Consumer Safety Complaints
Search 2,245,377 safety complaints filed by vehicle owners with NHTSA, including 140,173 crashes, 56,794 fires, and 8,580 deaths.
What is a NHTSA consumer complaint?
A consumer complaint is a free-form report filed by a vehicle owner directly to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) describing a safety concern about their vehicle. NHTSA collects these reports through its Vehicle Owner Defect Report (VOQ) system and publishes them publicly. Each complaint includes the affected component, the date and circumstances of the incident, whether the failure caused a crash or fire, and any reported injuries or deaths. The owner's full narrative description is included verbatim, NHTSA does not edit or moderate the descriptions.
The database below contains over 2,245,377 individual complaints. NHTSA's investigators monitor it for clusters of similar reports, when enough owners describe the same failure mode on the same vehicle, NHTSA may open a Preliminary Evaluation that can lead to a recall. Many of the largest recalls in U.S. history, including the Takata airbag recall and the Hyundai/Kia engine fire recalls, started as patterns visible in this complaint database years before they became formal recalls.
How to interpret what you read
A few principles for reading consumer complaints usefully:
- One complaint is anecdote; a hundred similar complaints is data. NHTSA does not investigate the truthfulness of any individual report, that's the job of the Office of Defects Investigation, which looks at the full pattern. When evaluating a vehicle, look for whether multiple owners describe the same chain of events.
- Crash, fire, injury, and death flags are owner-set. They are not verified by NHTSA. They are still useful as a filter, because owners who tick those boxes are typically reporting more serious incidents than those who don't.
- Component categories are NHTSA-assigned, not owner-assigned. NHTSA standardizes the component field so that complaints can be aggregated. The owner narrative often goes into more detail than the component category captures.
- Complaint volume scales with sales volume. A best-selling model will accumulate more raw complaints than a niche model even at the same defect rate. To compare across vehicles, look at complaints per 100,000 units sold, not raw counts.
If you've experienced a defect
File a complaint. NHTSA's investigators rely on this database to detect emerging defects, and useful complaints, specific, concrete, with dates and mileage and clear descriptions of what happened, feed directly into the agency's pattern detection. The form takes about 10 minutes and is at nhtsa.gov/recalls under "Report a Safety Problem." Your complaint becomes part of the same public record that this page is built from. Owners filing detailed VOQs are how recalls get triggered.
Read more from our blog
Showing 29,895 complaints for MAZDA
Incident date: Mar 12, 2021
I find I have to put my foot down on the gas pedal to the floor to make it literally go at times. Ive heard this cloaking noise several times like its getting ready to conk out. The brakes seems to me don't stop as they should at times I have to go in hard on the brake pedal. The air conditioner does not blow cold an see where previous owner had same issue 2 yrs straight from looking the the servi... Read more
Incident date: Mar 12, 2021
I find I have to put my foot down on the gas pedal to the floor to make it literally go at times. Ive heard this cloaking noise several times like its getting ready to conk out. The brakes seems to me don't stop as they should at times I have to go in hard on the brake pedal. The air conditioner does not blow cold an see where previous owner had same issue 2 yrs straight from looking the the servi... Read more
Incident date: May 24, 2021
My car had a air bag recal and a subframe and other misc recalls so I contacted the dealership near me which was In Springfield Mo and set a apt and had it replaced then got a call the next day saying they wuld meet me half way with a loaner car which was in Mansfield mo for the subframe replacement and they have had it for over a month and they called and told me it was ready for pick up 6/21/21 ... Read more
Incident date: May 24, 2021
My car had a air bag recal and a subframe and other misc recalls so I contacted the dealership near me which was In Springfield Mo and set a apt and had it replaced then got a call the next day saying they wuld meet me half way with a loaner car which was in Mansfield mo for the subframe replacement and they have had it for over a month and they called and told me it was ready for pick up 6/21/21 ... Read more
Incident date: May 24, 2021
My car had a air bag recal and a subframe and other misc recalls so I contacted the dealership near me which was In Springfield Mo and set a apt and had it replaced then got a call the next day saying they wuld meet me half way with a loaner car which was in Mansfield mo for the subframe replacement and they have had it for over a month and they called and told me it was ready for pick up 6/21/21 ... Read more
Incident date: Jul 2, 2021
The contact owns a 2012 Mazda Mazda3. The contact stated while driving 40 mph, the automatic trans-axle warning light illuminated and the vehicle suddenly stalled. The contact was able to restart the vehicle however, the failure reoccurred for a second time that day and she was unable to restart the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the dealer who diagnosed that the battery cables had detached. Th... Read more
Incident date: Jul 2, 2021
The contact owns a 2012 Mazda Mazda3. The contact stated while driving 40 mph, the automatic trans-axle warning light illuminated and the vehicle suddenly stalled. The contact was able to restart the vehicle however, the failure reoccurred for a second time that day and she was unable to restart the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the dealer who diagnosed that the battery cables had detached. Th... Read more
Incident date: Jul 14, 2021
My vehicle completely shut off while idling in park with no prior warning to anything being wrong. Put coolant in since the container was empty. Replaced thermostat, but vehicle was still overheating. Had it towed to Flow Mazda of Fayetteville and had them run a diagnostic. They determined that coolant was leaking into the oil due to a broken water pump. It was estimated to cost approximately $5,0... Read more
MAZDA
MX-5 MIATA
(1996) - AIR BAGS
Jul 15, 2021
Incident date: Jul 8, 2021
The contact owns a 1996 MAZDA Miata. The contact stated that the air bag warning lights was illuminated. The vehicle was diagnosed but not yet repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure but offered no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000.
Incident date: May 26, 2021
2016 Mazda CX-5 Daytime Running Light may fail THE CONSUMER STATED THE LIGHTS FAILED. THEY WERE REPLACED BUT, THE FAILURE RECURRED. THE CONSUMER REFERENCED SAFETY RECALL 4320A NHTSA 20V-063.
Incident date: Jul 13, 2021
The contact owns a 2016 Mazda CX-5. The contact stated while reversing the vehicle, the contact heard an abnormal loud clanking sound coming from underneath the vehicle. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and it was diagnosed with the bolt torque needing to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact was relating the failure to NHTSA... Read more
Incident date: Jul 12, 2021
After driving when i got to put the vehicle into park- I place it in park but it gives me a error saying not in park
Incident date: Jul 12, 2021
After driving when i got to put the vehicle into park- I place it in park but it gives me a error saying not in park
Incident date: Jul 12, 2021
After driving when i got to put the vehicle into park- I place it in park but it gives me a error saying not in park
Incident date: Jul 1, 2021
The auxillary power stays on after car is put into PARK and the engine is turned off. The car is not registering that it is in park. The auxillary power remains on. It takes several attempts of turning car on and back off again and moving the shifter before the car will turn off completely.
Incident date: Jul 1, 2021
The auxillary power stays on after car is put into PARK and the engine is turned off. The car is not registering that it is in park. The auxillary power remains on. It takes several attempts of turning car on and back off again and moving the shifter before the car will turn off completely.
Incident date: Jun 15, 2021
The tire blow up and causing lost control and hit curbs and it’s causing accident and it’s damaged front and damaged engine, trans pan , transmission and steering gear and linkage
Incident date: Jul 9, 2021
The wheels were turning in and the steering was really hard to keep straight had to turn the steering wheel almost half around car make Loud screaming noises.tires went flat ..i have 6 grandkids lucky I wasn't going fast the car could of flipped .subframe broke in half on passenger side rusted right out.i got this car from right way dealership in Saginaw Michigan in march of 2019 they never told m... Read more
Incident date: Jul 9, 2021
The wheels were turning in and the steering was really hard to keep straight had to turn the steering wheel almost half around car make Loud screaming noises.tires went flat ..i have 6 grandkids lucky I wasn't going fast the car could of flipped .subframe broke in half on passenger side rusted right out.i got this car from right way dealership in Saginaw Michigan in march of 2019 they never told m... Read more
Incident date: Jul 9, 2021
The wheels were turning in and the steering was really hard to keep straight had to turn the steering wheel almost half around car make Loud screaming noises.tires went flat ..i have 6 grandkids lucky I wasn't going fast the car could of flipped .subframe broke in half on passenger side rusted right out.i got this car from right way dealership in Saginaw Michigan in march of 2019 they never told m... Read more
Incident date: Jul 8, 2021
2016 MAZDA CX-5. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARDS TO DAYTIME RUNNING LIGHTS FAILURE SAFETY RECALL. THE CONSUMER STATED THE VEHICLE WAS REPAIRED UNDER THE RECALL BUT, THE FAILURE RECURRED. THE CONSUMER REFERENCED RECALL 4320A NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER 20V-063. THE SPEEDOMETER NEEDS TO BE REPAIRED.
Incident date: Jul 7, 2021
Front windshield wipers for my 2018 Mazda 3 stopped working without any warning while driving on the highway under heavy rain fall. I recently read online about a faulty wiper motor relay but I have not received any information from Mazda 3 about this.
Incident date: Jul 6, 2021
The dashboard on my Mazda3 has popped up and is causing me to be distracted while I drive, and I am concerned that this could have an impact on airbag deployment, as the lifted dash provides an opening to the wiring and airbags within. I became aware yesterday that this is an issue that Mazda tried to remedy by extending their warranty in 2017 for my car model. However, I was never notified, and... Read more
Incident date: Jun 28, 2021
I took my car in for scheduled maintenance and the technicians at the Mazda dealer found out the tensioner and belt needed to be replaced, when the car is less than 36k in miles. Vehicles being repaired under warranty but a tensioner should not be going out this early in the lifespan of a 2 year old car. I have found a lot of people are complaining for the same issue. This can cause the cars to no... Read more
Incident date: Jun 28, 2021
I took my car in for scheduled maintenance and the technicians at the Mazda dealer found out the tensioner and belt needed to be replaced, when the car is less than 36k in miles. Vehicles being repaired under warranty but a tensioner should not be going out this early in the lifespan of a 2 year old car. I have found a lot of people are complaining for the same issue. This can cause the cars to no... Read more
Incident date: Jun 28, 2021
I took my car in for scheduled maintenance and the technicians at the Mazda dealer found out the tensioner and belt needed to be replaced, when the car is less than 36k in miles. Vehicles being repaired under warranty but a tensioner should not be going out this early in the lifespan of a 2 year old car. I have found a lot of people are complaining for the same issue. This can cause the cars to no... Read more
Incident date: Jul 2, 2021
My husband (driver) and I (front passenger) were in my 2018 Mazda CX-5 Touring and were stopped in traffic on the interstate due to construction. While completely stopped, we were rear-ended by a car traveling at 55-60+ miles per hour (the car did not brake at all before hitting us). Both of our seat backs failed upon impact and went all the way back, with the headrests flying out of both seats. T... Read more
Crash
1 injured
Incident date: May 21, 2021
The brand new vehicle was sold to me on 2/23/21 with an open safety recall. This recall was finally addressed on 5/21/21. At no time did Mazda north American operations formally notifying me of the safety record. 1) how could this happen? 2) has this shortcoming been remedied? 3) Will I receive formal notifications of future safety recalls on a timely basis?
Incident date: Jun 23, 2021
I turned in to a parking lot, as I went over a speed bump, the side curtain air bags randomly deployed. Luckily, I was going very slow and was not injured. Had I been on the road I woudl not have been able to see and it could have been very dangerous. The car is at the Mazda service center and they have yet to let us know what is going to happen, if it can be repaired or what they plan to do.
Incident date: Jun 25, 2021
The contact owns a 2011 Mazda Mazda2. The contact stated while driving at 70 mph, the glass sunroof spontaneously exploded and shattered causing the glass to enter the vehicle. The contact stated that no object hit or caused the sunroof to shatter. The contact pulled the vehicle over to the side of the road to clean up the class that was in the vehicle and then continued driving to the residence... Read more
Incident date: Apr 5, 2021
There's no power steering as I was Driving it just got hard to steer and almost got into an accident car is not drivable at all
Incident date: Jun 29, 2021
The water pump went out with no notice or warning, flushed all the coolant/water into the engine and failed. Over a $2K repair for a known engine defect with active lawsuits out. A Mazda water pump lawsuit alleges 2007-2016 Mazda CX-9 and 2009-2013 Mazda6 vehicles are equipped with pumps that suddenly fail and cause catastrophic engine failures. The proposed class action lawsuit alleges the vehi... Read more
Incident date: Jun 29, 2021
The water pump went out with no notice or warning, flushed all the coolant/water into the engine and failed. Over a $2K repair for a known engine defect with active lawsuits out. A Mazda water pump lawsuit alleges 2007-2016 Mazda CX-9 and 2009-2013 Mazda6 vehicles are equipped with pumps that suddenly fail and cause catastrophic engine failures. The proposed class action lawsuit alleges the vehi... Read more
Incident date: Jun 25, 2021
The contact owns a 2008 Mazda Tribute. The contact stated that while driving at 70 mph, the power steering failed which caused the steering wheel to shake. The vehicle became difficult to steer. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and diagnosed that the steering shaft torque sensor malfunctioned, there was an open or short in the power steering control module, and an internal failure with the torq... Read more
Incident date: Jun 26, 2021
When the system think there might be a collision and initiates a hard braking even when there might be enough space in front of you. Multiple times, the car behind me had to do a hard break as well not to hit me from behind. This also happens when switching lanes. As you are in the middle of switching, if sometimes thinks you are getting to close to the car in the original lane and it starts a har... Read more
Incident date: Apr 9, 2021
Dashboard is warping creating a gap between the instrument panel and information display. The dashboard was replaced once by the dealer under extended manufacturing warranty. The new dashboard that was installed now have the same issue.
Incident date: Jun 24, 2021
As I was driving to work, the moonroof window exploded causing glass to fly every where. Thankfully, I had my sunshade closed so no glass came into the vehicle. Had it been open, I would have been hit by glass shards. There had been no damage to the moonroof window previously, no cracks or issues that I was aware of. While attempting to get it repaired, I was told that this had happened on the sam... Read more
Incident date: Jun 21, 2021
was driving in a car park and it randomly braked thinking someone was infront of me but there was nothing and the car behind me almost rear ended. Already fixed the recall last year according to Mazda. This is extremely scary and not sure what would have happened if this was on a highway
Incident date: Jun 18, 2021
My cars steering will loosen up and stiffen up randomly also the traction control will randomly engage and the tire pressure lights and another light
Incident date: Jun 18, 2021
My cars steering will loosen up and stiffen up randomly also the traction control will randomly engage and the tire pressure lights and another light
Incident date: Jun 1, 2021
The Mazda5 has a TSB on the issue, 01-013/15. What I am attempting to find out is why this isn't a recall. When the failure occurs, the fuelling of the vehicle doesn't shut off the nozzle. What happens is fuel comes spraying out of the opening, getting over the ground, the vehicle, and in most cases the person fueling the vehicle. My vehicle has been dong this almost since new. When I report... Read more
Incident date: Apr 14, 2021
The paint is chipping excessively and will lead to extensive body damage at the rate it is chipping and exposing the metal underneath. I am taking the vehicle in to the dealer next week to show them the damage. The chipping issue has already been documented on a Bill of Lading from a transporter who shipped the car to me. I will upload it below.
Incident date: Jun 4, 2021
I own a mazda 6 2009 and i have taken it to the dealership and even paid out of own pocket a rental car for 2 hours while they fixed a recal and then they get it done mind u im already 2 hours away from home so i go pick my car back up and they call me the next day needing my car badly to fix the other recals well this time they was willing to meet me with a loaner vehical half way.. Well its been... Read more
Incident date: Aug 1, 2020
52000 miles and warped brake rotors. Car stops fine. No danger just shimmy in steering wheel when stopping. This has happened way too soon. If it’s about Zoom Zoom Zoom then Mazda should be using a better quality rotor. I will be attempting to do the brake repair myself.
Incident date: Jan 1, 2020
Power seat sliding mechanism on drivers side when actuating the forward and reverse lever is extremely noisy. The noise started at around 45000 miles when the car was 3 years old. I was able to make the repair myself after finding a tsb on nhtsa.gov. https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2018/MC-10143977-9999.pdf. Required part # can found in this tsb. The original part is defective. Dealer will mak... Read more
Incident date: Jun 5, 2021
ONLY REAR BRAKES SEVERELY CORRODED AND NEAR FAILURE AT 13200 MILES DESPITE ROUTINE WASHING AND REGULAR MAINTENANCE AT DEALERSHIP, WHILE THE FRONT BRAKES ARE PRISTINE. REAR BRAKE NOISES BEGAN AT 13200 MILES AND WAS MENTIONED TO DEALER DURING ROUTINE MAINTNENACE AT 13283 MILES. DEALERSHIP REFUSES TO ACCEPT THIS IS A MANUFACTURING DEFECT AND TRIES TO BLAME ENVIRONMENT FOR UNUSUAL CORROSION AFTER 2 YE... Read more
Incident date: Jun 18, 2021
The seat height adjustment lifter link has broken and my driver seat wobbles tilting up and down during normal operation. There is a recall for this exact issue for this exact model of vehicle 2011 Mazda 3.
Incident date: Sep 12, 2018
Mazda USA - There’s been over 5 failures of my AC since before the car even hit a 5,000 mile mark. Mazda North America has a D- rating w/the Better Business Bureau & it shows! My complaints have gone one deaf ears and there’s a HUGE lack of accountability. https://youtu.be/83lV-29xz8s
Incident date: Jun 18, 2021
The steering wheel sometimes its hard to control sometimes its normal and when going fast the steering is so loose like there's a gaps that you need your two hands on the steering all time and the weels Weigel at high speed 60mph. its hard drive the car on the freeway And everyday use i already spend $2800 at the dealership get fix but never get fix The car no accident to be like that. Car has 8... Read more
Incident date: Jun 18, 2021
The steering wheel sometimes its hard to control sometimes its normal and when going fast the steering is so loose like there's a gaps that you need your two hands on the steering all time and the weels Weigel at high speed 60mph. its hard drive the car on the freeway And everyday use i already spend $2800 at the dealership get fix but never get fix The car no accident to be like that. Car has 8... Read more