Home · 2023 Mazda Mazda3 Sedan · Complaints
These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.
3 of 12 complaints match · Transmission & drivetrain · clear filters
Transmission failure when driving. Car was towed to dealership and diagnosed. Transmission and torque converter replacement required under factory warranty. Very long lead time for dealer to acquire replacement parts, about 4 months.
NHTSA ODI 11724188
Cars lurches/jerks at low speeds when shifting 1-2 gears and sometimes rpm bounces up and down when downshifting.
NHTSA ODI 11514104
On three occasions thus far when the vehicle was started and placed in drive the transmission slipped terribly, the engine rpms would race when pressing the accelerator and the vehicle would move at no more than a few MPH. The problem is intermittent but can be inspected. The problem has occurred on public roads when stopped at a light or stop sign and I was unable to move forward again after stopping. The problem was reproduced by the dealer. The dealer had the vehicle for 29 days for repair attempts and returned it to me one day before my states lemon law would have been triggered. There were several vehicle malfunction warnings displayed on the dash 10 to 15 minutes after the vehicle failed to move under its own power. I also purchased an OBDII code reader after the initial vehicle failure and was able to read transmission error codes on subsequent failures.
NHTSA ODI 11513226
Working with the data? Download all 12 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 18, 2026