2013 Mazda Mazda3
This year drew an ordinary 117 complaints for a Mazda Mazda3 — the model's median is 103. What they were about is the unusual part: 27.4% of them mention flicker, against 2.6% across the other years of this generation.
Last year of its generation. This Mazda Mazda3 ran from 2010 to 2013, so it had the whole run for its faults to be found and fixed. Last years are usually the most sorted of a generation.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 117 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 103 |
| Involving a crash | 7 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 1 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 29 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- flicker — 27.4% of this year's complaints, against 2.6% across the other years of this generation (10.4×). Owners wrote it as: flicker, flashing, applying, slow down.
- brake pedal — 12.8% of this year's complaints, against 3.8% across the other years of this generation (3.4×). Owners wrote it as: brake pedal, breaking, indicators, flashed.
- why — 11.1% of this year's complaints, against 4.4% across the other years of this generation (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: why, communication, very common, dog.
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
WHILE DRIVING AT ANY SPEED AT NIGHT, THE HEADLIGHTS FLICKERED AND FLASHED WHEN THE BRAKE PEDAL WAS APPLIED. THERE WERE NO WARNING INDICATORS ILLUMINATED. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO MAXON HYUNDAI MAZDA (2329 US 22, UNION, NJ 07083). THE CONTACT WAS INFORMED THAT…
WHEN APPLYING THE BRAKES, THE HEADLIGHTS DIM AND FLICKER UNTIL THE BRAKE PEDAL IS RELEASED. NIGHTTIME VIABILITY IS SUBSTANTIALLY DIMINISHED WHEN APPLYING THE BREAKS AND FLICKERING SEAMS TO SEND A SIGNAL TO OTHER VEHICLES IN FRONT OF ME. THIS DEFECT OCCURS 100%…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 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 2013 Mazda Mazda3? What happened to yours?
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