What 308 owners told NHTSA about the 2024 Mazda Cx-90-mhev

I have taken my car to service in January, and it has had all the recalls fixes done, supposedly. Just the last two weeks I have been feeling a notchy sensation when steering, it resists and then jumps to the next notch when turning. Not a smooth feeling as it did during the first year of usage.

NHTSA ODI 11727216

I am reporting a serious safety defect involving unintended acceleration in my 2024 Mazda plug-in hybrid vehicle. On multiple occasions, the vehicle has suddenly accelerated without input from me, creating dangerous situations where I nearly lost control and risked a collision. This issue has occurred at least four times since January 2026. I previously brought the vehicle to an authorized Mazda dealership, where it remained for approximately two weeks; however, they were unable to replicate the problem and returned the vehicle, stating no faults were found. Despite this, the unintended acceleration continues to occur intermittently. I have attempted to follow up with both the dealership and Mazda corporate without receiving a response. This ongoing issue poses a significant safety risk to myself, my passengers, and others on the road.

NHTSA ODI 11725659

To Whom It May Concern, I am submitting this complaint to report serious and ongoing safety concerns regarding my Mazda CX-90. I believe this vehicle presents a significant safety risk to occupants and other drivers on the road. Since the date of purchase, this vehicle has been subject to numerous recalls, repeated software updates, and multiple mechanical issues. The number of recalls alone raises concern about the safety and reliability of this model. In addition, the vehicle has been in service many times, and I have frequently been provided a loaner vehicle due to unresolved problems. On the day of purchase, the vehicle suffered a mechanical failure and had to be towed. While driving in my neighborhood with my children inside, the vehicle suddenly stopped moving and became stuck in reverse. A brand-new vehicle should not experience this type of failure. More recently, I experienced a dangerous steering event on the highway. While traveling in the left lane, the vehicle suddenly swerved into the right lane, then back to the left, and continued oscillating between lanes. The steering felt momentarily out of my control. If surrounding traffic had been heavier, this could have resulted in a serious collision. After inspection, the service department stated that no issue was found and offered no corrective action. Additional safety-related concerns include: The vehicle has unexpectedly stopped driving while in motion on multiple occasions. The steering system behaves unpredictably at times. The hybrid system has malfunctioned repeatedly, the vehicle has overheated and emitted a strong smoke odor. These repeated failures involving steering, powertrain, and hybrid systems raise serious safety concerns.Given the pattern of recalls, ongoing mechanical failures, and the inability of the service to diagnose or correct these issues, I believe this vehicle poses an ongoing safety hazard I respectfully request that NHTSA formally investigate these issues Kim

NHTSA ODI 11718158

Decelerating behind traffic my Mazda cx90 shut the engine down. While still rolling traffic began to accelerate and I pressed the accelerator. The engine did not restart. I bottomed out the pedal with no reaction. I completely removed pressure from the pedal then pressed again before the engine restarted. This vehicle has already had a recall repair that seemed to be for this issue

NHTSA ODI 11680502

I was parking the car at a low speed (2mph) when it suddenly accelerated with a great speed, jumped the curb in front and moved forward and up a small hill. The car collided with a tree before I was able to stop it. All ADAS features were activated in the car and no alarms sounded prior or during the event, which lasted between 1-2 seconds. The vehicle was inspected by Mazda and deemed safe to continue to operate. The dealer did not find a cause for the malfunction and suggested external influence. The inspection took about 3hrs, which included addressing multiple recalls on the vehicle. At time of incident I have owned the car for about two months and did not experience similar issues, however others did according to my web search. I found reports on popular forums describing sudden acceleration of Mazda CX-90 vehicles.

NHTSA ODI 11614734

I was pulling into a parking spot. When I do this, my foot is always on the break. I'm an experienced driver (30+ years) and have never had an incident when I felt the car accelerate without my initiation. When I was maybe 5-7 ft from the car in front of me, the car suddenly accelerated (like it was possessed). I immediately slammed on the break and turned the wheel. Thankfully, and amazingly, I avoided hitting the car both in front of me and immediately on my left (the direction I swerved the wheel). No warning lamps, actions, etc were taken by the car itself (other than willing me to smash into the car ahead of me). This incident occurred in a school parking lot. Thankfully, there was no harm to anyone but my confidence in Mazda. But, if I had chosen to pick my children up through the pick-up line, I may have easily hit the car in front of me or a child! Obviously, this can be a tragic situation. Prior to this incident, I have felt that the car regularly does not operate smoothly at slow speeds, especially when accelerating from stop. This is my 3rd Mazda, and I have never felt this lack of control before. I have also noticed that the i-stop works erratically, including when I am moving at 10-30 mph. The light goes on and off when I am slowing down at a light, etc. Plus, when I am stopped at a light, the i-stop will go on for about 20 seconds, then suddenly turn off and the engine will rev up. I shard the stoplight information with the dealer the week after I took possession of the car and was told by the sales manager that this was just normal and a weird part of the electronics of the car. Following this incident, I called the dealer. The service department and manager said that they weren't aware of this issue but took my concern seriously. I then did an online search and found a conversation string on [XXX] with others sharing the same problem. [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11595966

Car has 5000 miles on it. Numerous issues with car. Unsafe steering. Dealer not able to repair steering until Mazda provides parts for recall. Now on the highway with a medium depressed foot pedal the car speeds up on its own. Happened 2 times so far. Brakes had to be applied to slow car down. It was very brief because I immediately stepped on the brake, but it was definitely an uncommanded acceleration. Both times I did NOT have cruise control on. Definitely not safe.

NHTSA ODI 11575074

When driving on the highway next to a large truck or semi and on a curve, the adaptive cruise control thinks that there’s a vehicle in front of you and slams on the brakes. This has happened a few times with my vehicle. Thankfully, there were no vehicles immediately behind me, or the results could’ve been tragic.

NHTSA ODI 11567288

In tighter corners the car coasts/brakes unnecessarily while cruise is on. Seems like a safety feature possibly or a malfunction as I haven't had that on any other cruise controls on other vehicles. Then after the corner it accelerates. I find very annoying. If this is considered a safety feature then ok but it is way to sensitive currently and needs an update.

NHTSA ODI 11564261

When going into curves on interstate, car thinks its gonna hit something and slams on the brakes when cruise control is engages. When passing a semi (semi slow lane, passing in passing lane), vehicle detects something in front of it and slams on the brakes. Does this on straight stretches. Slows down extremely fast to mabye 40 mph, then floors it once it thinks the "obstacle" has disappeared and speeds back up to the set speed as fast as it can. Sometimes does it when no othwr vehicles near it on straight stretchss of highway. This is gonna cause accidens. I don't trust the adaptive cruise control feature because it does this. This isn't weather or light related. Does it all the time.

NHTSA ODI 11555554

While driving on freeway with Adaptive cruise control set, vehicle automatically brakes when passing large vehicles, like semi trucks. ACC set at 75, I'm in left lane to pass truck going around curve and brakes come on and slow vehicle down to 60. I am clearly in the left lane to pass and truck in right lane. My safety and those behind are at a HUGE risk. This will cause an accident if not addressed. I am going to get rearended, it's just a matter of time. I have taken it to dealership and have been told this is normal. No it is not! No warnings other than car slamming on breaks for no reason. This has happened several times. I put down the date it first happened. I am available to bring it to dearship, again.

NHTSA ODI 11554481

Using the adaptive cruise control in I-64, the car will dangerously slow down/brake in the turns. If someone was following m, this slow down would have been unexpected, and could have rear ended us or lost control trying to avoid us. Unexpected slowdowns are dangerous. Not sure if this happens at lower speeds on side triads since I don’t use the cruise control on those roads.

NHTSA ODI 11554483

When operating the radar cruise control, if a large truck (semi, box truck) is next to you when going around a curve, the vehicle is seeing that truck in your lane and applies the brakes very suddenly. This is an issue, because if someone is following behind you, it is almost as if you are brake checking them. Clearly that is not safe at highway speeds. This has happened to me several times since owning this vehicle.

NHTSA ODI 11554501

When driving on a highway with cruise control on. If you are in an outside lane and the is a tractor-trailer in the inside lane maybe 100-200 feet ahead of you. If the highway veers to the left even though the truck remains in the inside lane the system seems to think the truck is right in front of the car. Cruise shuts down and it starts to brake. I have almost gotten hit by cars behind me twice. It has happened 4 times now. The first time was in mid June 2023 and three other times since. I asked about it and was told to go with manual cruise - I would have to manually do that each time I want to use it. Not acceptable and very unsafe. Reports of this type of incident have shown up several times on the Facebook Mazda CX-90 site. One other problem is with the front bushings. A hard right turn going over any kind of bump causes a severe rubbing sound.

NHTSA ODI 11554525

While using the radar cruise control, the vehicle will aggressively apply braking pressure, without warning and risk losing control of the vehicle. The risk of being rear ended is frightening at highway speeds. This usually happens through turns, and the Mazda mistakes vehicles in opposite lanes as being in the same lane. This has occurred multiple times with different people.

NHTSA ODI 11554603

When a large object like 18wheeler is in right lane and you are in left lane the car thinks it is in your way and the vehicle brakes hard. Very dangerous. Has happened numerous times.

NHTSA ODI 11554606

During normal driving conditions going down a state highway, the vehicle lost speed with adaptive cruise control enabled. Noticing the vehicle was losing speed, I depressed the accelerator pedal. The accelerator pedal was unresponsive and unable to accelerate, I had to maneuver off the highway. Luckily, the car behind my vehicle was far enough behind me and my vehicle was going fast enough that I was able to coast to a safe stop on the side of the highway. A message popped up on the instrument cluster screen informing me to shift the transmission to Park in order to use the accelerator pedal. If this had happened on a road with little to no shoulder, the vehicle would have come to a sudden stop with nowhere to maneuver to. This would have created a dangerous situation for me, and any vehicle directly behind me. I then parked the vehicle on the side of the highway and with the vehicle still on and engine running, I again tried depressing the accelerator pedal. Again, there was no response from the pedal. I then turned the vehicle off, and restarted the vehicle. I was finally able to use the accelerator pedal and returned to the highway and my drive. The dealership was contacted a few hours after the incident, and the vehicle has yet to be inspected or problem reproduced. The vehicle is a 2024 MY and has been owned for only one month. Unfortunately, this incident is only one of five total electrical issues I have had with this vehicle. This was the most important issue to report because it involved my own safety.

NHTSA ODI 11521778