2009 CX-9 General Questions

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vulcho

Member
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CX-9
Hello All!

First post here. I bought a 2009 CX-9 Touring about 6 months ago and have been greatly enjoying the drive. I have some general questions which I am hoping you folks can answer for me.

Can I (easily) override the auto-dim dashboard lights when I turn the parking/headlights on while driving? If I am driving on a sunny day (usually with sunglasses), and have the headlights on, I can't see the dials very well. Some parts of my county require use of headlights in the day, and in addition I like to have the headlights on in the twisty mountain roads. I mentioned 'easily' above because when driving at night, the dimming feature is great. The manual knob built into the dash to adjust the light intensity still can't make the dials bright enough to be easily visible on a sunny day with the headlight on. Having the dimming feature disabled would just make the dials too bright during night driving (even at the lowest intensity selected by the in-dash knob). Seems like a really inefficient design... you shouldn't need lights to illuminate your gauges during the day so you know how fast you are going or see what radio station you have selected.

FOB battery goes out quickly. In 6 months, I have gone through 2 FOB batteries. Is this normal? I drive every day, 7 days a week. Lock and unlock the car about 4-6 times a day. 6-8 on weekends.

Any creative tips you might have on hiding the wiring going from the AUX and power supply within the certer armrest and the center dash area where I keep my phone?

The back side of the third row seating (as seen through the trunk) is getting 'shaggy' from vaccuming. Aside from using different vaccumm attachments, any other tips on preventing this from happening and having to give the back of the seats haircuts every so often?

Is the fwd/aft tilt angle on the driver (and I suppose passenger) headrests not adjustable?

As you can see, it's all little things. I still enjoy driving my car very much and I'm very happy with the purchase. But like any vehicle, there's a few little things here and there which probably irritate some and not at all others. Knock on wood, I haven't had any issues with it thus far.

Thanks for any help.
 
Auto-dim lights: Press down on the manual knob to disable the auto-dimmer. As you guessed, you'll have to press down on it again at night to let the dimming action resume. What bugs me most about the instrument panel displays is that it's just too dim even in "fully bright" mode on sunny days. Would it have killed them to put in brighter light sources?

FOB battery: It took us 2 yrs to go through the original battery with almost as much usage as yours so that does seem unusual.

Headrest tilt angle: I don't believe this is possible, just height. Someone might be able to correct me.
 
FOB: keep your fobs away from vehicles. Some people leave their fobs/keys in the garage. That is not good for any SKE system, which
constantly responds to inquery signal within range.
Headrest: CX9 has poor headrest design. One of the main reasons CX9 performs poorly in rear-end crash done by IIHS.

SKE: smart keyless entry
 
My friends came over to google my new CX-9 in January. It was sitting locked in the garage.

My buddy walks over and says "what's this button do?" and presses the door button and opens the door, gets inside and is able to turn on the ignition. Only I am NOT carrying a key - it's in the house on a keyring, next to the front door!!

Learned my lesson. I still use the keyring sometimes, but now I park the car on the far side of the garage. ;-)
 
I found that out too! i was outside getting something out of my truck, my nephew with me. He presses the the button on the passenger door and the doors unlock. I used to keep the keys on a table by the front door, now I keep them in the kitchen at the back of the house.
 
HOLOHOLO said:
My friends came over to google my new CX-9 in January. It was sitting locked in the garage.

My buddy walks over and says "what's this button do?" and presses the door button and opens the door, gets inside and is able to turn on the ignition. Only I am NOT carrying a key - it's in the house on a keyring, next to the front door!!

Learned my lesson. I still use the keyring sometimes, but now I park the car on the far side of the garage. ;-)
Click to expand...

Hmmm,
something is not right. You can try that again.
When keycard is nearby, you can unlock the doors, but you CAN'T turn the ignition unless the keycard is INSIDE.
I just tried it. The ignition cylinder won't turn at all.
Either something is wrong with your ignition cylinder or you have another keycard inside the cabin....
 
ceric said:
Hmmm,
something is not right. You can try that again.
When keycard is nearby, you can unlock the doors, but you CAN'T turn the ignition unless the keycard is INSIDE.
I just tried it. The ignition cylinder won't turn at all.
Either something is wrong with your ignition cylinder or you have another keycard inside the cabin....
Click to expand...

I agree. If you put the key on the roof, and close the sunroof shade, you should NOT be able to turn the ignition. BUT--if there was another key in the cabin, if you hit the lock button on the door handle, the car would not lock, and would only beep repeatedly.
 
When I tried it, I had my nephew stand outside the door with the key and started the engine. I had him walk far down the street with the key and the car continued running.

Made me worry about the ease of carjacking.
 
Well, the keycard has to be sensed by the ECU (within 3ft) so that you can turn the ignition ("KEY" is yellow/green).
(it does not have to be literally "inside")
If ECU does not sense the keycard within range, the "KEY" light is red.
Note that ECU is located inside the carbin (unless the sensor inside the door).
Once the engine is started, one can drive off without the key as long as the he does not shut off the engine.
 
Vulcho, as far as the switchblade keyless entry (which I assume you have), those fob batteries should last for years and years. You may have the dealer check that out if BOTH switchblades are dying fast. If just one is dying fast, probly just a bad switchblade.
 
I believe the manual says not to keep the keyfob near cell phones, since it might not work well. I seem to get lower range if I put my key in the same pocket as my phone, so maybe this also has a draining effect? Only seems to happen when the key is directly against the phone.

As for the fuzz, you can buy these anti-pilling shavers that should cut some of that fuzz down. Otherwise, try to avoid circular movements when vacuuming.
 
HOLOHOLO said:
When I tried it, I had my nephew stand outside the door with the key and started the engine. I had him walk far down the street with the key and the car continued running.

Made me worry about the ease of carjacking.
Click to expand...


Yes--once the car is started, the engine will not kill if the key goes out of range. But the car will not start if the key isn't in range, and the range is short. My wife was standing directly outside the passenger side front door yesterday, with the door closed, and I could not turn the ignition.
 
So what do you folks do for valet situations? Do you leave them the whole FOB? Or the mini key?
 
HOLOHOLO said:
So what do you folks do for valet situations? Do you leave them the whole FOB? Or the mini key?
Click to expand...

I leave the whole FOB. What's the point of leaving only the hard key? It's not a valet key--that's what you use to lock the glove box. If anything, you should lock the glove box with the hard key, take the hard key with you, and leave the fob with the valet.
 
Don't care about the glove box, but maybe I should... I'm more concerned about the FOB being cloned, "lost" or damaged.

I was told the FOB was disabled without the hardkey inserted. So you could safely leave it in the car when at the beach. Guess the salesguy was wrong!

If you give the valet the FOB only, they have no way to hang it.
 
Last edited:
Don't care about the glove box, but maybe I should... I'm more concerned about the FOB being cloned, "lost" or damaged.

I was told the FOB was disabled without the hardkey inserted. So you could safely leave it in the car when at the beach. Guess the salesguy was wrong!

If you give the valet the FOB only, they have no way to hang it.
Click to expand...

THIS is why I don't listen to car salesmen...(braindead
 
I can confirm the fob working. I gave the valet just the fob, removing the hard key and keeping it on my ring. I was a little worried he wouldn't be able to start the car without the hard key inserted. No problems though. Was convenient for me, if just a bit unnerving.
 
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