2016 Mazda CX-5
Complaints about this year name daytime running far more often than the other years of this generation — 19% of them, about 47× the usual rate of 0.4%.
Last year of its generation. This Mazda CX-5 ran from 2013 to 2016, 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 | 510 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 116 |
| Involving a crash | 31 |
| Involving a fire | 10 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 29 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- running — 32% of this year's complaints, against 5.7% across the other years of this generation (5.6×). Owners wrote it as: running, daytime, daytime running, led.
- lights — 23.5% of this year's complaints, against 8.3% across the other years of this generation (2.8×).
- headlight — 20.6% of this year's complaints, against 6.1% across the other years of this generation (3.4×). Owners wrote it as: headlight, entire, fail, years old.
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.
Also unusual this year
- led — 16% of complaints, 41× usual
- running lights — 14% of complaints, 34× usual
- headlight — 12% of complaints, 30× usual
What owners wrote
LED DAYTIME RUNNING LIGHTS BURN OUT AND MAZDA CHARGES $1,200 EACH TIME FOR AN ENTIRE HEADLIGHT LENS [VIN]. THIS IS THE SECOND TIME - FIRST TIME WAS COVERED UNDER WARRANTY.
MAZDA CX-5 GRAND TOURING LED DAYTIME RUNNING LIGHTS ARE DIM ON DRIVER SIDE AFTER ONLY 48,000 MILES. OUTSIDE OF 36K MILE WARRANTY. MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT MANY OF THESE LED HEADLIGHTS ARE DEFECTIVE AND NUMEROUS OWNERS ARE HAVING SIMILAR ISSUES AFTER 40K MILES.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V644000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
- 16V203000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 16V064000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 16E002000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
- 20V063000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Mazda CX-5 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 2016 Mazda CX-5? What happened to yours?
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