2025 Mazda CX-5 Complaints

SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE — Filed 07/07/2026

At about 6:50am July 7th 2026, I was getting in the exit lane of interstate 50 to exit. I merge into the lane and being applying my breaks since I was going about 55-60mph. However, my vehicle did not slow down. I began to press harder, it still did not slow down, so I pressed as hard as I could because I was rapidly approaching stopped vehicles. The vehicle began to make a grinding sound, it started shaking, and then a "break" light appeared on the instrument panel. After this it came to a sudden and violent stop. I have taken it to the dealership for similar issues many times since I got the vehicle in October 2025. Each time they state that they cannot replicate the issue and the vehicle operates as it should. It is under warranty so I have not taken anywhere other than the Mazda dealership.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE — Filed 07/10/2026

I have a serious safety issue with my 2025 Mazda CX-5, purchased new in January 2026 from Island Mazda on [XXX]. A few days before the critical alert, I noticed the car stopping on its own before pressing the brake. While driving on the highway, I received a “faulty sensor” alert that went away. On July 10, 2026, I received a Critical Vehicle Malfunction Alert in the MyMazda app. The app gave no specific details. I called Mazda Customer Experience. They confirmed via email the system labels it as a Parking Brake Malfunction and instructed me not to drive the vehicle. They advised it could stop at any time or not stop. I also experienced pulling and unprompted braking while driving. On XXX, I called Island Mazda service multiple times (calls went to a call center). No callbacks. I went in person. General Manager [XXX] was unavailable; Sales Manager [XXX] advised towing to [XXX]. The car was towed XXX at 1:29 PM. No confirmation call. I called again at ~2 PM. Technician [XXX] called first. Service Manager [XXX] later called and was rude/dismissive. He yelled when I mentioned lemon law saying he can no longer speak to me when i mention that, downplayed the issue, refused to discuss documentation, and suggested I test drive the unsafe vehicle with them to figure out whats wrong. He spoke over me and said it would take a long time to fix because they are busy. He said he would forward my case to someone else and i agreed he is not capable of handling this appropriately. This is a brand new vehicle under warranty. I have a [XXX] son with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (rare condition requiring stress-dosing for injury). I do not feel safe driving it since the alert never even appeared in my actual car just the mazda app on my phone i do not trust the dealership after this treatment to fix it. Requesting full investigation into the defect and dealership handling. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE — Filed 06/14/2026

The automatic emergency braking system prematurely and overly-aggressively takes over when I have full control of the situation. When it takes control it locks up all four wheels, each time almost causing a rear-end collision. It has done this on a total of 4 occasions under normal congested traffic situations. On or about 6/14/26 I was driving westbound on the Massachusetts Turnpike. There was a sudden traffic stop. I had sufficient distance to stop before colliding with the car in front of me and further had the passing side breakdown lane to divert into if necessary. The emergency braking software took over and locked up the wheels causing the person behind me to have a rear-end collision with my car. There was little-to-no damage and no injuries. The dangerous turnpike traffic conditions discouraged making a police report. Conclusion: System is overly aggressive and creates undue risk of personal injury. The risk far outweighs any benefit the system offers. - Plans to report issue to Mazda during next maintenance appt -No warning lights -Problem is re-occurring but not with independent entity (yet)

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE — Filed 05/21/2026

On May 21st , 2026, while waiting in line to make a right turn (positioned 3rd in queue), the vehicles ahead moved forward. As I transitioned from the brake to the gas pedal to follow, the vehicle experienced an instantaneous engine stall and total electrical failure (NOT an i-Stop event). Pressing the gas caused the vehicle to slowly roll backward. When I immediately tried to reapply the brakes, the brake pedal became extremely stiff and nearly impossible to press down, failing to hold the vehicle effectively. The driver behind me began honking aggressively due to the imminent collision risk. I attempted to lower the windows to signal the other driver, but all electronic controls were completely dead. I had to quickly shift the gear into Park (P) and hit the start button to successfully restart the engine, which temporarily restored functions.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE — Filed 05/27/2026

My 2025 Mazda CX-5 includes a Traffic Jam Assist (TJA) stop and go feature. This feature allows the adaptive cruise control to move the vehicle in traffic with minimal drier intervention. As traffic advances the vehicle moves. If traffic stops, the vehicle stops. When clear of vehicles based on the set safe space setting in the adaptive cruise control, it resumes the predetermined speed set in the adaptive cruise control. The problem: While in "traffic jam assist" (TJA) mode, if changing lanes L or R to a lane that has vehicles farther away (clear lane), the cruise control radar/camera then sees a clear opening and begins accelerating to the predetermined speed on the cruise control. However - at this time the system fails to recognize a that another vehicle is farther ahead. maybe 4 or 5 car lengths ahead, and continues accelerating dangerously close to the next vehicle (I cannot say if it will stop or not because I have intervened to apply the brakes), cannot risk a rear end to another vehicle.The system fails to recognize that another vehicle is present after a lane change has occurred and braking or slowing as expected does not take place. This is a common repeatable scenario. The failure to recognize another vehicle after changing lanes is a serious and dangerous problem that should not be taking place. This poses an accident risk from an automated system that has a inherent flaw in its logic/design. The NHTSA should investigate this system and determine what corrective action can be taken to prevent a collision while using this system.

STEERING,SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL — Filed 05/12/2026

The contact owns a 2025 . The contact was in a parking lot of a shopping center, put the car in gear and the steering wheel became inoperable , vehicle would not stop while depressing the brakes. Four additional vehicles were damaged from the impact with one vehicle deemed a total loss. The right front end was impacted including the hood and the right wheel. No additional property damage. The vehicle came to a stop in the parking lot from impacting the vehicles. Both front driver and passenger side air bags deployed. The vehicle was towed to a tow yard. The vehicle was deemed as a total loss by the insurance company. The contact sustained injuries left broken clavicle, left arm, left and right knees received lacerations and lacerations and 3 broken ribs on the left side and hematoma and received medical treatment at the emergency room intensive care. A woman in the back seat of one of the parked vehicles sustained minor injuries and received medical treatment. The dealer nor manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 2,837

VISIBILITY — Filed 05/05/2026

Description of Safety Defect: The driver-side exterior rearview mirror vibrates excessively, escalating into a violent shake depending on vehicle speed, crosswinds, and road surfaces. The issue is highly pronounced at highway speeds (65+ mph) and deteriorates aggressively as speed increases, particularly on open, wind-swept highways with like MA-3. ​The resulting violent vibration causes severe visual distortion, creating a blurred, "low-resolution" image that makes it incredibly difficult to accurately judge the distance, speed, and presence of overtaking vehicles. When checking the driver-side blind spot, this rapid blurring induces sudden, brief physical dizziness and vertigo, posing an immediate safety hazard during high-speed lane changes. The passenger-side mirror remains perfectly stable and clear under identical driving and road conditions. ​Attempts to Correct / Dealer History: The vehicle has been taken to an authorized dealership (Tulley Mazda, Nashua, NH) twice for this specific issue: ​On 03/18/2026 (Mileage: 5,862), Repair Order #XXX/1 noted the complaint. The technician verified the vibration on a road test but dismissed it as a "normal characteristic of the vehicle". ​On 04/21/2026 (Mileage: 6,846), Repair Order #XXX was opened because the condition worsened and began occurring at lower speeds. A ride-along was conducted, and the Shop Foreman confirmed the defect. Upon mirror disassembly, the technician found "loose internal components causing the issue". ​Current Status: Under warranty, the dealership replaced the body door mirror assembly (Part KJL1-69-181C) and the mirror glass/holder (Part TK71-69-1G7). However, the violent shaking remains completely unresolved and continues to worsen at high speeds. The dealership is now refusing further diagnostic or repair work, claiming the vehicle is "within spec," despite the persistent visual distortion and subsequent driver vertigo. No crash yet, but the defect is serious safety concern.

POWER TRAIN,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE — Filed 05/01/2026

Life-threatening, unoccupied rollaway vehicle with personal injury. Possible and/or suspected issues: "Not-P" switch circuit malfunction; "false park"; lack of cross-module redundancy; lack of BCM and PCM redundancy; Diagnostic Blind Spot; lack of Occupancy-Brake interlock; systematic safety failure culminating in unintended, driverless, runaway Zombie vehicle with personal injury. Background Info: * Low mileage, mainly in-town errands driving. * Not previously reported quirks, possible latent defects: liftgate opening that was hit-or-miss requiring multiple unlock trunk-unlock doors + get out of the car manual attempts; intermittent off-shutdown double-tap issue to power off car; ill-timed "rear seat alert". * Reported "engine won't start" resulting in three key FOB battery replacements and a locked key FOB. Day of Incident: * Auto-lock and the EBS were not used. * Driver intent was to park and unload, then permanently park. Car was in-park twice before ultimately placed in reverse and backed into position, facing downhill on a slight slope and along a left-side stone retaining wall. * Driver thought vehicle was fully in Park. * Attempted open liftgate via "open trunk, open door" routine, which did not work, so I exited the vehicle to try the manual liftgate button, which also did not work. * Three back-and-forth "unlock trunk/doors + manually press liftgate button" did not work. * Note: Upon opening the door or anytime after, I did NOT hear an audible warning that the car was not fully in Park. Nor did the car move/creep in any direction. * Deducing I must need to shut off the car to open the liftgate -- I leaned in and depressed the on/off button. * This caused the car to move forward, driverless, door open and scraping the stone wall, across a secondary road, over an 11" curb, and down a hill before stopping due to a tree. * I was injured. Pinned between a narrowing door and the car, I tried to turn the wheel right before being knocked down/falling

VISIBILITY/WIPER — Filed 05/05/2026

This vehicle was purchased two months ago. In that time the windshield has sustained multiple significant chips on multiple occasions during routine highway commuting. Some of these are in the line of sight of the driver, causing distractions or visibility issues. Prior to purchasing this vehicle I owned a 2012 Toyota Corolla, which traveled the same route every day and did not receive any significant windshield chips over a period of years. It seems that the windshield of the Mazda is particularly fragile and/or brittle compared to other windshields and suffers chips and cracks too easily.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER — Filed 04/15/2025

The infotainment/CMU system in my 2025 Mazda CX‑5 Carbon Edition has repeated failures that affect safe driving. Wireless Apple CarPlay frequently disconnects, freezes, or causes the screen and controls to stop responding. Navigation and audio alerts lag or fail, and the entire system has gone black once, requiring a hard reset. After one incident where all audio stopped working, I returned immediately to the dealership, and a Mazda service advisor personally witnessed the failure and confirmed no audio output. These unpredictable failures create distraction and uncertainty. As senior drivers, my wife and I rely heavily on stable navigation, audio cues, and hands‑free communication for safe operation. Mazda and Panasonic reviewed the issue but denied CMU replacement, leaving the wireless system unreliable.