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What 12 owners told NHTSA about the 2023 Mazda Mazda3

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.

All (12)Crash / fire / injury (4)Electrical system (3)Transmission & drivetrain (3)Brakes (2)Driver assistance (2)Engine (2)Airbags (1)Body & structure (1)Lights (1)Steering (1)Tires (1)

1 of 12 complaints match · Engine · crash/fire/injury only · clear filters

Sep 19, 2023Electrical systemBody & structureEngineFire

I was driving on the highway and decided to switch int the left lane so I sped up and heard a big bang and what sounded like my bumper being dragged against the ground. I see on my dashboard that there’s an electrical and engine malfunction so I pullover and pop the hood. A bunch of smoke comes out and i see a little fire so me and my friends run and call the police. The police and firefighters arrived just as the fire was getting large and it had engulfed the front right side of my car. If the notification that there was a malfunction didn’t come on, I feel as if we could’ve been hurt much worse or even have died. I’m not much of a person that knows about cars and it sounded like my bumper was scraping and by the amount of times i’ve scraped my bumper, i believed it until I saw my notification. The vehicle is still being inspected for cause of fire and this vehicle has never had this problem before.

NHTSA ODI 11545514

Working with the data? Download all 12 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 13, 2026

How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2023 Mazda Mazda3 verdict →