2024 Mazda CX-50: What to check before buying

Door checks that fail to hold the door open are the most serious problem. Doors swing shut and bounce back into people getting in or out, and this caused the 2 injuries on file: leg bruises and a head contusion. In that case the dealer found nothing wrong. Other reports describe rainwater getting into the right rear cargo area, wetting the roof trim and flooding the spare tire well, with water appearing to come in at the seat belt opening. One window shattered while the car sat idle, and one driver reports sun glare bouncing off the hood.

Hard automatic braking with nothing ahead is the main worry. One report describes the brakes locking hard enough to squeal the tires while passing a truck at highway speed, nearly causing a rear-end crash. Another report says the opposite happened: the forward collision warning and automatic braking did not act before a rear-end crash that deployed airbags and caused an injury. Turning the system off means going through 3 or 4 settings submenus, and the setting resets every time the car restarts. Dealers have suggested a software update but have not confirmed that one exists.

A dying original battery can make the whole car act up. One report describes a battery that failed at 15 months, after which the power steering cut in and out and the dashboard flickered with unrelated error messages while driving. Other complaints describe parking sensor, rear collision braking, and trailer hitch warnings lighting up on and off at different speeds. One car would not accelerate or shift past the lower gears. Because power steering can drop out while driving, these faults carry a real loss-of-control risk.

A loose steering wheel is the most serious report here. The wheel separated from the column because of a stripped bolt, came loose again after the dealer tightened it, and sent the car back to the dealer seven times. Another complaint describes the car turning the opposite way from the driver's input and nearly hitting a streetlamp. A milder pattern is a wheel that drifts off center soon after delivery, sometimes within 20 to 40 miles of a fresh alignment. Dealers often cannot reproduce these problems, and the first two carry a clear loss-of-control risk.

Front brake pads wear faster on the inner side than the outer side, and there is no warning light. In one case the dealer called the front pads and rotors defective at about 2,500 miles and said they needed replacing. A separate report found cracks in both rear rotors during an inspection. Neither complaint mentions a crash, but worn pads and cracked rotors both reduce braking performance if they go unnoticed. Both reports are about wear found during an inspection, not a sudden loss of braking.

Blind spot monitoring works after startup and in light traffic, then stops working on the highway or in heavy traffic, first on one side and later on both. Once it fails, rear cross-traffic alert stops warning too. The same reports describe a power liftgate that only beeped when told to close and had to be pushed shut by hand. Restarting the car did not fix it, but it worked again the next morning. Dealer test drives found no trouble. The two excerpts read like the same household reporting twice.

The windshield cracks easily. Small pebble chips turn into long cracks within hours, usually running from the driver's side A-pillar toward the middle, and some cracks start behind the mirror mount. New cracks keep appearing in the same place, which led one complainant to suspect stress cracking rather than impact damage. One dealer denied warranty coverage based on photos alone, without looking at the car in person. A crack across the driver's view reduces visibility.

The car jerks when slowing down and at low speeds. With adaptive cruise control on, it accelerates hard to get back to the set speed once a slower car moves out of the way. One complaint also describes idle speed rising and falling in park, and engine revs surging up and down on cruise control, which makes the car feel jerky. Neither report mentions a crash, a breakdown, or a confirmed transmission repair.