2021 Mazda Mazda3
This year drew an ordinary 49 complaints for a Mazda Mazda3 — the model's median is 107. What they were about is the unusual part: 8.2% of them mention consumption, against 0% across the model's other years.
Generation 4 of the Mazda Mazda3, which began in 2019. 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 | 49 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 107 |
| Involving a crash | 2 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 1 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 28 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- consumption — 8.2% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the model's other years (40.8×). Owners wrote it as: consumption, oil-, turbo using, using burning.
- came — 20.4% of this year's complaints, against 6.8% across the model's other years (3×).
- excess — 14.3% of this year's complaints, against 3.2% across the model's other years (4.5×). Owners wrote it as: excess, within, car continues.
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
Purchased car in January 2020 and within a month/few thousand miles the low engine oil light came on. Almost two years later car continues to burn excessive oil triggering low engine oil light. Dealer doesn’t acknowledge an issue, Mazda still doesn’t have a re…
Excess oil consumption in engine. Low light came on around 5,000 miles and dipstick showed engine oil was at the minimum mark.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 21V101000 TIRES 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 2021 Mazda Mazda3? What happened to yours?
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