2026 Mazda CX-5: what breaks, and at what mileage
What breaks on the 2026 Mazda CX-5
On the 2026 Mazda CX-5, the failure owners report most often is infotainment screen failure, with 4 reports on file. Across every failure mode on this year, half the dated reports were filed before 60,000 miles. Overall it scores 61 out of 100, high risk for a 2026.
High risk for a 2026 — 69th riskiest of the 73 2026 vehicles we can rate. 22 owner reports; fleet size borrowed from other years of the same model.
What breaks on the 2026 Mazda CX-5
Owners have reported 14 named failure modes on the 2026 Mazda CX-5, and the three most-reported carry 45% of everything filed.
Infotainment screen failure leads with 4 reports and about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles.
Excessive oil consumption follows with 3 reports.
Other engine problem follows with 3 reports.
By system, the reports fall mostly into engine (7), infotainment (4) and electrical (3).
At what mileage it happens
Too few of the reports on this year carry an odometer reading to describe the timing: 4 of them do. The mileages quoted elsewhere on this page come from the modes that have enough of them.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
Showing the 12 most-reported failure modes of 14. The full list is in the table below.
How reports accumulate
Every report with an odometer reading, cumulative, from 0 to 200,000 miles. A curve that climbs early is a car with early problems, whatever its total.
- Line share of reports filed by that mileage
Severity, and what it costs
Nothing in the reports on the 2026 Mazda CX-5 mentions a crash, a fire or an injury. That is the ordinary case and it is worth stating: most defect complaints are about a car that stopped working, not one that hurt somebody.
The average severity weight across every report on this year is 2.95, where a stalled engine or a failed airbag weighs many times more than a rattling trim panel. The weighting is set out in full on the methodology page.
What the top failures cost to put right, as editorial estimates for an independent US shop rather than figures from NHTSA: infotainment screen failure at $400–$2,600, excessive oil consumption at $900–$6,500, other engine problem at $300–$4,000 and other electrical problem at $250–$2,000. Dealer labour, a seized bolt or a part that is no longer made can push any of these past the top of its range.
36% of the reports on this year sit in the engine, transmission, drivetrain or cooling systems — the four where a repair bill is usually four figures.
Every reported failure mode
| Failure mode | System | Reports | With reading | 25th | Median | 75th | Per 1,000 | Typical repair | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infotainment screen failure | infotainment | 4 | 2 | — | 38k | — | 0.1 | $400–$2,600 | Low |
| Excessive oil consumption | engine | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $900–$6,500 | High |
| Other engine problem | engine | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $300–$4,000 | High |
| Other electrical problem | electrical | 2 | 1 | — | 40k | — | 0.0 | $250–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Misfire or rough idle | engine | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.0 | $250–$1,600 | Moderate |
| Differential or transfer case failure | drivetrain | 1 | 1 | — | 180k | — | 0.0 | $900–$4,200 | High |
| Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure | electrical | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.0 | $700–$3,000 | High |
| ABS module or sensor failure | brakes | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.0 | $500–$2,400 | High |
| Premature brake pad or rotor wear | brakes | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.0 | $300–$1,400 | Moderate |
| Seat belt or retractor failure | airbag | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.0 | $200–$900 | High |
| Automatic braking for no reason | adas | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.0 | $0–$1,500 | Critical |
| Other suspension problem | suspension | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.0 | $350–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Other lighting problem | lighting | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.0 | $120–$1,200 | Moderate |
| Other body or interior problem | body | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.0 | $200–$2,000 | Moderate |
This year had no usable recall paperwork, so the fleet-size estimate is the median of other years of the same model. Repair costs are typical independent-shop ranges for the failure, not figures from these reports.
How often, against how many were built
Scaled by an estimate of how many of these cars exist, the 2026 Mazda CX-5 draws about 0.4 per 1,000 vehicles, which puts it in the 77th percentile of complaint rates among 2026 vehicles we can rate.
That denominator is the weakest number on the page and it is fair to say so plainly. This year had no usable recall paperwork, so the fleet-size estimate is the median of other years of the same model.
The working figure is 52,444 vehicles. If the true number is twice that, every rate on this page is half what it says; the ranking against other 2026 vehicles, which is what the risk score uses, is far more robust than the rate itself.
How it ranks in the 2026 field
The score at the top of the page, placed among its peers. The zones are the same thresholds the scorer applies, read out of the scorer itself, so the picture and the band word cannot disagree.
Scores are ranked within the model year, never across years, because an older car has had longer to accumulate reports.
- Left fewer and less serious reports
- Right more, or worse
- Marker this vehicle
Where 2026 sits in the model line
High risk for a 2026 — 69th riskiest of the 73 2026 vehicles we can rate. Because the ranking is against the same model year only, age cancels out of it.
Across the 14 model years of this car that carry enough reports to score, 2026 comes out best at 61 and 2018 worst at 80, with 2026 itself at 61.
No other year of this model scores meaningfully better than 2026, so if this generation is what you want, the year is not the lever.
Within the 2022–2026 generation specifically, 2026 is the strongest year at 61 and 2023 the weakest at 75.
Scores compare each year against other cars of the same model year, so a low number on an older car is a real result and not an artefact of age.
Shorter is better. Years with too few reports to score are shown without a bar rather than as a zero, because no data is not good news.
Within the 2022-2026 generation, 2026 Mazda CX-5 scores best at 61 and 2023 Mazda CX-5 worst at 75.
Where these figures stop being useful
22 owner reports; fleet size borrowed from other years of the same model. Every count on this page is therefore a floor: it is the number of owners who went to the trouble of filing with a federal agency, which is a small and self-selected fraction of the owners who had the fault.
Of those 22 reports, 4 carried an odometer reading, so the mileages here describe 18% of the sample rather than all of it. Owners also round: readings pile up on multiples of ten thousand, which is why this site publishes "about 90,000 miles" and not "91,438".
Named failure modes come from matching phrases in the complaint text, so a badly worded complaint can land in the wrong bucket. The effect washes out across hundreds of reports and does not wash out across five.
And nothing here predicts what one car will do. These are other people's complaints, filed years apart, on cars maintained by strangers. Read the page as a map of where this model year has previously gone wrong, then have the specific car in front of you inspected.
Questions this page answers
What are the most common problems with the 2026 Mazda CX-5?
The most-reported failures are infotainment screen failure (4 reports, median 40,000 miles), excessive oil consumption (3 reports) and other engine problem (3 reports). Counts come from owner complaints filed with NHTSA, which are voluntary, so they show what owners bothered to report rather than every fault that occurred.
Is the 2026 Mazda CX-5 reliable?
It scores 61 out of 100 on our risk index, which is high — 69th riskiest of the 73 2026 vehicles we can rate. The score is a comparison against other 2026 vehicles, not a prediction about any individual car, and it is built from complaint rates, severity and how early failures appear.
Which year of the Mazda CX-5 is best?
Within the 2022–2026 generation, 2026 scores best at 61 out of 100 and 2023 worst at 75. Same body, same engines, different luck.
Where this comes from. Every figure above is computed from NHTSA owner complaints and recall records for this exact make, model and year. Complaints are voluntary and self-selected, so treat counts as a floor. The methodology page writes out each formula, and the same numbers are available as JSON.
What breaks at my mileage Compare with another car
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed