10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 3 / 0
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 3 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 43 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.
2021 Mazda CX-5. On 8/6/24, I turned right into a parking space between 2 parked vehicles at the DMV parking lot. I turned right and eased into the parking space facing a large Ford F 150 white pickup truck. I was approximately 1-1.5 feet from the front of the white truck. I had my foot on the brake, suddenly the vehicle accelerated by itself and I heard the car revving at a very high rpm and the car took off. My sister was a passenger and she heard it as well. None of the collision or brake notification avoidance features came on the screen or were implemented as a safety measure or accident prevention. I had my foot on the brake and I had no control over the vehicle. The car lurched forward hitting the right side near the headlight of the car on my left and the pickup that was in front of me. My car hit the white pickup so hard that it pushed it out of the parking space in front of me and perpendicular to the parked cars in the row. We both were injured, my sister in ICU and had to have emergency cervical surgery for fractures impinging her cervical spinal cord. The Mazda was totaled. It is impossible for a Mazda to push the Ford F 150 pickup truck, that was facing me, out of the parking space and perpendicular to the row of parked cars with just 12- 14 inches between the pickup truck and my vehicle unless it was revved up to a very high rpm. The police report has some inaccuracies, it states I was turning left into the space but was actually turning right and says I possibly passed out but that is not true. I was in shock when the police questioned me. I have also relived every second of this accident in slow motion many times since. I am a 5 foot women and would have had to floor the gas peddle and even then would not be able to push a large pickup truck out of the space in front of me, and continue out of the parking space landing sideways in a 12-14 inch space between the front of the 2 vehicles.
- Mays Landing, NJ, USA
Purchasers of Mazda Vehicles are not being notified that tow eye bolts do not come with the vehicle. That is in some fine print somewhere in the owners manual which is as dense as an encyclopedia. When there is a need to be towed with a rope or strap it is impossible without damaging the vehicle. There are no accessible frame areas that can be reached to strap a hook, rope or strap to safely tow a vehicle without damaging it. Out in the desert in a wilderness area, I got stuck in some mud in a potentially dangerous situation, possibly life threatening. Finally, upon a miracle I was able to find someone with an electric wench but we were unable to attach it to the vehicle because THERE WAS NO TOW EYE HOOK where it was supposed to be. Mazda intentionally did not include it. It's equivalent to NOT providing a jack and socket to change a flat tire to a spare tire! I had to abandon the vehicle overnight and eventually had to tow it out of the mud using the rear frame and damaging the plastic bumper. This is bewilderingly negligent and UNSAFE and Dangerous! It is beyond the realm of common sense.
- Berkeley, CA, USA
Our 2021 Mazda CX-5 infotainment/backup screen went black/blank. I could still hear radio, but when vehicle put in reverse, backup camera not working. Tried a recommended -??fix-?? which was putting vehicle in reverse and pushing down volume knob for 3 seconds which did not work. Turned vehicle off, waited a minute and then restarted but screen still black and backup camera not working. After vehicle sat for approximately 15 minutes, restarted vehicle and system back to normal. Contacted decker and they had no fix. This is the third time this type of incident has occurred since purchasing vehicle in March 2021.
- Belleville, IL, USA
The car has a key fob which is supposed to automatically lock the car when you walk away (and unlock when you press a button on the door handle when the fob is in close proximity). My car sometimes does not lock when I walk away. They encourage relying on this method, and so sometimes I return to my car, and it is unlocked. I consider this a safety issue both from a personal safety standpoint and from a car theft/ interior item theft standpoint. I have tried discussing this with the dealership repair department, but they mansplain to me that you have to walk FAR away for the lock to activate (which is actually directly contrary to the owner's manual for this model, as well as my personal experience).
- Longmont, CO, USA
Feb 2,2022 received Critical Vehicle Malfunction Warning, all vehicle systems affected told to call roadside assistance and not to drive vehicle. Received same warning again February 11,2022 after vehicle had been inspected by dealer service again had vehicle towed to dealer. April 14, 2022 Critical vehicle malfunction again. October 30, 2022, again Critical vehicle malfunction warning. All vehicle systems affected.
- Old Bridge, NJ, USA
Upon exiting my local car wash, I drove my car around to the area used for vacuuming. I pulled into the parking space and when I applied the brake pedal to stop, the car suddenly accelerated and crashed into the wall of the building. I have the Car Wash Security Camera footage of this incident. It shows my brake light is ON at the car's point of acceleration and my brake light is ON at point of impact with the wall. If you need to review it, I can email it to you.
- Cordova, TN, USA
I parked my car in my driveway and accidentally left the gear in park when I turned off the engine with the push button. This is the first time I had driven this car so I didn't know what to do for the warning beep. I exited the car and took the key fob with me. My daughter exited the car just after me and when she closed the car door the pressure was enough to start the car rolling backwards. The vehicle rolled down our driveway which has a steep slope, across the street, over our neighbor's yard and crashed against their house. We are lucky that no pedestrians or other vehicles were involved. There is significant structural damage to the neighbor's house. A police report was filed. I believe this is a significant safety hazard that a driver could turn off the engine and leave with the key fob while the car is in drive and there is no braking mechanism to prevent the car from rolling! In addition, the quiet warning beep should be more pronounced such as the horn honking or something more extreme to get the attention of the distracted driver.
- Arlington, VA, USA
2021 Mazda cr-5 Automatic rear hatch comes open on its own. This has happened 6-7 times. I make sure the car is locked and have come back to parking lot to find the hatch open. I have even locked the car and when I have walked to door of Walmart (long way off) and look back the hatch is not open. When I come back out, the rear hatch is open. I took to dealership and they could not rectify the problem.
- Cabot , AR, USA
The design of the remote control is poor. Placement of the buttons on the side and the light pressure needed to activate the unlock for the trunk has led to it opening unexpectedly. It can open and strike a pedestrian when you did not intend to activate the powered trunk open feature. It could also open when near an object and damage the trunk b/c of how sensitive the remote buttons are. This has also led to the doors unlocking b/c of placement and light pressure needed to activate. On one occasion the button was pressed accidentally and the trunk was partially open as I backed up.
- Avon, OH, USA
The informant controls are not safe to use while driving. Way to many sub groups to scroll through just to get the radio to work. Very confusing and distracting.
- Port Washington, WI, USA
The paint on this car is notoriously poor and Mazda is aware. We purchased this vehicle on 16 February 2021, drove it home and left it in the driveway due to snow/ice. On Thursday, 18 February instead of brushing or scraping off the ice we left it to melt. Unfortunately, the ice melt left huge scratches on the hood. There is no reason for ice/snow to cause this much damage. We reviewed a number of websites and it appears that Mazda is aware of this inferior paint and has done nothing to rectify the problem. But they do charge $595 more for it. I have not received any call backs from Mazda corporation. Browns chantilly did attempt to repair the damage but all that did was mask it slightly. The damage is still very visible. This car has 12 miles on it and most of those are from the dealer. I am unable to upload more than one photo. The photo shows the largest scratch but T here are many more on the car.
- Fairfax, VA, USA
- Parker , CO, USA