Model Year Scorecard · NHTSA + EPA data

Mazda model years compared

Every Mazda model in the catalogue (1979–2027), with owner complaints, recall campaigns, urgent advisories and fatal-crash involvement summed across all model years. Open a model to see its years side by side and the best and worst year called out.

14,679
Owner complaints
filed with NHTSA, most on the 626
214
Recall campaigns
distinct NHTSA campaigns, most on the MPV
4
Urgent advisories
do-not-drive & park-outside campaigns
1,309
Fatal-crash vehicles
FARS census, 2020 onward, exact

Mazda models ranked by complaints

Mazda models ranked by NHTSA owner complaints across all model years
Model Years Complaints Recalls Urgent Fatal (FARS) MPG
626 1979–2002 (24)
3,130
18 32 23.3
CX-5 2013–2026 (14)
2,434
7 489 26.7
Tribute 2001–2011 (10)
2,102
20 123 20.5
CX-9 2007–2023 (17)
1,430
13 1 204 21.4
CX-7 2007–2012 (6)
1,131
6 1 56 21.4
Protege 1990–2003 (14)
1,076
6 87 24.6
MPV 1989–2006 (17)
938
22 1 37 17.5
RX-8 2004–2011 (8)
783
14 1 19 18.9
CX-90 2024–2026 (3)
367
11 10 25.3
MX-5 Miata 2006–2026 (21)
339
CX-30 2020–2026 (7)
247
7 41 26
Millenia 1995–2002 (8)
240
6 20
MX-5 2006–2026 (20)
152
6 158 27.1
CX-50 2023–2026 (4)
143
5 11 30.4
CX-3 2016–2026 (11)
114
4 36 29.9
CX-70 2025–2027 (3)
53
4 25.5
Miata 1990–2005 (15)
6
2 catalogue only 2011–2026 (16)
32.9
3 catalogue only 2004–2026 (23)
28.8
3 Sport catalogue only 2009–2026 (18)
5 catalogue only 2006–2017 (11)
23.3
6 catalogue only 2003–2021 (19)
24.8
B2300 catalogue only 1994–2010 (14)
20.3
B2500 catalogue only 1998–2001 (4)
19.5
B3000 catalogue only 1994–2008 (15)
17.8
B4000 catalogue only 1994–2010 (17)
16.7
MX-30 EV catalogue only 2022–2024 (3)
Protege5 catalogue only 2002–2003 (2)

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Every Mazda model opens to every model year compared side by side, with the best and worst year called out. Free account, no card, takes a minute.

Sources. Owner complaints, recall campaigns and advisories are from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation datasets; fatal-crash vehicles from FARS; fuel economy from the EPA. VehDB sums them per model; the figures are not VehDB's own findings.

How to read it. Complaints and recalls are summed over every catalogue year of the model, so long-running best-sellers rank high on volume alone; the model page ranks each year against other vehicles of the same model year, which is the fairer read. Urgent counts do-not-drive and park-outside campaigns. Fatal (FARS) is a census of vehicles in fatal crashes from 2020 onward, exact, and is never mixed with CRSS estimates. MPG is the EPA combined average across the model's trims. Sources are U.S. public domain; nothing here is a verified defect finding.