2017 Mazda CX-5

The vehicle has a poor quality of paint which chips quite easily upon the slightest impact by road debris. I purchased this SUV brand new in Soul Red color, newly launched for 2017, and soon discovered that the paint was chipping away in various spots exposing the clear coat. This started happening immediately after buying the car and continues to this day at 20,000 miles. Every time we would go on a highway trip (not off-roading), the paint would chip in new spots (hood, fenders etc.) upon the slightest impact with small, everyday highway debris. The dealer dismissed it and stated that this is “normal”, as if I was new to driving and maintaining cars. I have always kept the car clean, washed, and waxed so I was terribly disappointed when this started happening. It has reduced the resale value of the car without a doubt, and will certainly initiate body corrosion in places where the paint has chipped. I have been forced to use paint touch-up in different spots just to maintain the cosmetic look and stop corrosion.

The underside frame/carriage of the vehicle developed corrosion in just the first three years. Granted it is surface corrosion, and not a perforation, still it is not something that a customer expects in the first 3-5 years of owning a vehicle. This indicates a low level of anti-corrosion treatment to the metallic parts of the undercarriage.

The Adaptive Cruise Control system (collectively including the Lane Departure Warning, Forward Collision Warning, Smart city brake support etc.) on this SUV stops working abruptly and randomly while the car is in operation on the road. This is a major safety concern as it can crash into a leading vehicle in absence of adaptive cruise capabilities. The system generally resets or starts working again after a 5-10 minutes, but there is no rhyme or reason why it stopped working or when it would start again. It has happened in cloudy, harsh cold weather, and also on a bright, warm sunny day. This makes the ACC unreliable. The dealer could not reproduce the malfunction, as generally the car is stationary in the workshop or isn’t driven for a long enough time while testing.

The brake pads on this vehicle wear out prematurely, despite not using them aggressively. All four brake pads on the SUV wore out in less than the first 16,000 miles (first 3 years) and had to be replaced. The braking has also aways been “soft” and the car takes longer to come to a full-stop in the event urgent braking has to be done in traffic. The rotors have corroded prematurely too, despite keeping the car very clean and dry as a matter of habit. The dealer dismissed this issue stating the brakes were fine, as if this was the first car I was driving. I do not engage in hard stops, or perform sudden, jerky, brake applications and yet the brake pads wore out to almost nothing. All the other cars that I’ve owned historically had their brake pads last for 6-8 years of normal driving while this car wore them down in just 3 years. Premature brake pad wear can be a huge safety issue since an unsuspecting driver may not be aware of it and can result in an accident on the road from the vehicle not being able to come to a full stop in time.

The car battery does not get fully charged even after long trips and continuous use of the vehicle. It has been so ever since the vehicle was purchased brand new and maintained meticulously with all service performed on-time at the dealership. Even after long trips exceeding 350 miles, the battery would charge only up to 50% (12.2 volts) and never to 100% (12.7 volts). Thereafter it would quickly discharge to Low (<11.9 volts) if a few shorter trips were made. Upon bringing this to the dealer’s attention while the car was still under warranty, they ran a battery and alternator test and quickly dismissed the issue saying that both the battery and alternator were working fine. Nevertheless, in just two years the OEM battery failed from constantly being in a state of low charge, despite using the vehicle regularly for long trips. Because the dealer refused to honor the warranty, I had to replace with a new battery at my own cost. Now the new battery doesn’t charge beyond 50% (12.2v) either, and I have to routinely charge it every few days to full (12.7v) with an external battery charger just so the battery doesn’t die and either gets me stranded on the road (safety issue for myself and others) or damages computers/other electrical components (reliability and repair issue).

The contact owns a 2017 Mazda CX-5. The contact stated while driving 20 MPH, the vehicle stalled. The contact stated there was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was not drivable. The contact towed the vehicle to her daughter's residence. The contact then towed the vehicle to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed with needing the engine to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired but was pending repairs. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 66,000.

One day last month, my front winsheild wipers were going very slowly when I turned them on the Auto setting (maybe 1/4 of normal speed, which is not correct). If I switched it to Lo or Hi they worked fine. A couple of days later the wipers always wiped in the very slow mode (1/4 of the speed of normal wipers), then after a 1/2 hour of driving they stopped altogether. It was raining quite hard at the time and I could not see through the winsheild, so I had to pull over anytime there was someone behind me and roll down the windows so I could see. I had my 11 year old son in the car with me and was terrified we could have been hurt or I could have run into someone or another vehicle because I could not see. I was close enough to limp along slowly and drove to the nearest Mazda dealer. They ended up replacing my vehicle's front BCM (body control module) which cost me $550 and that has fixed the issue. This is the same issue to the Mazda 3's that were recalled recently.