CX-5 Brake lights

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2008 Mazda 3
I have a 2017 Cx-5 Touring. When following behind it the other day I noticed the brake lights on the hatch don’t work. The outer brake lights do work. Is there a separate fuse or relay for the brake lights on the hatch? I couldn’t find it. The backup lights on the hatch do work. I’ve searched the web but can’t find anything about the brake lights on the hatch door. Has anyone ever experienced this?
 
Were the lights on? The only brake light that lights up on my hatch are above the back window, the 'third eye'. The red lights on the hatch are connected to the light switch.
 
I tried with lights on and off. I was wondering if maybe those light weren’t supposed to light up, but I followed another 2017+ CX-5 and they lit up on that car When they put on the brakes
 
LED tail lights are different from bulb-lit units. 2017 Touring has bulb type tails. The CX-5 you were following must have had LED tail lights.
 
You can check for power at the connector, it's a 2 pin connector. They should be on the same fuse as the other brake light. I'll double check on that later, getting to it is a pain, I had to replace mine whole rear spoiler with the led when I accidentally backed into the garage door.
 
The third light on the top does work. I've attached a couple of pics. One with backup lights on. It just seems odd they'd put lights there if they weren't intended to work.
 

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They're reflectors. That section also houses the reverse lights. But it would look a little odd if the whole piece was clear.

The tailgate sections do light up on the LED version, but I think they are considered "accent lights" more so than primary tail lights (sort of the LED answer to reflectors?). They're flat panels (like the accent lights around the headlights) and they don't act as brake lights (i.e. don't intensify when brakes applied).
 
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What @Bird-Dog said. The non-LED taillights (like my Touring) do not have bulbs in those locations. There was a thread a couple of months back, where one owner had gone through the process of retrofitting the LED assemblies on their tailgate, incl the wiring (a semi-how-to as I recall). But it was pretty expensive, >$300 for the parts.
 
The higher trim-level 2nd gen CX-9s have "signature lighting" in the inner tail light housings on the liftgate. This is just accent lighting that illuminates when you have the parking lights turned on, or when the low beams are on. It is not functional.

I think the same "signature lighting" is only found on the GT and higher trims on the CX-5.
 
The red hatch lights on mine have bulbs ( I replaced with LEDs) that light up with the parking lights/taillights.
 
On GT and above models, they light up as tail lights, not brake lights.
On Touring and below models, they are just reflectors... correct me if I am wrong here.
 
I saw one this evening and actually got behind it haha. From what I understand, when the headlights are off, those will serve as brake lights in additional normal brake lights (Jimmy's #7 post). If the headlights are on, they will function as an extension of the tail lights and will NOT flash or be brighter when braking.
 
I saw one this evening and actually got behind it haha. From what I understand, when the headlights are off, those will serve as brake lights in additional normal brake lights (Jimmy's #7 post). If the headlights are on, they will function as an extension of the tail lights and will NOT flash or be brighter when braking.

Ha, you're correct!
 
Well, THAT's bizarre. Wonder why they went with that over-complicated design?
It would seem those LED light panels are not capable of dual intensity. While the main brake light is very bright and unmistakable at night, in the daytime the added presence of the tail lights also lighting up when you brake just makes sense. It doesn't seem overly complicated at all. In fact, I think it's very well thought out by Mazda.
 
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