2011 Mazda Mazda3
This year drew an ordinary 132 complaints for a Mazda Mazda3 — the model's median is 103. What they were about is the unusual part: 9.1% of them mention airbags, against 2.2% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 2 of the Mazda Mazda3, which began in 2010 and ran to 2013. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 132 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 103 |
| Involving a crash | 12 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 26 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- airbags — 9.1% of this year's complaints, against 2.2% across the other years of this generation (4.1×). Owners wrote it as: airbags, sticky, eyes, moves.
- deploy — 9.8% of this year's complaints, against 3.1% across the other years of this generation (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: deploy, police report, total loss, haven.
- water — 7.6% of this year's complaints, against 1.7% across the other years of this generation (4.4×). Owners wrote it as: water, wash, car wash, after car.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
PASSENGER HEADLAMP GETTING EXCESSIVE CONDENSTATION BUILD UP AFTER CAR WASH OR RAIN STORM EVENTUALLY CAUSES HID BULB AND BALLAST FAILURE DUE TO SHORT CAUSED BY WATER INGRESS. HOUSING HAS BEEN CHANGED AND STILL LEAKS IN ALMOST EXACT SAME PATTERN AS OLD HOUSING.…
AIRBAGS: DID NOT DEPLOY UPON IMPACT OF A STREETLAMP POLE ON THE FRONT DRIVERSIDE QUARTER. FRONT FARRING DAMAGED AND REPLACED. I WAS TURNING LEFT, IT WAS RAINING, THE GLARE OF THE LIGHT BLINDED ME ENOUGH TO GO UP ON THE CURB AND IMPACT THE STREETLAMP POLE. I RE…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 17V082000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V644000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Mazda Mazda3 was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2011 Mazda Mazda3? What happened to yours?
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