2018 Mazda Mazda3
This year drew an ordinary 107 complaints for a Mazda Mazda3 — the model's median is 103. What they were about is the unusual part: 10.3% of them mention faulty, against 3.4% across the other years of this generation.
Last year of its generation. This Mazda Mazda3 ran from 2014 to 2018, 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 | 107 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 103 |
| Involving a crash | 6 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 30.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- faulty — 10.3% of this year's complaints, against 3.4% across the other years of this generation (3.1×). Owners wrote it as: faulty, brand, impacted.
- owner — 7.5% of this year's complaints, against 2.1% across the other years of this generation (3.5×). Owners wrote it as: owner, expecting, consistent.
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
About a year ago, I noticed multiple warning lights on my car on, including the traction control, ABS, emergency brake, tire pressure indicator, etc. I took my car to the dealership where they diagnosed the problem as related to a faulty speed sensor. I have b…
Front windshield wipers for my 2018 Mazda 3 stopped working without any warning while driving on the highway under heavy rain fall. I recently read online about a faulty wiper motor relay but I have not received any information from Mazda 3 about this.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V272000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
- 17V745000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 21V875000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 23V487000 BACK OVER PREVENTION 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 2018 Mazda Mazda3? What happened to yours?
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