2024 Mazda 5: What to check before buying

False collision warnings and unwanted emergency braking lead these reports, including a full stop in the middle of an empty road. Cars can also fail to start without warning, one at about 3000 miles, and after a weak battery the power steering and dashboard can cut in and out. Other reports cover headlight motors that buzz, key fobs that open the hatch by accident, and cruise control that ignores the brake pedal at highway speed. One crash involved many systems failing at once and lane assist steering into a wall. Dealers often reset codes and find nothing wrong.

Engine revs climb but the car does not speed up, sometimes with Skyactiv, engine malfunction, and transmission fluid warnings, and the car slows sharply on the highway. Other reports describe jerking at low speed, an idle that rises and falls, and hard upshifts under adaptive cruise. A manual gearbox that whined and would not go into third gear at 5,700 miles got a full transmission replacement. In one injury crash, a car that was reportedly in park rolled down a driveway and dragged a person.

Door stops fail, so a door swings shut and bounces back into the people getting in or out. That failure caused the 2 injuries here, and the dealer found nothing wrong. Other reports describe a moonroof and a side window shattering with nothing hitting them, a windshield that clicks and rattles while driving, and rain leaking into the rear cargo area until the spare tire well floods. Lesser complaints cover a driver's door that is hard to close and sun glare off the hood.

A parked car rolls away while switched off and in park, then gets hit in the street. Other reports describe hard automatic braking with no real threat ahead, and a long, soft pedal that went to the floor in an emergency stop after a dealer could not reproduce it. Wear problems include cracked rear rotors and inner pads wearing faster than outer pads at about 2,500 miles. A clicking noise when pulling away or braking at low speed is linked to a Mazda service bulletin.

Hard automatic braking with nothing in the way is the main complaint. In one case the car braked hard enough to squeal the tires while passing a truck at 75 mph and was nearly rear-ended. The opposite failure also appears: one crash where the system did not warn or brake before a rear-end impact that set off the air bags. Turning the feature off takes several menu steps, and the setting resets each time the car starts. Dealers suggested a software update without checking for one.

Windshields crack easily. Small stone chips spread into long cracks within hours, and cracks keep starting from the driver's side A-pillar, which owners read as stress cracks rather than impact damage. One owner was denied warranty coverage based on photos. Side mirror defrosters that do not work let ice build up and block the blind-spot alert. In heavy rain, mirrors and front windows fog over and the defroster does not clear them.

Cars pull to the right or the steering wheel sits off center soon after purchase, and repeated alignments do not fix it. One dealer called it normal suspension settling. More serious reports describe steering that sent the car the wrong way, nearly into a streetlamp, and a steering wheel that came off the column because of a stripped bolt. That failure came back after the bolt was tightened, over seven dealer visits. Dealers often cannot reproduce the problem.

No deployment happens in crashes where owners expected the bags to fire. All 3 reports are crashes, with 5 injuries between them, covering rear-end and front-end impacts with no deployment and no warning light before or after. In one rear-end crash, the driver's seat belt failed, the headrest came off, and the seat back broke, throwing the driver forward. That car was declared a total loss.