2020 MAZDA CX-5 Complaints

While backing the vehicle the rear camera sometimes goes off because the screen in the car keeps switching itself to night mode, radio channel, Bluetooth, clock setting and sometimes the screen freezes which is very dangerous while reversing. The car is a CX5 Mazda Touring 2020. I called Mazda dealer today he told me it will cost me $300 to $400. There are no sign of malfunction on the dashboard so far but the radio screen keeps malfunctioning all the time especially when driving and reversing, it been happening for the last 5 days.

When I would stop my car while driving (at a light, a stop sign, traffic, temporary stops for yielding, etc.), the infotainment system would start randomly selecting things on the screen. This would include adjusting volume settings, randomly dialing people from my contacts, canceling navigation systems, etc. This created distractions while trying to drive my vehicle after stopping, including noise issues and inability to navigate places safely. This issue was ongoing for nearly a full year after purchasing my car. Once I finally had the change to take it to the dealership, they reproduced the issue and confirmed it is a common problem. After telling us it was not covered by warranty and my wife applying pressure on them, they replaced it saying they would submit a warranty appeal to Mazda. There were no warning lights or messages, it just began happening not too long after buying the vehicle. The contact stated in August of 2019, NHTSA announced Mazda was conducting a Special Service Program to fix the same issue happening as the contact reported in the 2014-2016 Mazda3. Hopefully this will add to the need for a recall or requiring Mazda to do a similar type of program for 2017-2020 CX-5s.

While driving forward in a straight line during broad daylight at approximately 40mph, the car in front of me slowed and turned right onto a side street. I applied brakes to slow myself (to ~25mph I estimate) until the car in front of me was fully out of my lane. Once the car in front of me was out of my lane, I released the brake in order to accelerate back up to the speed limit, but before I could press the gas pedal the car suddenly slammed on the brakes, beeped warning beeps, and displayed BRAKE on the dash. It did this for less than a second before deactivating. It did not fully stop the car. It just caused a sudden, severe braking event and then the car returned to normal operations. This exact road scenario (car in front turning right onto a side street while traveling at city speeds of ~30-40 mph during daylight) has caused the sudden temporary automatic braking twice, and two other times in this same scenario the BRAKE warning displayed and sounds activated but without automatic braking. These four events occurred within the less than one year that I have owned the car. One of the automatic braking incidents happened in cold temperatures on snowy/icy road conditions. The other occurred in traffic with vehicles following behind my car close enough to risk a rear-end collision. I have reached out to a dealership to request the safety sensors be inspected, but I have seen on internet communities [XXX] and [XXX] ) that many people have encountered this exact behavior (sudden unexpected braking) in the exact same scenarios (car ahead turning right). INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Sporatically and randomly, the user instrument panel will make changes and adjustments automatically. For instance, it will switch to nativgation at full volume and state that "the navigation will be at this volume" (at max volume) when previously muted. It's alarming. It will also randomly call the last person dialed over the car speakers. It switches settings on its own and beeps during that process for each change, which when it's not driver initiated, catches the driver by surprise. An employee confirmed that "ghosting" is an issue that they are seeing quite a bit. On a new vehicle, this is an unfortunate extra $200.00 out of pocket as warranty deductible that seems more of a recallable factory defect.

The display screen just starts adjusting the navigation volume on it’s on while I’m driving. Or it will change the radio station, change to the Bluetooth on my phone or change to a different screen all by itself.This started not long after purchasing the vehicle. August 2021.

On Septmber 2, 2023 the car had been on a 4 hour road trip. I came into the driveway, left the car running in Park with the brakes on (listening to music while I cleaned the car out) it was idylling for about 5 minutes. I went to the drivers side door, which was open and reached in to turn the car off using the start/stop button. Before I could turn the car off, it started backing up and the door ran over me. The car was definitely in Park and the Brake was on. There was no reason for the parking brake to disengage.

Automatic Emergency Braking (Mazda's Smart City Braking Feature) will randomly trigger even when there is no vehicle/person/object/obstruction present in the road infront of you. It has occurred going over railroad tracks and made by car go from 30 mph to 0 in a second. It has occurred switching lanes into an empty lane and triggered it. It has also picked up the center medians as an object it should hit the emergency brake for. This is insanely problematic when a vehicle is following behind you and this system is essentially brake checking them out of nowhere. In the past, dealers have said to just turn the sensitivity down. This does not fix it. In addition, I have gotten "BRAKE" warnings from the car on the highway (does not engage because I am at a speed faster than the emergency braking allows) but this is quite unnerving when you are on an open highway going 75 mph and your car is wanting you to brake.

My car only has 32000 miles on it and I was told that I need new brakes and calipers. My car is making grinding and creaking noises when I back up, stop or get into it. Because of these brake issues it feels like the car is taking longer to stop. I have never had a car that needed this extensive of a brake job at 32000 miles. This seems excessive.

When driving at highway speeds, when there are strong crosswinds, as there are prone to be in my area, depending on which way the wind is coming from both doors will make a screeching/howling noise. This noise is very loud and extremely distracting. When it first happens it is very jarring, and depending on the wind conditions can go on for miles, making it very hard to hear anything else. I have taken the car to two dealers who refuse to fix it because they state they cannot reproduce it but it is not something that can be reproduced without specific conditions, but they are aware it exists as they have a TSB indicating how to fix it.

The rear camera and warning system has failed numerous times. On one occasion I hit a vehicle because of the failure. Also, the windshield has a leak that sometimes is like a waterfall causing serious visibility problems.