Mazda MX-5 — reported problems

What owners report: issue areas

Owner complaints are classified by the system they concern: 410 classifications in all. One complaint can concern several systems, so these add up to more than the number of complaints.

• Powertrain (transmission & drivetrain)64 (15.6%)Official recall records for this system: 1, covering model years 2016–2019.
• Air bags (restraint system)50 (12.2%)Official recall records for this system: 2, covering model years 2006–2023.
• Electrical system40 (9.8%)
• Body & structure40 (9.8%)Official recall records for this system: 1, covering model years 2016.
• Steering20 (4.9%)
• Visibility (glass, wipers, mirrors)20 (4.9%)

Other / uncategorized: 34 classifications (8.3%) were not assigned to a specific system by the source. They are counted but not treated as an issue area.

These are counts of records held by CarFaultIQ, not a failure rate. More records can simply mean more vehicles were sold or more owners reported. No vehicles-in-service figure exists in this data, so no reliability or risk score can be derived from it.

What the records are about, by source

Each source is kept separate: owner complaints, recalls, manufacturer communications and investigations are different kinds of record and are never added together. All model years.

• Owner complaints (310 records, model years 2006–2026) are most frequently classified under: powertrain (transmission & drivetrain), air bags (restraint system) and body & structure.
• Manufacturer communications (5,329 records, model years 2006–2026) are most frequently classified under: equipment & accessories, electrical system and engine.

"Most frequently classified under" reports how the records are filed by the source. It is not a finding about causes, and a record can be filed under more than one system. Read the individual records

Mileage reported when the issue occurred

• 182reports included a mileage
• 31,472average of those mileages

This is the mileage owners recorded at the time they reported, not an expected failure mileage and not a prediction for any individual vehicle. The lowest and highest figures on record are not shown: they are unverified odometer entries that include zeros and implausibly high readings, so they would not describe a real range. A median is not shown either, because the stored figures are group totals and a median cannot be recovered from them.

Evidence by model year

Records held per model year. Select a year to narrow this page to it.

1. 2006 195 records for 2006 195
2. 2007 215 records for 2007 215
3. 2008 206 records for 2008 206
4. 2009 213 records for 2009 213
5. 2010 208 records for 2010 208
6. 2011 206 records for 2011 206
7. 2012 210 records for 2012 210
8. 2013 207 records for 2013 207
9. 2014 189 records for 2014 189
10. 2015 184 records for 2015 184
11. 2016 558 records for 2016 558
12. 2017 427 records for 2017 427
13. 2018 372 records for 2018 372
14. 2019 314 records for 2019 314
15. 2020 256 records for 2020 256
16. 2021 214 records for 2021 214
17. 2022 172 records for 2022 172
18. 2023 125 records for 2023 125
19. 2024 132 records for 2024 132
20. 2025 78 records for 2025 78
21. 2026 43 records for 2026 43

Counts are not adjusted for how many vehicles were sold in each year, so a taller year is not necessarily a worse year.

Reports mentioning outcomes

• 26mention a crash
• 22mention an injury

These are counts of records whose report mentioned the outcome. They are not a severity rating and not a safety assessment of this vehicle.

Official records held

• Safety recalls NHTSA 24
• Manufacturer communications NHTSA 5,329
• Owner complaints NHTSA 310

Explore the underlying evidence records

Diagnostic codes found in evidence for this vehicle

These codes appear by explicit identifier in official records matched to this exact model and year.

• U3000 in 24 records · 2016–2024
• P2507 in 21 records · 2016–2021
• P2610 in 21 records · 2016–2021
• C0023 in 20 records · 2007–2026
• P0171 in 11 records · 2016–2023
• U0323 in 9 records · 2016–2019
• P0455 in 6 records · 2006–2009
• P1260 in 6 records · 2020–2025
• P2096 in 6 records · 2010–2012
• P061B in 5 records · 2019–2019
• P011A in 4 records · 2016–2019
• P0441 in 4 records · 2006–2009

A code appearing in a record means the code was named in that document. It is not a diagnosis of this vehicle, not a fault this vehicle has, and not an indication of urgency. Diagnosis requires reading live data from the vehicle.