Engine & cooling

Mazda MX-5 Engine problems by year

5 complaints filed with NHTSA about the Mazda MX-5's engine & cooling. Stalling, loss of power, oil consumption, overheating, head gaskets, timing chains and engine failure.

Engine complaints by model year

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 22016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026

Year	Engine complaints	Crashes	Injuries
2019	1	1	1
2018	1	0	0
2016	2	0	0
2012	1	0	0

Latest MX-5 engine complaints

2018 Mazda MX-5 Electrical system Acceleration & cruise control Engine & cooling

I've owned my 2018 mazda mx-5 for about two years. The problems slow started arising. At first I hadn't noticed, but when going in and out of 'drive' the vehicle felt like it was either going to stall or accelerate. I had initially thought was because it's a 'sports car.' In august of 2020 the window regulator on the passenger side had malfunctioned. Fast forward to december 2020, the driver side window regulator has malfunction as well. I've been doing research as to why this would happen to a vehicle that's about...

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2 years old. I've purchased the vehicle october of 2018. Internet forums suggested faults with the electrical wiring. I've informed the mazda official website of these issues and informed them of the inconvenience. Make note I have only made a complaint to the window regulators failing. I've provided them with my vin and yet to hear from them since. It didn't occur to me to do research on my vin, so I did and much to my chagrin after apologizing for possibly being rude, I find that my vehicle has had a serious recall since february 01st of 2019. A year and 10 months and no recall notice what so ever! Shouldn't the dealership know of the problems! Seriously I could have died! I quote, directly from nhtsa, 'the sudden unexpected downshift while driving may negatively affect the stability of the vehicle, and could lead to a loss of vehicle control, potentially resulting in a crash.' This is incredibly depressing, since this is my only means of transportation. They had close to 2 years to inform me of this recall and I had to find out myself.

2019 Mazda MX-5 Transmission & drivetrain Airbags Engine & coolingCrash1 injury

As I was exiting a bp gas station (62 griffin corporation dr, chelsea, al 35043) and making a right onto county road 11, the rear tires of the car started to spin (1/4 throttle). I noticed that abs or the stability control system did not activate. The car was not in "sport" mode. It was in the "d" driving mode. The rear tires continued spinning and I felt the car's back end fishtailing. At this point, I started to get on the brakes hard and try to do minor corrections, when I felt that the brake pedal was not...

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pulsating, and the car was not slowing down at all. At this point, I was facing oncoming traffic and the railroad tracks that were about >500 ft in front of me. I look to my right and notice that I am about to slide into the railroad crossing sign. The impact was hard enough to where my right buttock ended up next to the handbrake of the car. My arm is slightly bruised from it being swung to the right and hitting the passenger window. The airbags were not deployed at all. However, the damage done to the car is, left lower control arm scratched/scuffed/damaged, the passenger side mirror broken off, the passenger door dented inwards, the side skirt (the part that runs across the bottom of the car) ripped off on the driver's side and bent upwards on the passenger side, and finally, the passenger side door sill dented/bent inwards. The pictures attached are the photos of my bruise and the incident.

2016 Mazda MX-5 Lights Engine & cooling

Headlights shake. Mirror covers on visors broke, never even used mirrors. Burns oil.

2016 Mazda MX-5 Electrical system Engine & cooling

Car was in motion, while driving the car the red key light on the engine start button started flashing. When we got home the car would not turn off. Also couldn't shift the car. Finally got the car to turn off and when we started the car again the check engine light came on. Car dealership found several codes stored, but could not find the problem. Believe this is a serious safety issue with red warning lights start flashing when driving, car would not turn off and we could not shift the car.

2012 Mazda MX-5 Engine & cooling

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 mazda mx-5. While driving various speeds, the vehicle stalled and the traction control warning indicator illuminated. The contact was able to restart the vehicle. The dealer diagnosed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 80,000. The vin was unavailable.

Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) complaints and recalls, checked daily. Complaints are owners' own reports and are not verified. How we use the data