Steering Problems of Mazda CX-5

The steering column in this car has a known defect in the steering column nut resulting in knocking/rattling/clunking. Mazda is aware of this issue and has redesigned the steering column and issued multiple tsbs for specific models, years, and even vins. Mazda is not classifying this a a safety issue to avoid recall but if the part is to fail it can result in loss of vehicle control and a crash. The steering column is main component necessary to have control over the car and the direction it travels. I've called my dealership and Mazda corporate who both refuse to fix the issue even though my car is under an extended warranty. TSB 06-001/24 previous TSB 06-004/23.

See all problems of the 2020 Mazda CX-5 🔎.

Incident description: on multiple occasions in January and February 2026, while operating a 2024 Mazda Cx-5 in reverse on low-friction surfaces (snow/ice) with a slight incline, the vehicle suffered a total systemic failure. System failures: while reversing at low speeds, the engine spontaneously shut off without warning. This resulted in an immediate loss of power braking and power steering. Simultaneously, the electronic gear selector (shifter) became non-functional, preventing the vehicle from being placed into 'park' to stop the uncontrolled rearward slide. Safety risk: the vehicle became a "runaway" object on several occasions. In one instance, the vehicle narrowly avoided crushing a pedestrian against another parked car, stopping only when the tires reached a different surface texture. In a separate incident, the vehicle slid uncontrolled down a residential hill, striking snowbanks. There is a grave concern regarding whether the supplemental restraint system (airbags) remains functional during these engine-stall events, as the dealer could not confirm occupant protection status during a total power loss. Inspection & reproduction: the vehicle was presented to an authorized Mazda dealer on March 3, 2026. The service department attempted to replicate the issue by reversing over soapy water on a gravel surface. However, due to the high friction of the gravel, they were unable to induce the specific tire-slip/low-traction conditions required to trigger the malfunction. No error codes were found during an informal scan, and no warning lamps or messages appeared prior to or during the failures. Component for inspection: the vehicle is available for inspection. I believe the failure is rooted in the traction control or engine management software, which appears to improperly shut down the powertrain when it detects specific wheel-spin patterns in reverse, subsequently disabling critical safety systems including brakes and transmission locks.

See all problems of the 2024 Mazda CX-5 🔎.

Breaks and gas pedal simultaneously stopped working while driving and steering wheel locked up.

See all problems of the 2025 Mazda CX-5 🔎.

The contact owns a 2021 Mazda Cx-5. The contact stated that the front brake system malfunction, forward brake malfunction, and check engine warning lights were illuminated. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle started jerking and hesitating as if the wheels would lock up. The steering wheel vibrated while turning to the left or the right. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who was able to retrieve a diagnostic code; however, the dtc number was unknown. The dealer was unable to identify the exact cause of the code. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure and opened a case. The failure mileage was approximately 81,000.

See all problems of the 2021 Mazda CX-5 🔎.

The contact owns a 2014 Mazda Cx-5. The contact stated that while her husband was driving at a slow speed and attempting to parallel park, there was an abnormal sound coming from the engine before the steering wheel seized. No warning light was illuminated. The contact's husband exited the vehicle to inspect the vehicle, and another person stopped to assist and became aware that the ball joint had detached. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed and determine that the steering knuckle had separated from the strut assembly, causing the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The dealer was contacted and stated that the vehicle was not under warranty. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The contact related the failure to NHTSA campaign number: 16v203000 (steering); however, the VIN was not included. The failure mileage was approximately 135,000.

See all problems of the 2014 Mazda CX-5 🔎.

Car engine shut down and slowly came to a full stop on the highway on 1/4/25, putting myself and my daughter of being rear ended at full speed on a highway where the speed limit is 65mph. The steering wheel locked and I was unable to move the car to any shoulder. I put the car in park and pressed the start ignition button to start the car and was able to drive again. An appointment is scheduled for 1/17/25 for diagnostics at a Mazda dealership. There were no warning messages prior to this event. . My battery was replaced 2 weeks prior to this incident.

The steering and braking systems on my vehicle malfunctioned after jumping my vehicle when the battery drained too far to start, or even power my cars baseline electrical systems. After jumping my car, I started backing out of my parking spot and when I turned the wheel it very violently jerked in a manner that could have hurt me if I'd been holding onto the wheel tighter. Around this same time I believe I recall the brakes automatically applying and halting the vehicle. I was too far out of my parking spot when this began occurring and had to try to maneuver into a different one, during this attempt both of the conditions described above reoccured several times. I eventually noticed that it only seemed to trigger when the wheel was at more extreme steering angles, by keeping the steering angle lower I was eventually able to maneuver into another spot without triggering the issues. After parking and letting the car run for a bit to recharge the battery I no longer experienced these issues. There were several warning lights related to roll stability control, lane departure monitoring before pulling out. The following warnings were present, but I'm unable to recall whether they displayed before I first hit the issues: Smart braking malfunction, power steering malfunction, transmission malfunction, check engine light. The vehicle has not yet been inspected by anyone, however I was able to find evidence of other people complaining about what sounds to be the same issue going back several years online. [xxx] [xxx] [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

See all problems of the 2019 Mazda CX-5 🔎.

I bought this car brand new with 51 miles on it on 7/24 and have taken it to the dealership mechanics twice for the same problem. Within 3 seconds of “letting go” of the steering wheel, the car veers and pulls directly into the right berm. The car requires continuous redirection of the steering wheel to get it to drive straight on. The dealership where I purchased this has not reported this defect to the manufacturer despite me requesting it. The car was inspected prior to me purchasing it, and upon me noticing that it veers off the road, I took it back to the dealership garage (on 7/31) and the mechanics reported that they had rebalanced and realigned the tires. The mechanics also told me they had realigned the front and rear axles and said that they had probably been affected by being strapped down tightly on the delivery truck (?). I picked up the car the same day (7/31) after they said they fixed it, and within 10 miles of leaving the dealership, I noticed that the car continued to pull me off the road to the right. I turned around and returned to the mechanics’ and requested they report this to the manufacturer. The car has remained at the dealership mechanic’s since 7/31. No warning lights or messages have ever shown on the car. I consider this a major safety hazard as the car is constantly and consistently veering either off the road into the berm, or into the right lane if attempting to pass.

Extremely heavy steering causing excessive driver fatigue making it difficult to maintain control of the vehicle at highway speeds (up to 70mph). Dealers unable to reproduce, likely due to it being cold outside when I had time to go. The hotter and dryer the roads gets, the better grip the tires have and the worse the heavy steering gets. It is significantly heavier than my old car at higher speeds and that car has no power steering. My arms are very sore after 30min - 1 hour. Mazda refuses to admit this is a significant safety issue. It gets worse when the lkas activates at least once (too heavy I am veering around in my lane).

See all problems of the 2023 Mazda CX-5 🔎.

As I was driving home one day in February 2024, my car felt like a strong gust of wind was getting up underneath the hood of my car, causing it to pull left and right slightly. When checking the weather, wind gusts were at 5 mph and you could barely see trees/leaf movement. I pulled off the side of the road, checked underneath the car to see if anything was dragging/missing and all was fine. As I started driving again, I then noticed my rpm's vs mph was very strange. When accelerating, the car randomly increased up to 4,500 rpm when trying to go 45 mph, then shifted down to 2,000 rpm's once I reached 45 mph. But, no matter if I left my foot on the gas pedal, lifted my foot off of the gas pedal or hit the breaks, the car would not move off of 2,000 rpm's until I pressed my foot on the break all the way down to the floorboard. No lights came on at all. I took it to the dealership that I purchased it from, expressing the scary feeling of the driving the car and showing video proof of what the car was doing in rpm's vs mph. After further conclusion, they determined that a "sensor" had gone bad. The thought that a plastic, electronic sensor going back caused my car to feel that way and put my life at risk while driving is a scary thought. Fast-forward to April of 2024, similar symptoms have come back again. Wind feeling like it's getting under my hood, causing the car to pull left and right, rpm's not matching up and now a hot engine with no warning light coming on, is questioning if it's this particular sensor again. Not to mention, I had it inspected by the dealership two weeks ago and had an oil change done to it and the dealership said "everything looks great". You should have zero thought or worry when operating your personal vehicle, but in the past three months, I have taken my car to the dealership and or a mechanic 7 times with thoughts/worries about my car. This car has now turned into a "lemon" as one would call it and I'm terrified to even start the car.

Ball joint broke gave out while turning.

See all problems of the 2013 Mazda CX-5 🔎.

TSB issue with suspension steering gear assembly needs to be removed and have spacer kit installed. Issue caused the front lower ball joint to wear more than usual and crack. Due to TSB a joint kit needs to be installed and control arms replaced.

See all problems of the 2016 Mazda CX-5 🔎.

The contact owns a 2022 Mazda Cx-5. The contact stated that while driving from a stationary position, the vehicle failed to properly accelerate while depressing the accelerator pedal. The contact indicated that the vehicle would not immediately respond and would drive very slow before accelerating. Additionally, while driving around corners the steering wheel was very difficult to maneuver, making the vehicle difficult to control. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who was unable to identify a cause for the failure with the vehicle. The failure mileage was 100.

See all problems of the 2022 Mazda CX-5 🔎.

Car was inspected in April of 2021. The front of car started making knocking or clunking sounds on the right side. 2 weeks later, while making a u-turn instead of getting on the interstate, there was a loud crunch/crash sound. It sounded like a garbage can went under the vehicle. Upon further investigation, realized that the right ball joint somehow dropped out of the knuckle. This forced the axle to pop out and further damaged the rest of the suspension components. Thank god this didn’t happen on the highway with my wife and 2 toddlers in the car- that would have been horrific.

The contact owned a 2018 Mazda cx5. The contact stated that while his wife was driving at approximately 35 - 40 mph, the power steering assist and brakes failed, causing the vehicle to crash into trees. None of the air bags deploy upon impact. All of the warning lights were illuminated. The contact's wife attempted to turn off the vehicle, but it would not turn off. The fire department had to disconnect the battery to turn off the vehicle. A police report was filed. The contact's wife was later taken to the hospital for injuries sustained to her knees. The vehicle was towed to a tow yard and was not yet deemed totaled by the insurance company. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 35,000.

See all problems of the 2018 Mazda CX-5 🔎.

The contact owns a 2014 Mazda Cx-5. The contact stated while driving over a speed bump the front-end of the vehicle collapsed to the ground. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, and the front strut assembly was replaced; however, the failure reoccurred. The vehicle was taken to the independent mechanic and the front strut assembly was replaced again. The dealer was contacted and stated that the vehicle was not under warranty. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 146,000.

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 campaign number: 16v203000 (steering). The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 38,000.

Heading south doing 70 mph on 95 in the far left lane on a rainy day . . . . Came over a hill and started to hydraplayne. . . . . Seems like the automatic pilot took the car over ,,,,,I lost the fight with the steering wheel and did two 360s all away across 4 lanes of traffic to the grass inbankment on the other side,,,,,lucky to be alive . . . . . . Very lucky.

Driving 5mph onto street from driveway, lost control of the vehicle. When stopped, the driver side front wheel was pointing away from the intended direction. The bolt connecting the control arm to the wheel had sheared off. Due to the decoupling, the left axle was pulled out of transmission and was damaged as well. Luckily, this occurred at a slow speed and no one was injured (at higher speeds, this would have been catastrophic).

The following warning and warning lights began around 34,980 miles on my 2016. 5 Mazda Cx-5 grand touring 2. 5l skyactiv-g while driving down the interstate: master warning light, check engine light, power steering, keyless system malfunction, Smart city brake support malfunction, forward scbs disabled, check engine light, tcs/dsc indicator light, tcs off indicator light, blind spot monitoring (bsm) off indication, brake system warning light, abs warning light, electric brake warning light, air bag/front seat belt pretensioner system warning light, tire pressure monitoring system warning light, led headlight warning light, and the speedometer does not work. The vehicle takes several attempts to turn off. Using the left blinker will cause the vehicles power to restart and yes, while driving! this started November 14, 2020 and when I notified Mazda, they did not seem concerned and a couple days later the light were no longer there. This occurred again December 15, 2020 and March 5, 2021 when I decided Mazda needs to run a diagnosis because clearly something is not right. My dealership insisted it was my battery (basically the only warning light not on) and my rear brake pads. Then when this did not correct the issue, they said corrosion needed to be cleaned which was not shown in the vehicle inspection video. Also, my car was just serviced at my Mazda dealership July 2020 with 33,706 miles. September 2020 my vehicle was parked and I returned to a large crack on the driver side. Around 25,000 the tired needed to be replaced, now at 36,666 miles tire thread depth is in the yellow' my vehicle alignment has zero issues and my Mazda dealership is the only one who rotates the tires (or suppose to).

My allstate rep told me that I have 4 recalls.

My car was bumped in the right rear bumper in a parking lot. The other vehicle was not traveling more than 3 mph. It left a small line of white paint on the bumper but the bumper was undamaged. The blind spot sensor malfunction light came on. I took the car to the dealership for repair. The dealership quoted $670 for the sensor plus $300 for labor. I confirmed the price of the part with Mazda USA. This vehicle has a serious design defect if it can't withstand a 3 mph impart without causing $1,000 in damange. Mazda USA is using its monopoly on supplying parts to gouge consumers. The wholesale cost of the part to Mazda can't be more than $50. My only choice is to pay the outrageous cost or drive my vehicle without one of its safety features.

While driving on a slope with bit of curve on a highway when I applied a mild brake to reduce the speed, the car abruptly moved straight left and goes off road. The brake and steering didn't respond immediately for few seconds and the car keep going down off road on a very rough terrain. Luckily it stopped few meters before a sharp fall.

There is a rubbing/grinding/vibration feel on the pedals and steering wheel, including the entire body vibration that can be also seen in the side mirrors. These problem are more noticeable at high speed. I suspect either the tire, brake, rotors, alignment, suspension or transmission problems. I have brought my car 6 times to three different dealership already with the guidance from Mazda corporate costumer service but they are denying my Cx-5 issues. This is pretty scary to drive, I always feel that something bad gonna happen on my car in the freeway because of rough and bumpy ride. This happened since the day I bought this. I am very disappointed with this car for 32k $. All Mazda dealership are not cooperating. Very bad experience.

This is the second occurrence of the same issue, but while driving the vehicle at highway speeds, all dash lights illuminated (check engine, turn signals, temp warnings, etc) simultaneously and the information screen displayed an alert "engine inspection required". The incident also resulted in a loss of power steering/heavier-than-normal steering effort and brake warning indications, on the first instance (July 10, 2014), Mazda roadside assistance was contacted and the vehicle was towed to the dealer with no fault/cause found. On the second instance (July 15, 2014), the vehicle was driven directly to the dealership. Technicians were able to diagnose the issue to a loose ground connection in the passenger front fender well.

See all problems of the 2015 Mazda CX-5 🔎.

Loss of power steering at same time all dash icons lit up. Car then momentarily shut off doing 75mph; lost headlights (during night). This continued numerous times. Headlights started flashing on/off and right turn signal caused car to shut off. Towed to dealer next day and almost a week and they and Mazda engineering have no clue.

While driving, the engine appears to stall and the car is not drivable. The car feels as though it has shut off, and no acceleration is possible. I am forced to coast to the shoulder, at which point I must turn the car off and restart in order for the car to be drivable. While this is happening, several indicator lights are illuminated, including the tire pressure monitor, check engine, at, and traction control indicators. Upon restart, the check engine remains illuminated. This same incident has recurred 3x since I purchased the car in April 2012, including may 2013, may 2014 and August 2014. Each time it has been serviced by the dealership. I have just filed a complaint with Mazda.

The contact owns a 2013 Mazda Cx-5. The contact stated that while driving approximately 30 mph, the tire pressure monitor warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the tpms was reset and no failure was found. The failure recurred five times. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the problem. The approximate mileage of the failure was 100.

Pulling in to parking space with foot on brake. Vehicle would not stop and couldn't turn the steering wheel. Car suddenly accelerated and jump curb and ran into side of building. Brake pedal was hard to press and even tried pumping brake, but vehicle would not stop. Engine speed did not change when pumping brake. Vehicle was only three weeks old and had a major malfuntion with braking and steering.