2026 Mazda CX-5

I leased a brand new vehicle on June 8th. On June 12th, I took it to the dealer's service center because of a warning message, accompanied with a loud chime that said: "Emergency Call Unit Malfunction", the SOS red light was also on. I picked the car up today, June 15th. Shortly leaving the dealership, I was driving on the freeway crawling traffic with my husband and 4 year old child in the vehicle. Suddenly, the service/wrench icon started flashing on the dashboard, and the car's engine completely died and stalled while we were moving on the highway. At the exact second the engine died, dash and infotainment screen went completely black, the A/C shut off as well. I instantly lost my speedometer and all safety alerts while stuck in traffic. I was still stepping on my brakes, and turned my hazard lights on so we could pull over to safety. Screens went back on and engine came back on. We were fortunate to be by the nearest exit and took it. The screens went back on, but service light was still flashing. We were able to drive the car to Mazda, and was provided a loaner car. This is a massive safety issue and hazard that put my family in immediate danger on a busy highway just following a dealer service.

The vehicle's Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) / Smart Brake Support system intermittently triggers "false positive" emergency braking events during critical driving maneuvers, specifically while accelerating to merge into highway traffic. During these events, the system violently applies the brakes with no external hazard present. Crucially, the vehicle fails to acknowledge driver override input. Depressing the accelerator pedal fully does not disengage the automatic braking, stripping the driver of vehicle control and exposing the vehicle to a severe risk of being rear-ended at high speed. Simultaneously, the vehicle experiences a persistent "In-Unit Telematics Malfunction" error on the dashboard, accompanied by rapid-fire mobile app notifications (14 alerts in a single day) stating "Critical Vehicle Malfunction: Vehicle cannot be driven." These communication module errors have persisted despite the dealership applying Mazda's latest software updates, indicating a critical network failure or hardware defect that compromises active safety systems.

The contact owns a 2026 Mazda CX-5. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the instrument cluster displayed a black screen. The contact stated that several warning lights were illuminated. The dealer was made aware of the failure. In addition, the contact was informed that the failure was a known failure of the vehicle. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or the dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and a case was filed. The failure mileage was approximately 930.

The failures are intermittent but recurring, and I have personally experienced them multiple times under normal driving conditions. The dealership has not been able to reproduce the failures consistently, and Mazda has provided no inspection, no investigation, and no acknowledgment of the issue despite multiple attempts to contact them. In addition, numerous other 2026 Mazda CX‑5 owners are reporting the exact same problems across multiple online forums and owner communities. These include: • Complete center display blackouts • Random system errors • Telematics failures • Driver‑assist malfunctions • Connected Services not working at all Owners are actively seeking help from one another because Mazda is ignoring customer reports, providing no guidance, and offering no official communication or support. This widespread pattern strongly suggests the issue is not isolated, but rather a potential systemic defect affecting the 2026 CX‑5 platform.