2012 Mazda Mazda3
This year drew an ordinary 226 complaints for a Mazda Mazda3 — the model's median is 103. What they were about is the unusual part: 13.7% of them mention gas, against 1.7% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 2 of the Mazda Mazda3, which began in 2010 and ran to 2013. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 226 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 103 |
| Involving a crash | 9 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 1 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 29 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- gas — 13.7% of this year's complaints, against 1.7% across the other years of this generation (8×).
- traction — 16.4% of this year's complaints, against 5.4% across the other years of this generation (3×). Owners wrote it as: traction, traction control, light came, lost power.
- normally — 8% of this year's complaints, against 2.6% across the other years of this generation (3.1×). Owners wrote it as: normally, tcs, indicating.
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
IN THE MORNING OF MARCH 31, 2017 WHEN I'VE PROCEEDED TO VA 206 TO THE NAVAL LAB (25-MILE SPEED LIMIT ZONE), TRACTION CONTROL SYSTEM (TCS/DSC) INDICATOR LIGHT SUDDENLY LIT UP, AND CAR STALLED. I ATTEMPTED TO [VIN] BUT RECEIVED NON RESPONSE FROM THE CAR. THE CAR…
Car started jerking and on the way home, the car lost all power to the transmission. The check engine light came on as well as the AT and traction lights. Absolutely no power to the transmission. codes P0780 and P0751.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V644000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Mazda Mazda3 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 2012 Mazda Mazda3? What happened to yours?
Loading comments…