995, and overrode numerous state laws that prohibited the use of these lights.

Saturn automobiles use the "high beam" or "bright" element of the headlights for daytime running lights. Even though the DRLs are operated with lower voltages, the light is reflected directly into the eyes and the rear view mirrors of other motorists.

DRLs are insulting to our intelligence. DRL proponents assume that drivers are not intelligent enough to know when to turn on their lights. By implication, then, DRL proponents are saying, in effect, that the states are licensing unqualified drivers! Driving is a skill. Observation is a skill. With proper experience and training, these skills are integrated in the person of a safe driver. Both of these skills can be nurtured or improved in every driver. But, neither skill will be enhanced in today's environment if it believes safety lies in the gadgets and misinterpreted data. Safety, in reality, is nothing more than the collective responsibility of each individual to be the best driver -- the most observant, the most cautious, the most defensive, the most skilled -- that he or she can be.

Wing

Interesting.... although I still don't understand the glare factor.

I drive in CANADA, every freakin car has DRL on it, it does NOT bother me. NOBODY I have ever talked to said it bothered them.
Maybe the beams are brighter in the US, but they are no visible in the daytime here, if you stand in front of the DRL it will BARELY show up on your leg during the day.

Now people that drive around with their fogs on, THOSE people should be rammed with your pinto! That is the most annoying thing in the world.

mikeb

foglights during the day are bad

loco4rx8

So what's the point?


j/k

Wing

I called 2 dealers.

Both said the SAME thing.

FORGET ABOUT IT!

Sorry guys, they looked up the part and said it's not just a module. It's the entire wireing harness and cpu module. Quoted me $1000+

One dealer told me, you can probably buy some universal type thing at pep boys or something to "add" it but thats about it.

claude4

Thanks so much Wing,

That is what I feared. Never heard of a generic add on kit that pepboys or the likes might have, but for the sake of following through, I will check this out.

Claude H.

Gord96BRG

Spasso,

If you're reading DRL regulations, you should check them more closely. There are several permitted ways to implement them - GM just chose the worst possible method. Not the fault of DRLs in general, just GM's fault. DRLs can use reduced intensity low beams, reduced intensity high beams, fog lights, or bright park lights. For examples, Subaru uses the reduced intensity low beam, Audi uses the fog lights for cars equipped with HID low beam headlights, and Mazda and Chrysler have used the brighter amber park lights for DRLs. Ford and GM are the idiots who used reduced intensity high beams, and, I am extremely sad to say, Mazda has gone that way with the RX-8 as well (although they are more reduced intensity than most).

As for 'if you can't see the cars on the road then don't drive' - what a presumptuous statement! Canadians have been living with mandatory DRLs for 13 years now, and their benefits are recognized by almost everyone.

Here's a scenario - you're driving on a two lane road through a forest, and you catch up to a moving roadblock (aka RV). You want to pass, but there's a double-solid line. You see a passing stripe ahead, so you prepare to pass by moving towards the centre line and looking down the road. Half a mile down the road, in the shadow and light patches of the forest, you see a vehicle in the oncoming lane. Quick - is it someone travelling in the same direction as you who is passing another moving roadblock further ahead, or is it a car traveling in the opposite direction towards you? Too late - while you had to study the scenario and figure out which way that car was going, you've missed the opportunity to pass. Now if that car had DRLs - you'd be able to instantly tell if it was coming or going. It's a very real scenario, and I can attest that the difference between driving on 2 lane roads in Canada and the US is significant because of this - I just did a 4000 mile road trip to California and back in the RX-8, and we avoided the interstates whenever possible.

There's actually a very real difference in visibility and safety on 2 lane roads when 98% of the vehicles on the road have DRLs.

If you never get off the freeways or out of the cities, then I suppose you'd never notice this. Just because you aren't aware of the benefits doesn't mean they don't exist. Open you mind and try to learn something, instead of condemning things that you know so little about!

Regards,
Gordon

OrangeBingo

They have this, it's called the light switch. How hard can it be to turn on the lights when you go for a drive? Is it that hard to remember to start the car? Put on a seatbelt? Put the car in gear? Just add in the action of switching on the lights. And you know what? If you forget to do it I will be very suprised if it causes you to die.

OrangeBingo

As a resident of a state that is 80% forest, I would just like to laugh at your bullshit "scenario."

Hahahahahaha....ha..."snicker"....ahem.

Thank you.