2019 Mazda Mazda3
This year drew an ordinary 74 complaints for a Mazda Mazda3 — the model's median is 107. What they were about is the unusual part: 20.3% of them mention disabled, against 2.7% across the model's other years.
First year of a new generation. The Mazda Mazda3 was redesigned for 2019. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 74 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 107 |
| Involving a crash | 3 |
| Recalls | 6 |
| EPA combined | 29.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- disabled — 20.3% of this year's complaints, against 2.7% across the model's other years (7.6×). Owners wrote it as: disabled, radar, malfunctions, support.
- low — 27% of this year's complaints, against 10.1% across the model's other years (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: low, tsb, feels, mode.
- what — 20.3% of this year's complaints, against 5.4% across the model's other years (3.7×).
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
THE ENTIRE VEHICLE SAFETY SYSTEM MALFUNCTIONS AT RANDOM TIMES WHILE DRIVING, MOST RECENTLY ON THE HIGHWAY. THE DASHBOARD ILLUMINATES STATING "SAFETY AND DRIVER SUPPORT SYSTEMS PARTIALLY DISABLED, DRIVE SAFELY". I LOSE BLIND SPOT MONITORING, LANE KEEP ASSISTANC…
Cylinder head is leaking oil due to known defect by Mazda. The rocker arm rubs the cylinder and causes the wall the thin and oil to leak through. Oil sprays on exhaust and other moving parts causing a safety concern due to possible oil combustion. This is in r…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V907000 FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE Fixed free of charge.
- 19V497000 ENGINE Fixed free of charge.
- 19V514000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V558000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
- 19V363000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 19V425000 WHEELS 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 2019 Mazda Mazda3? What happened to yours?
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