2013 Mazda CX-5

Typical pattern

16.4% of complaints about the 2013 Mazda CX-5 came in the first year, which is unremarkable for a 2013 vehicle — around the middle of the 210 model-years on record. The median complaint arrives at 4.2 yr in service. The most-reported system is electrical system (57 complaints), typically at 5.8 yr or about 75,000 miles.

Complaints: 287
Median age at failure: 4.2 yr
Median mileage: 40,000 n=227
Crash / fire / tow: 4.2% of reports
Safety recalls: 1

When each system is reported — middle 50% of complaints

System

0y2y4y6y8y10y12y14y

Electrical system

57 reports · 75,000 mi

5.8 yr

1.8%

Engine

41 reports · 52,700 mi

4.5 yr

2.4%

Power train

38 reports · 38,000 mi

3.3 yr

Other

28 reports · 65,000 mi

6.4 yr

3.6%

Service brakes

24 reports · 29,000 mi

2.3 yr

12.5%

Speed control

22 reports · 20,000 mi

1.8 yr

13.6%

Structure

15 reports · 16,000 mi

4.1 yr

Safety recalls — NHTSA campaigns

16V644000 2016-09-06

Structure:body:hatchback/liftgate

Mazda North American Operations (Mazda) is recalling certain model year 2010-2013 Mazda3 and Mazdaspeed3 vehicles manufactured November 18, 2008, to June 8, 2013, 2012-2015 Mazda5 vehicles manufactured October 26, 2010, to June 22, 2015, 2016 CX-3 vehicles manufactured June 1, 2015, to December 26, 2015, and 2013-2016 CX-5 vehicles manufactured December 15, 2011, to December 26, 2015. On the affected vehicles, the lift gate support struts may corrode, possibly causing the struts to break and/or the lift gate to drop unexpectedly.

If the lift gate falls unexpectedly, it may hit the user, increasing their risk of injury.

In owners’ own words

Speed control 235 mi 0 mo in service

THE PROXIMITY OF THE PEDALS SEEM TO BE TOO CLOSE. SOME FOOTWEAR MAY SNAG WHEN ATTEMPTING TO BRAKE HAVE NOTICED TWICE SINCE PURCHASING CAR ON 9/22. *TR

Speed control 873 mi 1 mo in service crash / fire / tow

PULLING IN TO PARKING SPACE WITH FOOT ON BRAKE. VEHICLE WOULD NOT STOP AND COULDN'T TURN THE STEERING WHEEL. CAR SUDDENLY ACCELERATED AND JUMP CURB AND RAN INTO SIDE OF BUILDING. BRAKE PEDAL WAS HARD TO PRESS AND EVEN TRIED PUMPING BRAKE, BUT VEHICLE WOULD NOT STOP. ENGINE SPEED DID NOT CHANGE WHEN PUMPING BRAKE. VEHICLE WAS ONLY THREE WEEKS OLD AND HAD A MAJOR MALFUNTION WITH BRAKING AND STEERING. *TR

Speed control 4,600 mi 9 mo in service

WHILE CHANGING LANES ON HIGHWAY FROM A STOP, IT FELT AS THOUGH THE CAR WAS IN NEUTRAL INSTEAD OF DRIVE. THE RPM INCREASED BUT THE CAR DID NOT MOVE. I HAVE ALSO NOTICED UPON SUDDEN ACCELERATION FROM AROUND 30 THAT I GET A SIMILAR RESPONSE. MAZDA STATES VEHICLE PERFORMING AS BY DESIGN. CAR DOES NOT SEEM TO DOWN SHIFT QUICK ENOUGH ON ACCELERATION. *TR

Power train 6,820 mi 2 mo in service

DRIVING DOWN THE FREEWAY, THE AUTOMATIC TRANSAXLE LIGHT, TRACTION CONTROL, AND ENGINE LIGHT ALL CAME ON, AND CAR SLOWED DOWN AND IT WAS LIKE IT WASN'T IN GEAR. I PULLED TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD AND HAD TO SHUT IT OFF AND RESTART IT FOUR TIME BEFORE ALL THE LIGHTS WENT OFF AND I COULD DRIVE IT AGAIN. THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT STAYED ON, BUT IN RAN FINE.THIS ALSO HAPPEN ABOUT A MONTH AGO IN TOWN, I ONLY HAD TO SHUT OFF AND RESTART ONCE, AND ALL THE LIGHTS WENT OFF AND ITS BEEN RUNNING FINE SINCE UNTIL YESTERDAY. I'M TAKING IT TO THE DEALER IN THE MORNING. *TR

Other CX-5 model years

How to read this

This is what owners reported, not a reliability rating. People file with NHTSA about alarming failures, not routine ones, and complaint volume tracks how many cars were sold.
Failure ages come from the incident date on each complaint, populated on about 83% of records. Mileage is shown where reported — NHTSA’s 2021 system change cut mileage capture to roughly 15%, so it thins out sharply after MY2020.
Every rank compares this vehicle only against others of the same model year. A 2025 car has not had time to accumulate five-year failures, so comparing early-failure share across years is meaningless.
Fourteen make-months distorted by media storms and mass recalls — Toyota in February 2010 ran 11× normal volume across 33 models — are excluded.
Recalls are manufacturer actions and authoritative; complaints are not. A recall listed here may already have been performed on any individual car. Check a specific VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.