While driving to work, the dashboard displayed "Charging system malfunction, pull over." The driver pulled over safely. The vehicle has electric power steering, so a loss of charging power while driving could reduce steering assist and cause the vehicle to stall in traffic. This happened three days after a Mazda dealer replaced the front passenger-side lower control arm. That part had failed at 111,777 miles, causing clunking under braking and making the car unsafe to drive (previously reported to NHTSA). This is the second safety-related failure on this vehicle in two weeks. The vehicle is again off the road pending dealer diagnosis. Reported to Mazda Customer Experience, case #00503860.
Electrical system
2021 Mazda MAZDA3 Electrical problems
Owners have filed 7 complaints about the 2021 Mazda MAZDA3's electrical system with NHTSA - 12% of all its complaints, most recently on October 13, 2026. They describe 1 crash, 2 fires and 0 injuries. Dead batteries, warning lights, wiring, alternators, infotainment and electronic module failures.
- Complaints
- 7
- Recalls
- 0
- Crashes
- 1
- Fires
- 2
- Injuries
- 0
- Deaths
- 0
Electrical complaints
During the incident, the vehicle exhibited an uncontrollable malfunction - the steering wheel suddenly jerked sharply to the right while accelerating violently, leaving me unable to steer or brake effectively, the car was looking forward. The car ultimately came to a stop upon colliding with a truck parked diagonally in front of me. After impact, I observed that the front tires remained stuck in a turned-right position, with the steering wheel also locked in that position. This was not an isolated event. Multiple...
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reports from Mazda owners describe similar experiences with their vehicles unexpectedly veering to the right and accelerating without driver input. Given these recurring reports and my own experience, I strongly suspect that a manufacturing defect - whether mechanical, electronic, or software-related - may have contributed to this accident.
The driver window, upon attempted to be let up, will start to go up then go all the way down, ignoring the function to go up. This is a safety concern, as harsh temperatures and foreign objects are able to enter the vehicle cabin at any time, including driving. The problem has been reproduced by a dealer, and the vehicle is available for inspection upon request. There are no warning indicators for this issue beyond witness the failure occur in real time.
Context: ADAS was not on. Lane keep assist is disabled in system settings entirely as it is dangerous. Blinkers were on, I was pulling out from parallel parking into left turn lane onto a straight road with slight incline. Car is of the Turbo trim on stock tires. Upon finishing pulling out of parallel parking spot and gassing the car, torque vectoring or some underlying collision avoidance may have phantom activated. I felt torque shift to the wrong tires, unsettling the car, and the wheel -- with no human input...
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-- jerked to the left to force me into the lane left of intended. I applied throttle and steered right back into the correct lane, but the car was applying torque to the wrong tires and applying a left bias to the steering. Only after I got above 25mph and held straight did the car settle. Almost caused an accident if the lane was not empty due to car unsettling itself into the left lane.
The contact owns a 2021 Mazda Mazda3. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds the passenger front side tire was flat which caused the contact to veer to the shoulder. The contact towed the vehicle to the dealer where the tire was inspected as the technician informed the contact that the tire was on backorder and no replacement tire was available. The vehicle then was towed back to the contact resident however was informed by the towing company that the vehicle abrupted in flames on the flatbed. The...
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fire department was contacted and extinguished the flames. No police report was made. no injuries were sustained. The contact is awaiting approval from the insurance adjustor on adjustments needed to be made for the vehicle. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximate 2,509.
Tl* the contact owns a 2021 mazda mazda3. The contact stated while the vehicle was at a stand still at a parking lot, when it caught fire. The fire department was able to extinguished the fire and filed a report. The police was at the location but did not file a report. The vehicle was drivable but was towed at a tow lot. The contact called local dealer morong falmouth mazda (187 us-1 #1311, falmouth, me 04105: (207) 781-4020) and was made aware of the failure. The vehicle had not been diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 1,500.*Dt*jb
Passenger side blind spot warning functions sporadically. It sometimes detects vehicles and sometimes does not while driving at the same speed.
Mazda MAZDA3 electrical complaints by year
MAZDA3 electrical problems, every yearSource: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) complaints and recalls, checked . Complaints are owners' own reports and are not verified. How we use the data