Paint problems of the 2018 Mazda CX-5

The paint easily chips despite it being a $1000 upgraded paint color. We were told by multiple Mazda dealers that the 7 stage paint makes it soft and easy to chip. This is not an acceptable standard, all Mazda paints should have the same performance and durability, especially if it is $1000 upgrade. I have filled dozens of these chips and appear daily, it is evident by thousands of reports online that this is a significant defect on Mazdas behalf.

The car has multiple paint chips on the hood and all the side panels including all four doors with less than 3500 miles on the odometer. It is the soul crystal red color. The small pebbles that hit it were smaller than the eye could see while driving. (tiny gravel at a highway construction site) the body shop that's repairing it said they've never seen that much damage on a car that new. It's costing my insurance company $4000 to repair. I can only speculate that the paint might be extremely thin and not adhering to the metal as it should.

With less than 30,000 miles the Mazda red soul paint began chipping. An issue Mazda has known about and refuses to address. ## #vpic# 1 - check digit (9th position) does not calculate properly #vpic#.

The paint appears to be defective. The paint chips excessively when it is being hit by road dirt/stones. Knicks and dinks from being hit by stones/dirt are all part of the driving experience. But the emphasis here is that the paint is excessively flaking off the car where the car is hit by dirt/stones. It comes off in chunks. It appears that the paint is not bonded to the metal underneath the paint.

My car is 1 year old, soul red crystal metallic paint color. It has a greater than normal amount of paint chipping on the hood and other places. In observing the chipping, the paint layer appears to be very thin. I have not traveled in areas that would merit this amount of chipping. The car is garage kept when I am not driving it.