Vehicle Speed Control Problems of Mazda MAZDA3 - part 1

During the incident, the vehicle exhibited an uncontrollable malfunction—the steering wheel suddenly jerked sharply to the right while accelerating violently, leaving me unable to steer or brake effectively, the car was looking forward. The car ultimately came to a stop upon colliding with a truck parked diagonally in front of me. After impact, I observed that the front tires remained stuck in a turned-right position, with the steering wheel also locked in that position. This was not an isolated event. Multiple reports from Mazda owners describe similar experiences with their vehicles unexpectedly veering to the right and accelerating without driver input. Given these recurring reports and my own experience, I strongly suspect that a manufacturing defect—whether mechanical, electronic, or software-related—may have contributed to this accident.

See all problems of the 2021 Mazda MAZDA3 🔎.

While accelerating onto a highway, my engine overheating light flashed then stayed on and my acceleration suddenly throttled back and my car started slowing down. I was able to pull over on the shoulder, but there was a close call with a semi bearing down. I had my car towed to a repair shop, where they told me the water jacket had cracked and the overheating caused a blown head gasket. This was repaired and tested. A week later, I got the car up to highway speeds and the engine overheating light flashed again. When I stopped and looked at the engine, there was foamy tan coolant all over the place. Towed it back again and was told the weld had failed. But in trying to find a used cylinder to replace mine, the shop told me that all of their sources said they had no used ones available because the same crack happened on those as well.

See all problems of the 2014 Mazda MAZDA3 🔎.

The transmission control module (tcm) has gone out on my car, causing it to shift to 2nd gear while doing 75mph with cars around me, and would no longer shift out of 2nd gear, or into reverse. It was an extremely dangerous situation that made me come very close to wrecking into a car, as well as the many cars behind me that had to emergency brake due to my rapid deceleration, especially without and brake lights coming on because it was engine braking. Doing a simple google search show that this is an extremely well-known problem effecting almost every Mazda 3 that used this tcm in 2010-2011. Any mechanic will tell you it's a known problem, and that it was due to where and how Mazda placed the computer, which causes it to overheat and fail without warning. I'm not sure why there has not been a recall on this issue with how prevalent it has been, and how easily recognized it is by mechanics. It is not a cheap fix, and can cause many other major issues leading up to requiring a full new transmission, if the problem did not already cause the car to wreck!.

See all problems of the 2010 Mazda MAZDA3 🔎.

Context: adas was not on. Lane keep assist is disabled in system settings entirely as it is dangerous. Blinkers were on, I was pulling out from parallel parking into left turn lane onto a straight road with slight incline. Car is of the turbo trim on stock tires. Upon finishing pulling out of parallel parking spot and gassing the car, torque vectoring or some underlying collision avoidance may have phantom activated. I felt torque shift to the wrong tires, unsettling the car, and the wheel -- with no human input -- jerked to the left to force me into the lane left of intended. I applied throttle and steered right back into the correct lane, but the car was applying torque to the wrong tires and applying a left bias to the steering. Only after I got above 25mph and held straight did the car settle. Almost caused an accident if the lane was not empty due to car unsettling itself into the left lane.

Has I was driving my car home from work. Driving about 35mph I started to loose power and then the at, engine, tcs/dsc lights all came on. When I made it home I let it sit. While I looked into the issue on google later that evening I went back to see if my car was still having the issue. I placed the car in reverse and my car jumped/ jerked real hard. As I let go of the break I noticed my car didn't slowly move on its own like prior. I actually had to press the gas down quite a bit. My car revved up to 3 making a loud noise. The car had no power would hardly move. As I researched the problems and light issues it was kinda a surprise how easy it was to figure out what the issue was. Since this is a very very common issue found with the Mazda cars. So many people have this issue that when you order the part at over $600. 00 in the directions that is sent they actually recommend relocating the tcm to a different location using zipties. Went to have car codes read on my car informed the guy what I believed it to be and the most likely will be u0101 lost communication with tcm, and I was correct.

The check engine light came on and the car began stalling as I drove on the freeway. It stalls and feels like it won't change gears. Took it to a shop and they kept telling me the computer code was not giving them any information and they couldn't figure out what was wrong with it.

I applied the brakes, and the car kept moving forward even though I was pressing the brake pedal. I pulled the emergency brake but that didn't stop the car from moving forward and hitting the back of the truck in front of me. I was on a highway.

See all problems of the 2012 Mazda MAZDA3 🔎.

Purchased a brand new 2018 Mazda 3 2. 5l touring hatchback. I had only driven the vehicle as its new owner once, from the dealership back to my home, which was less than 20 miles, when the following occurred: I started the engine for my second trip with the vehicle, and noticed the check engine light was illuminated and remained illuminated. I drove the vehicle around the block and did not experience any unusual driving performance characteristics so I drove to my intended destination which was only 7 miles away. When I started the engine to make my way back I noticed that now five warning lights were illuminated and remained illuminated, which corresponded to the following warning guidances: an engine system malfunction, a dsc malfunction, a tpms system malfunction, along with two scbs malfunction warnings. When attempting to drive the vehicle, I found that the engine was clearly not running properly, as it jerked violently, surged, hesitated and at times seemed poised to stall. The vehicle was clearly unsafe for me to proceed on the road. As it was Sunday, I had to arrange on the next day for a tow truck to transport the vehicle to the nearest Mazda service center, which was not the Mazda dealership I had purchased the vehicle from. It took over a week for Mazda service center to determine I had a faulty throttle body, which had caused these problems and this was what needed replacement. Importantly, the service technician indicated that the warning lights indicating problems with this new Mazda were known previously by the original Mazda dealer before the sale transaction was completed: prior to the vehicle's arrival for service at Mazda service center, the warning lights and malfunction codes were previously cleared by the Mazda dealer, rather than addressing the issue or resolving it. This is fraud and corporate malfeasance on the part of the Mazda dealership.

See all problems of the 2018 Mazda MAZDA3 🔎.

When from a full stop, then with when needing to accelerate quickly, there is a delay in engine response. Usually half a second to one full second delay in engine response before it starts to accelerate. One one occasion, it did not accelerate at all. I had to then let my foot off of the gas pedal and press down on the gas again for it to finally accelerate. This was very dangerous for example when I was on the freeway. My lane was stop-and-go traffic, but the lane to my right was open, so I waited till it was clear then turn the steering wheel to the right and press the gas pedal. Well to my surprise it did not accelerate and consistently moved around 5 mph, well there was a car coming in that lane and my car would not accelerate so I let off my foot and press the gas again and it started to accelerate.

See all problems of the 2017 Mazda MAZDA3 🔎.

I had a serious accident because my steering locked up so I couldn't steer my steering wheel . I rolled my car and nearly was killed.

See all problems of the 2007 Mazda MAZDA3 🔎.

I was driving and felt the car down shift on the highway, at light came on and some sort of traction control light came on. Rpm would go crazy sometimes while this happened. When I got home and put it on park it shifted really hard tried to put it on drive and shifted hard. As well so I let it be. I heard about this happening to other Mazdas as well please investigate this supposedly its a issue with the transmission control module.

While at a stop light in mountain view at California Ave. In California , as I pulled away from a red light intersection and I decided to do a passing manuever on the vehicle next to me I fully deppresed the gas pedal all the way and felt the gas pedal give the right and moved to the left and quickly lost feeling of gas pedal and became a safety issue as a pulled over I noticed the damaged gas pedal assembly. Took the vehicle the next day and the looked at it and seen the damage. They said they never seen a issue like this before, I believe this is a safety concern for any driver.

See all problems of the 2016 Mazda MAZDA3 🔎.

Hot weather acceleration and blind spot monitoring system (bsm) issue: in extremely hot weather bsm off light turns on repeatedly while the vehicle is in motion or starting from complete stop. At the same time the infotainment system display flickers in sync with the bsm off light appearance. When this occurs there is a clicking sound coming from the front of the car/where the engine is located. The sound is accompanied by temporary loss of acceleration when in motion or starting to move from a complete stop. When this occurs while starting from a complete stop, the engine revolutions (rev) drops below 1k rpm despite gas pedal input thus the car would not move/accelerate for about 5 seconds. When it occurs when the car is in motion such as on the highway or merging onramp into the highway the car unsafely slows down despite gas pedal input. Again this issue is observed during unusually hot days eg. July 22, 2017 in st. Louis, missouri.

See all problems of the 2015 Mazda MAZDA3 🔎.

I purchased my 2012 Mazda 3 one year ago (2017). I first noticed the issue about a month after owning my car. I turned on my air conditioner at first low, then all the way up, it felt slightly cool, but only as if my fans were blowing and nowhere near what an air conditioner should properly feel like. This was after letting the car warm up, and driving on back roads or highways as well as when parked. I brought the car back and the technician had some trouble figuring out how to fix it. The ac compressor was replaced, and yet I am still now dealing with a car that will not blow cold air! only semi cool on the highest fan setting ! also when accelerating and having the air conditioner on my car does not accelerate as well or feel as though it is driving as well as it does without needing the air conditioner on. My car really feels like it is working extra hard to put out semi cool air. I have had the air conditioner checked again and it says its not as cool as it should be. I need a resolution to this please.

I have a manual transmission and my car twice now has had the accelerator pedal go all the to the floor and gets stuck all the way down while I am driving on the freeway. Two other times it has, while shifting out of one gear and into another, immediately rev up to 8 rpms (max for my vehicle) again while on the freeway forcing me to pull onto the shoulder and wait for the car to quit revving. That has occurred while merging onto the freeway in between gears making me unable to get it back into a gear.

Moments after driving my 2014 Mazda 3, I noticed the blue coolant dashboard icon was lit signaling the coolant is cold. As I drove without touching the accelerator, the car abruptly accelerated and I had to slam on the brakes so I would not rear end the car in front of me. Plus, I noticed the coolant dashboard icon turn off also. The cruise was completely off!.

7/27/16 3:30 pm weather clear and dry ¿ temperature 78 degrees mileage about 24,000 all regular maintenance up to date I accelerated onto washington sr 520 eastbound at exit 51 to get up to merging speed. I kept the car in second gear and the engine revved to about 5,000 rpm. I don¿t think I have ever driven the car over 4500 rpm in the nearly 3 years I have owned it. I am not sure why I didn¿t shift into third as I usually do. Third gear is my definitely my preferred gear for this maneuver and it always works well for merging onto a high speed highway. I was greeted with multiple flashing idiot lights for engine, tire pressure and anti-skid. The throttle was unresponsive and I was not able to merge onto the highway safely as my speed dropped rapidly from about 45 to 30. I limped along in the first lane at about 30 mph, I tried to turn on my emergency flashers but I don¿t think they worked. I am not certain of this last point as I was panicked that the engine had appeared to quit just has I was merging into heavy rush hour traffic that was moving at about 60-65 mph. I could not get any power in any gear and tried feathering the throttle. I pulled off the highway at the next exit ¿ about 1 mile. I shut off the engine and let it rest for about 30 seconds. When I turned the car back on, everything appeared normal. No idiot lights and the throttle responded normally. I was able to drive the last couple of miles home without incident. I absolutely love this car but this incident scared the crap out of me.

As I was turning into a parking spot to park my car, the car accelerated on its own and ran into a concrete wall. I have had issues with this car's programming, including when I took my car in to get fixed after the safety recall in January '16. As I realized the car was accelerating - and pushing on the brake would not stop it - I lifted the emergency brake. The crash ultimately stopped the car - not the brake or emergency brake, and the airbag deployed. Less concerned about the damage to the outside of the car, and more concerned that I had zero control over the car and any ability to stop it.

The contact owns a 2013 Mazda Mazda3. The contact stated that while stopped at a stop light, the vehicle revved and violently jerked forward without warning. The failure recurred numerous times. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or diagnosed. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 23,000.

See all problems of the 2013 Mazda MAZDA3 🔎.

I was driving when suddenly and without notice I lost all control over the engine. Pressing the accelerator down did not change the engine speed. The engine would only idle. The car was towed to the dealer who determined that a bad connection occurred between the wiring and the “pcm” module. If this had occurred while passing or while executing a left turn, a serious or even fatal accident could have occurred.

See all problems of the 2008 Mazda MAZDA3 🔎.

Tl-the contact owns a 2014 Mazda m3s. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 50 mph, the speedometer dropped down to zero and the gas pedal was depressed but the vehicle did not accelerate as all of the warning indicators illuminated on the dash panel. The failure recurred four times. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 6,700. Sg.

Mazda 3 skyactive 2012, 45,000 mi. Driving down on a dry street, sunny day, going at approx 35mph when suddenly engine started revving high but car wasn't accelerating. This was very dangerous as car was stalling in middle of the road. The at, tcs/dsc, and engine lights came on. Pulled over safely ASAP to see what was going on. Turned off engine, waited 2 minutes, re-started engine and lights were off, and drove home slowly. Following morning, engine light was on but car seems to be driving normally. Will take to dealership ASAP.

We were just returning from a trip of 9 days which contained many high speed highway hours and mountainous terrain. Car has 20000 miles on it. As we pulled off the highway and onto a city street, all three lights ( engine, autotransmission, and slippage icon) went off and there was a bare minimum of power to move car forward. Maybe 5 mph. We drifted into parking lot, restarted car and was able to drive to dealership without incident although the lights remained on. If this had happened while passing a truck on the highway it would have been disastrous. In shop over a week.

I was driving along a city street on the way to a mall when I noticed the traction control warning light come on. My car then started to decelerate. I pressed on the gas and noticed that the needle on my tachometer was running high indicating high rate of rpm. I could not drive faster than 35 mph for fear of redlining and possibly damaging the engine. I went back home and parked my car. Later when I started my car the traction control warning light had turned off and I was able to drive the car normally again. This is a very serious matter that could result in serious accident if it had happened on a freeway or on a mountain road. I no longer feel safe driving this car, not knowing when this might occur again. I will be having the car inspected at the dealership since it is still under warranty.

I was driving along fine @55mph then the dsc/tsc light came on & then my car had no speed at all, it wouldn't move even with the gas pedal all the way pressed, I could have been killed on the highway!!! this is the 2nd time it has happened in the last week! I see several other complaints here about the same thing. The Mazda dealership states there is no recall on this car! what now??? take a chance & continue driving it??? please fix the issue!!! the vehicle needs to be recalled ASAP! lives are on the line.

On Friday 11/22/13 4pm I went to get my oil changed and car serviced. It was the end of the day & the technicians leave at 5pm. After I received my car at 5:10pm, I decided to take side streets to go pick up my brother, instead of taking the freeway. The car started slowing down and eventually stalled in the middle of the intersection. The engine light and the traction control system (tcs) turned on. I got to the side & called the Mazda tuttle-click in irvine, CA service center. He told me since the engine light wasn't blinking that it wasn't a serious problem & call again or take it back tomorrow morning if it started blinking. I took the car out again & immediately the check engine light started blinking. I stopped in a parking lot & called again. They eventually agreed to take the car back to run diagnostics. On 11/25/13 I called back to ask if my car was ready to be picked up. They said they were waiting for a transmission valve part to come in. If this isn't related to human error and it was pure coincidence, then that's a big coincidence. Also, the car would've stalled on the freeway on my way back to san diego if I hadn't gone to pick up my brother.

After taking a left hand turn onto a local road,I noticed that my car was decelerating despite the fact I was pressing on the gas. The traction control light on the dash came on and the car appeared to be stuck in 1st or 2nd gear; I could not go faster than 40 mph without the rpms going too high. This car has automatic transmission. I tried turning off the traction control by pressing its button, but this did not work. I also tried switching to manual mode but couldn't get the car to shift or the traction control light to shutoff. I finally had to pull over and restart the car to get the light to turn off and the transmission to act normally. I have seen others post a similar problem, though they were in much more serious environments - on the highway going 70 and all of a sudden having to pull across traffic and restart the car because of this weird transmission-traction control issue. This creates for an incredibly dangerous situation and I am petrified of this happening again in a similar scenario. This is something Mazda needs to address immediately.

I have an automatic skyactiv 2012 5dr hatchback. I was pulling out on a back road that was 60mph and as soon as I pressed the gas to speed up with traffic it was as if the car lost all power. The traction control light came on and the car slowly accelerated as I had the gas pressed to the floor. It very slowly sped up to 60mph and would not go any faster. I tried pressing the traction control button to turn it off and nothing happened. My wife and I got lunch and afterwards it worked fine. Last time I was at the dealership they told me there was a recall for the stalling issue and that they had fixed it. This was about a month or so before I experienced the stall. Before then I had not had any issues with stalling, just with pulling out onto roads. That leads me to mention that this car does not do well when pulling out onto roads. The car does not respond well. It lags and then when it realizes you have your foot pressed on the gas it throws you back into your seat. It's as if the car is in 3rd gear when you pull out and then throws itself into 1st gear. The car feels very unsafe. I wish I wouldn't have bought Mazda's 2012 Mazda3 since, afterall, it was their first attempt at their new skyactiv engine.

While downshifting from 4th to 3rd and/or 5th to 4th to slow down without having my foot on the gas pedal (only on the clutch) my 2012 Mazda 3 itouring 6 speed mt accelerates very rapidly and jerks about. It happens for several seconds and then stops. It's almost every time I downshift. I brought it to the attention of the Mazda dealer on the first service appointment at 5000 miles in April 2013. However, the service advisor informed me that mechanic checked the problem and found no issues with the car that would be causing this problem.

Oem yokohama avid envigor, first set of tires lasted 20,000 miles. Second set lasted 20,000 miles. The middle of the tire keeps the tread very nice, it's the sidewalls that go completely bald. Very dangerous in the snow and wet roads. First I took sts tires (yokohama auth. ) dealer to court for lying about tires being still good. Then took yokohama to court. . . . . . . Don't waste your time doing this. . . . . Yokohama is paying someone off and getting away with murder. Literally the judge didn't even look at the evidence. Got screwed big time. Someone let me know when yokonumbnuts finally gets nailed for selling crap and getting away with it?.

See all problems of the 2011 Mazda MAZDA3 🔎.

Tl-the contact owns a 2012 Mazda Mazda 3. The contact stated that when driving approximately 5 mph and pulling into her driveway the accelerator pedal got jammed and the contact crashed into her garage. The driver received injuries to her upper back and neck. The police were not contacted and the driver did not go to the hospital. The dealer was later contacted and they offered no assistance. The manufacturer was contacted and they advised her that they would look into the issue. The vehicle was not removed from the contacts garage. The failure and current mileages were approximately 700. Tb.

I was driving in city in the evening temp. About 65-70 f,dry and smooth road(my daily route to work) in steady speed of I would say 45 mph, trying to change lane my car traction light went on and engine light and at light below my gear screen, my car locked my transmission,car was in drive mode so I put on manual to try change gear manually but did not change gear, I was stuck on one gear and I could not slow down because I would loose my rpm middle of the road, I drove about 2 mile till I had safe place to stop, pulled over turn off the car and wait for few minutes,then turn engine back on,traction light was off so as the at light but engine light was still on,car was behaving normal and I could drive it home, next day I took it to dealer I turned it off for waiting to check-in my car when the dealer service personal turned it on as she said the engine light was off too, be she said we keep it to make sure its fine,I got a rental car from them,they told me if something is wrong Mazda will pay for rental, they kept the car overnight,mechanic drove it with him home, did not find anything wrong with it,they contact Mazda and remotely checked the skyactiv computer, did not find anything either, they update the computer software as they told me and they were guessing it was a computer glitch but they waved the rental car for day and half!! since then it never happened again,I even tested the traction function in slippery road and works fine.

While I was driving and approaching a stop sign my braking was normal and the vehicle decelerated until about 10-15 mph, however further application of the brake didn't continue to stop the vehicle smoothly and I noticed the engine revving and 'jerky' continued forward motion. Had a vehicle been stopped at the sign in front of me I would definitely have crashed, instead I ran the sign slightly. I quickly figured out the proximity of the brake/accelerator pedal allowed my (large) foot/shoe to catch the edge of the accelerator when I was braking. I couldn't detect a change in pedal 'feel' when I was engaging the brake versus the brake plus accelerator. While not an electronic mystery and clearly my big foot that hit the pedal, I find it troubling that an experienced driver with 30 years of experience, no crashes or tickets in 25 years, whose owned about 12 vehicles in that time span can have this happen for the first time - I wonder if this vehicle's pedal geometry is off. I noticed a similar complaint for the 2012 model, although it simply said it lurched into a pole while parking. That's what I would be saying if I was trying to park rather than approaching a stop sign, luckily with no lead vehicle.

Approximately two or three times a week when downshifting out of a right or left hand curve or turn, my 2012 manual transmission Mazda 3 hatchback will accelerate on its own. This is characterized by a varying increase of rpms: 2100 rpms to 4500 rpms, depending on the incident, and a sudden lurching or surging forward of the vehicle itself. When approaching curves or turns, at 30 or 40 mph, that do not have to be taken at a complete stop, I engage the clutch, apply the brakes, and slow the vehicle to 15-20 mph. Upon coming out of the turn I shift the vehicle into second gear. When I slowly release the clutch, without depressing the gas pedal at all, the car's engine will rev, rpms will surge to as high as 4000 - 4500, and the car will lurch forward until the clutch is once again depressed. These incidents are random and are not dependent on speed, weather conditions, or location. These incidents have only been duplicated with a minimal increase of rpms and no lurching forward when a mechanic is present. These incidents can not be duplicated for the dealership at their fullest and most dangerous.

The contact owns a 2008 Mazda Mazda3. While driving approximately 25 mph, the vehicle increased acceleration independently and crashed into a utility pole. The contact sustained injuries to the knee and neck area. The air bags failed to deploy. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic. A police report was filed of the incident. The acceleration also occurred on a separate occasion however the vehicle came to a stop when the brakes were engaged. The manufacturer was not notified of the malfunction. The approximate failure mileage was 13,000. The VIN was unavailable.