2013 Mazda CX-9
This year drew an ordinary 68 complaints for a Mazda CX-9 — the model's median is 61. What they were about is the unusual part: 13.2% of them mention reason, against 2.1% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 68 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 61 |
| Involving a crash | 3 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 19 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- reason — 13.2% of this year's complaints, against 2.1% across the model's other years (6.5×). Owners wrote it as: reason, town, sides, rendered.
- car towed — 8.8% of this year's complaints, against 2.3% across the model's other years (3.8×). Owners wrote it as: car towed, something like.
- brought — 10.3% of this year's complaints, against 4.1% across the model's other years (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: brought, brought car, model years.
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 ON THE HIGHWAY AT A NORMAL HIGHWAY SPEED, THE SIDE AIR BAGS SUDDENLY INFLATED FOR NO APPARENT REASON, BOTH THE DRIVER AND PASSENGER SIDES.
NAVIGATION SYSTEM IS FAUTY. SINCE PURCHASE NEW, NAVIGATION TRACKS FAULTY. MAZDA CAN NEVER FIX. I BROUGHT IT BACK MANY TIMES.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V717000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 15V451000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 18V018000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V203000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Mazda CX-9 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 CX-9? What happened to yours?
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