If Driver Monitoring is disabled, does it stay disabled upon car restart?

[JimK91]

A family member is looking to purchase a 2026 CX-5 Premium Plus, which has the Driver Monitoring driver-facing camera. This can be disabled in the settings menu.

My questions is, does one have to disable it every time when starting the car, or does it stay disabled until one re-enables it via the settings?

 

[Snake]

Member @Nightraven has a 2026 PP. You can message him regarding your question.

 

[Antoine]

From what I can tell…By default, if you disable the camera-based Driver Monitoring via infotainment settings, it will reset to On the next time you start the CX-5.

Don’t own one but hope that sheds some light on the question…Hopefully someone can confirm here in the thread.

Ps…It appears Mazda Dealers might be able to permanently disable but will likely refuse due to liability concerns.

 

[ADS-B]

A family member is looking to purchase a 2026 CX-5 Premium Plus, which has the Driver Monitoring driver-facing camera. This can be disabled in the settings menu.

My questions is, does one have to disable it every time when starting the car, or does it stay disabled until one re-enables it via the settings?

All due respect, but why would you want to disable such feature? Are you planning to do something else while driving? I wish my car had it. I believe it's a good thing having it.

 

[Snake]

All due respect, but why would you want to disable such feature? Are you planning to do something else while driving? I wish my car had it. I believe it's a good thing having it.

I wouldn't want to be spied on if I could prevent it. Makes sense to me.

 

[ADS-B]

I wouldn't want to be spied on if I could prevent it. Makes sense to me.

I bet you have no issue with your cellphone using facial recognition as a security feature

 

[Antoine]

A couple reminders here…1. Let’s keep threads on topic. 2. Let’s try to be helpful.

It’s not only the OP that cares about the topic and obtaining answers, it’s the people who come across this thread seeking the same answers and information.

This is not a safety debate thread, it’s a question thread.

Now back to the question at hand…

 

[JimK91]

All due respect, but why would you want to disable such feature? Are you planning to do something else while driving? I wish my car had it. I believe it's a good thing having it.

Because I refuse to drive a car that is monitoring every frigging move I make. I've been on the road for over 50 years and don't need some camera system scrutinizing my every move and popping up stupid messages about, "I think you need to rest", or "Looks like you're becoming a hazard. Time to shut you down." That's why! If you want it, great, I don't.

 

[JimK91]

I bet you have no issue with your cellphone using facial recognition as a security feature

I disable that, too, and also have tape over the front-facing camera. It's all crap.

 

[JimK91]

I now understand that DM is reset to ON every time the car is started. That's all I wanted to know. Appreciate the responses.

** EDIT - I just was informed by a person who has a 2026 Premium Plus that, yes, if DM is disabled, it stays disabled, even when restarting the car, until it is re-enabled through the menu.

 

[wlong01]

I disable that, too, and also have tape over the front-facing camera. It's all crap.

I think they're coming out with a more drastic monitoring for model year 2027. Sounds like it govt mandated and doubt it will be able to be disabled.
Welcome to the nanny state.

 

[JimK91]

I think they're coming out with a more drastic monitoring for model year 2027. Sounds like it govt mandated and doubt it will be able to be disabled.
Welcome to the nanny state.

Yes. Section 24220 of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
This provision directs NHTSA to create a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) requiring advanced impaired driving prevention technology (driver monitoring to detect impairment like intoxication or drowsiness and limit/prevent vehicle operation) in new passenger vehicles. The original timeline targeted rules by late 2024 and implementation around 2027 model year. This will be more intrusive than the current driver-facing DM system in some new Mazdas. Many folks refer to it as eventually morphing into a "kill switch" that could disable the car when certain metrics are established. Extremely bad Big Brother intrusion. If that requirement does not get removed, then I will buy only used older cars for the remainder of my driving life.

 

[MrMcE]

Unfortunately it will take some freak scenario where this feature costs someone their life before they step it back.
I get it, more people will die without it overall probably but in those cases a person is to blame and we're more okay with that than fewer deaths but some caused by 'technology'.
Make all of this stuff optional, make it something you have to engage and turn on, incentivize it with insurance savings or something, people will cope with that just fine. But making it mandatory will piss off more people and make them avoid it, maybe even in greater numbers than if you had made it opt-in.

 

[cz5gt]

wait till we get the max speed hard limitation from the car
Thats the problem ...to solve a problem introduce another one because solving the first one is too much of a burden or too hard to solve.