Owner complaints
67NHTSA recordsUSED VEHICLE RESEARCH
2023 Mazda CX-5
Research the 2023 Mazda CX-5 using available NHTSA owner complaints, safety recalls, manufacturer communications, defect investigations, and CarIQ data-coverage analysis.
DATA CONFIDENCE: LimitedMazda CX-52023 · RESEARCH CATALOG
Recall campaigns
UnavailableYear, make and model lookupManufacturer communications
0Matched NHTSA recordsInvestigations
0Matched NHTSA recordsSUBJECTIVE OWNER FEEDBACK
OWNER EXPERIENCE
What it is like to live with the vehicle—kept clearly separate from official NHTSA evidence.
THE FIRST USEFUL PERSPECTIVE COULD BE YOURS
No approved owner experiences yet.
Contributions are collected carefully and only appear here after moderation. No placeholders, sample testimonials, or invented sentiment.OWNED THIS CAR?
Help the next buyer understand the real ownership experience.
Share what you liked, what could be better, and whether you would choose it again. Every contribution is moderated before publication.NHTSA owner complaint records remain part of Official Vehicle Data. Subjective review contributions remain in Owner Experience. One does not validate or prove the other. Read the methodology.
EVIDENCE, NOT A SCORE
WHAT THIS DATA CAN TELL YOU ABOUT RELIABILITY
Official records can provide useful research context, but each source has a different meaning. Complaint counts are not failure rates; recalls are formal safety campaigns; manufacturer communications are technical or service documentation; and investigations reflect formal NHTSA activity. Data Confidence measures evidence availability, not vehicle quality. CarIQ does not publish a composite Reliability Score.
Available evidence summary: 67 NHTSA owner complaint records; safety recall campaigns are currently unavailable; 0 manufacturer communications; 0 applicable NHTSA defect investigations.
EVIDENCE AVAILABILITY — NOT VEHICLE RELIABILITY
DATA CONFIDENCE
LimitedData Confidence measures how much usable evidence CarIQ has for this vehicle. It does not measure how reliable the vehicle is.
Why this rating?
- Owner complaint data
- Available
- Manufacturer communications
- Available
- Recall data
- Unavailable
- Investigation data
- Available
- Production denominator
- Unavailable
- Complaint component completeness
- 100%
- Mileage completeness
- 0%
- Incident-date completeness
- 100%
DESCRIPTIVE ANALYTICS
DATA INSIGHTS
Derived from official NHTSA source records. These statistics are descriptive and are not a reliability score.
- Complaint records analyzed
- 67 NHTSA complaints
- Most reported component
- Service Brakes 18% of categorized complaint records
- Top-three component concentration
- 48% Records mentioning at least one top-three component
- Median reported incident mileage
- Not available from current source 0 valid mileage observations
- Recall campaigns
- Unavailable NHTSA recalls
- Most recent recall report
- Not available NHTSA recalls
- Manufacturer communications
- 0 NHTSA manufacturer communications
- Most documented component
- Not available NHTSA manufacturer communications
- Top-three communication concentration
- Not available Share of categorized manufacturer communications
SOURCE COMPLETENESS
DATA QUALITY
- Complaint records analyzed
- 67
- Component classification available
- 100%
- Incident date available
- 100%
- Mileage available
- 0%
- Structured outcome fields available
- 100%
Completeness describes fields present in the retrieved complaint records. It is not a data-quality grade or a vehicle assessment.
Learn about CarIQ methodologyPRODUCTION-ADJUSTED DESCRIPTIVE METRIC
NORMALIZED COMPLAINT CONTEXT
Production-normalized complaint data is not currently available for this vehicle.
This metric compares the number of NHTSA owner complaint records retrieved by CarIQ with NHTSA-reported production volume for the corresponding vehicle population.
It is not a vehicle failure rate. Complaint reporting behavior, vehicle age, time on the road, production definitions, and other factors can affect the result.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Early Warning Reporting, Light Vehicle Production Data. Read the methodology.
OFFICIAL NHTSA OWNER COMPLAINT DATA
PROBLEMS REPORTED IN NHTSA RECORDS
CarIQ groups available NHTSA owner complaint records for the 2023 Mazda CX-5 by vehicle system to make recurring documentation easier to research. Most represented complaint categories describe the retrieved records—not failure frequency.
MOST REPRESENTED COMPLAINT CATEGORIES
A complaint may list more than one component and therefore contribute to multiple categories. Percentages show the share of categorized complaint records that mention each component—not the percentage of vehicles affected. Category percentages may overlap.
INCIDENT REPORTS BY YEAR
Grouped from complaint records with a valid incident date.
RECENT OWNER COMPLAINTS
Unknown or Other
Owner-submitted NHTSA complaint · ODI 11773414Read complaint narrative
While driving on the highway with my children in the car. My sunroof suddenly exploded. The sound was so loud, glass was everywhere. I wasn’t driving through construction, I wasn’t driving under a bridge, there was typical morning traffic which is on the lighter side. I was driving around 55 mph with the front defrost button and seat warmers on. Temperature was set 66 degrees in the car. This was so scary. My children who are [XXX] and [XXX] were so scared. They started screaming and my youngest started crying because huge chunks of glass were on him and all over the vehicle. I contacted The Mazda dealership and they took pictures when I drove the car to them. There was not any warning lights or sensors that appeared before or after the explosion. When I stopped the vehicle I did not find any object Inside my vehicle that could have fallen on the sunroof. Nothing was found inside my car. The sunroof literally looks like the glass broke outward. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Exterior Lighting · Service Brakes · Visibility/wiper
Owner-submitted NHTSA complaint · ODI 11772309Read complaint narrative
Windshield formed a crack after 3 years without any debris hitting it. Headlight leveling motor malfunction after 1 year. Brake caliper failure after 3 years.
Lane Departure
Owner-submitted NHTSA complaint · ODI 11772516Read complaint narrative
At approximately 48,000 miles, my vehicle displayed a "Blind Spot Sensor(s) Malfunction" warning message on the dashboard without any prior warnings or symptoms. I contacted the dealership, which recommended having the system inspected by a local body shop, indicating that repairs would likely be less expensive. The body shop diagnosed the issue as a failed driver's side (left) blind spot sensor. However, they recommended replacing both sensors, stating that these components are problematic and prone to failure. $3K repair. My concern is that the blind spot monitoring system is an important vehicle safety feature designed to alert drivers to vehicles in adjacent lanes, particularly when changing lanes. Failure of this system eliminates an important safety aid and potentially increases the risk of a collision. It is concerning that a safety-related component would fail at only 48,000 miles, particularly given the body shop's indication that these sensors are known to be problematic. I believe this premature failure warrants investigation to determine whether there is a broader reliability or manufacturing defect affecting the blind spot monitoring system.
Exterior Lighting
Owner-submitted NHTSA complaint · ODI 11768904Read complaint narrative
I began hearing a loud engine noise similar to a lawn mower whenever my headlights would come on which includes just when I unlock my car. When I first took it back to the Mazda dealership for servicing and mentioned this to the service manager he told me it was an issue with the headlights that they’ve been seeing. They returned the car to me and said they did not hear it. Then after my warranty ended it got worse and when I brought it back to the dealership they stated they had never heard of this happening before and said that I brought my car for an air-conditioning issue. When identified that a service manager had told me that this is something they’re saying they then agreed to pay to have the headlight fixed. Initially they told me I was gonna have to pay approximately $1500 out-of-pocket because my warranty had ended to have it replaced. As I proved that I told them about this before the warranty was ended they covered the cost of it and replaced it. Two weeks ago the noise came back. When I look on the Internet and put in the search terms of loud noise when headlights come on is a common complaint. This seems to be a design flaw which is affecting the headlights causing a safety issue. Mazda should address this and issue a recall in my opinion.
Exterior Lighting
Owner-submitted NHTSA complaint · ODI 11767366Read complaint narrative
At 44,000 miles, a loud whirring noise started to occur that is due to the failing of the internal LED cooling fan in my left headlamp. I cannot use my headlights, which is a safety concern.
Vehicle Speed Control · Service Brakes · Engine
Owner-submitted NHTSA complaint · ODI 11762062Read complaint narrative
When my car starts up, engine rpm is around 1500 or above 1000. If I would switch to reverse, the car sudden jerks back stronger and quicker than I expected even though my foot isn’t on the accelerator pedal and have pressed the brake lightly.
Service Brakes · Forward Collision Avoidance
Owner-submitted NHTSA complaint · ODI 11761780Read complaint narrative
On 09/01/2026 at approximately 55 mph, I was driving with adaptive cruise control engaged. The vehicle ahead decelerated abruptly. My vehicle began braking hard with no input from me for a fraction of a second. A red BRAKE warning appeared in the instrument cluster with an audible alarm. I then applied the brake pedal hard. On first contact the pedal barely moved from its rest position and was extremely firm. About a second into my application, while still traveling at over 25 mph, pedal resistance dropped sharply and pedal travel increased substantially. I had to push the pedal several inches farther to get back to comparable deceleration. The pedal did not pulse or vibrate. I came to a matching speed roughly one car length from the vehicle ahead, and only because I kept braking hard. I did not see an MRCC Cancelled message, though the BRAKE warning occupies the same part of the display, so I cannot say whether the initial deceleration came from Mazda Radar Cruise Control or Smart Brake Support. No brake, ABS, or DSC warning lamp illuminated before, during, or after the event, and none has since. There were no symptoms beforehand, and the brakes have worked normally since. Failed component: unknown. I cannot determine whether the change in pedal feel came from the brake booster, the DSC hydraulic control unit, the master cylinder, or the driver assistance system handing brake control back to me. The vehicle has not been inspected by anyone and no service center has reproduced the issue. The vehicle is available for inspection if needed. If a driver assistance system is commanding brake pressure and withdraws it during the driver intervention, total deceleration can drop at the moment when the driver still wants to stop aggressively to avoid a crash. Suddenly, the driver has to find the extra pedal travel while still closing on the obstacle. I slowed to a safe speed in time. With less room, or less attentiveness, I may not have been able to.
Seat Belts
Owner-submitted NHTSA complaint · ODI 11757773Read complaint narrative
We purchased a certified pre-owned Mazda CX-5 from Wellesley Mazda in [XXX] on XXX. As soon as we got home and tried to exit the vehicle, we noticed that the driver's seatbelt was not releasing. Since then, we have noticed that the seat belt has not latched or unlatched properly. Our concern is that a manufacturer-certified vehicle was delivered to a consumer with an intermittently failing primary locking restraint mechanism. There should have been a 160-point inspection done before this car was delivered in order for it to be considered pre-owned. This car is driven by our son who has been put at risk by a faulty restraint device. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
NHTSA complaints are reports submitted by vehicle owners and other consumers. Complaint counts do not represent the percentage of vehicles affected and do not by themselves establish that a safety defect exists.
A higher complaint count can partly reflect how many vehicles were sold, vehicle age, and other factors. CarIQ does not yet normalize complaint counts by vehicles sold.
Data provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). This site is not endorsed by NHTSA.
OFFICIAL NHTSA SAFETY RECALL DATA
SAFETY RECALLS
Recall data is temporarily unavailable. Please check again later or verify directly with NHTSA.
Recall results shown here are based on year, make, and model. A specific vehicle may or may not be affected. Check the vehicle's VIN with NHTSA to confirm open recalls before purchasing. Data provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
OFFICIAL NHTSA MANUFACTURER COMMUNICATION DATA
MANUFACTURER COMMUNICATIONS
No NHTSA manufacturer communication records were returned for this year, make, and model.
Manufacturer communications include service bulletins and other technical information submitted by manufacturers to NHTSA. The existence or number of communications does not establish how often a condition occurs or whether an individual vehicle will experience it.
Some manufacturers may issue more detailed service documentation than others, so communication counts should not be used alone to compare vehicle reliability.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration manufacturer communicationsNATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION
NHTSA DEFECT INVESTIGATIONS
No applicable NHTSA defect investigation records were returned for this year, make, and model.
NHTSA investigations evaluate potential motor-vehicle safety defects. The existence of an investigation does not by itself establish that a safety defect exists, and the absence of an investigation does not establish that a vehicle is problem-free.
Open and closed describe NHTSA's process status, not a CarIQ reliability judgment.
View official NHTSA investigation data ↗DESCRIPTIVE SOURCE OVERLAP
CROSS-SOURCE VEHICLE DATA
CarIQ compares categories appearing across independent NHTSA datasets. Overlap can help identify areas with more available documentation, but it does not establish defect frequency or prove that an individual vehicle will experience a problem.
| Component | Owner complaints | Manufacturer communications | Recall campaigns | NHTSA investigations | Official sources containing records |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Service Brakes | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 4 |
| Exterior Lighting | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 4 |
| Unknown or Other | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 4 |
| Engine | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 4 |
| Electrical System | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 4 |
| Forward Collision Avoidance | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 4 |
| Visibility/wiper | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 4 |
| Lane Departure | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 4 |
| Vehicle Speed Control | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 4 |
| Power Train | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 4 |
Displayed first by the number of source categories containing the component, then by owner complaint count, then alphabetically. This is a presentation rule, not a vehicle ranking. Complaint reports, manufacturer communications, recalls, and investigations describe different events and are never added into a combined total.
- complaint
- Available
- communication
- Available
- recall
- Unavailable
- investigation
- Available
- production
- Unavailable
COMMON RESEARCH QUESTIONS
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE 2023 MAZDA CX-5
Is the 2023 Mazda CX-5 reliable?
CarIQ does not currently assign a reliability score to the 2023 Mazda CX-5. Available evidence is shown as separate official-source records with a Data Confidence classification of Limited.
What problems are reported for the 2023 Mazda CX-5?
67 NHTSA owner complaint records. When complaint data is available, the page groups records by the NHTSA component categories they identify without treating those categories as verified failure rates.
Are there recalls for the 2023 Mazda CX-5?
safety recall campaigns are currently unavailable. Year, make, and model results do not confirm whether a specific VIN is affected or whether a remedy has been completed.
USED-CAR CANDIDATE RESEARCH
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