Mazda 3

"Backup camera intermittently becomes scrambled. No rhyme or reason to when it happens, but can present a safety concern. Dealer has been unable to duplicate and fix"

"Intermittently the image is broken up badly and therefore not useful."

"It sometimes takes extra 15-30 seconds to switch from back up camera to the home screen"

"The back up camera usually has a distorted and fuzzy view that scrolls - similar to an old style TV when the picture tube is failing. At other times it fails to work at all. Because the camera does work on occasion, my guess is that it is in the electronics and not the camera itself. However, I have not taken it to the shop to confirm if that is the case."

"For several years I have had problems with the backup camera going black for weeks at a time then working long enough to visit the service department and was never resolved until this February when the service advisor recommended replacement rather than repair, and "Ëœvoila' I have a beautifully consistently operating backup camera. Pricy but so simple."

"Backup camera failed, sometimes static, sometimes no picture at all. Camera was replaced after 2nd dealer called the extended warranty company and provided evidence of no water damage."

"It would not play. Neither dealer or car audio store could fix."

"the switch to day/night was random, they said there was a service advisory. They replaced the unit. I still had problems, they looked at the new one and said my settings were the problem"

"In bright sunlight, display screen difficult to see, sometimes can't at all"

"Display screen for GPS and back-up camera doesn't automatically change from day to night. Have to adjust it by hand"

"The system automatically dims when it senses it is night time. Unfortunately this often happens when I drive in a shadow of a building or an underpass. Then it takes forever for the display to brighten again"

"Rarely happens, but sometimes the display becomes unresponsive, sometimes it continues to work after a pause, sometimes it blacks out and resets"

"the display freezes up while playing music in random mode for no reason"

"The entire infotainment/nav system was so screwed up they replaced the computer control. The new one has it's quirks but not so debilitating. The nav system is totally worthless; always was."

"The screen freezes, if you disconnect the battery it reset, but the display goes blank shortly. Mazda says it is a herdware issue"

"The display screen didn't actually freeze up; you just didn't list a better option, like display screen jumped around randomly, selecting options on pull-down menus randomly, etc. Drove my daughter crazy for 2 years while Mazda pretended they didn't know anything about it, or couldn't detect a problem. It got worse and worse, until the car was finally out of warranty, then they found the problem and the cure (for only $1600) to replace the data select knob on the console (unnecessary) and then finally the display screen in the dash panel (absolutely necessary). Afterwards, I found that there had been a Mazda Service Bulletin issued about the problem 6 months earlier (prior to an earlier maintenance checkup when we had also complained about the problem but had it ignored). The Service Bulletin described our exact symptoms and proscribed the fix (replace the display panel), which should have been done when the car was still under warranty. My subsequent complaints were ignored by the dealer (excuses, excuses). Other than this issue, my daughter (who drives the car) loves the car. Note: This same root cause (and solution) is at the root of all 3 of the electronics problems that I noted. I just checked all three boxes to highlight its impact. (Depending what screen you might be on, the glitchy jumping around of the faulty screen impacted different systems (music / GPS, etc.) It did NOT affect any active driving system."

"For no reason system crashes and screen freezes. I had to look up online for the reset buttons to press"

"I can unfreeze it by turning the car motor off and back on, which seems to cause the display screen to reset itself and unfreeze"

"mAZADA CONNECT GOES BLANK DOESN'T COME ONE WON'T SYN WITH MY IPHONE SCREEN TURNS BLUE AND STAYS LIKE THAT FOR A LONG TIME"

"At least once per drive, the screen freezes and all functionality is lost until I shut the car off and the system reinitializes"

"Display & functions not responding to controls"

"Freezes just before it goes blank. Associated always with other problem described above"

"Gps and traffic app would start to download on display screen. It would freeze up after partially loading screen and crash system. System would have to restart"

"after starting, the display screen sometimes freezes on the permission screen. requires restart to resolve. dealer installed update to the system to resolve problems have not occurred since"

"Mazda had a recall (ghost touch) fo some models dashboard entertainment screen in which the affected units were executing buttons/commands without anyone touching the screen. This Mazda recall was about 12 months after I had experience the issue and reported to Mazda, but they fixed my screen."

"This problem started about 2 yrs ago. Mazda says it is eligible for a free screen replacement, but has so far been unable to obtain the necessary parts to repair"

"Display/touch screen failed - replaced eventually via warranty repair when Mazda owned up to the problem/defect."

"The infotainment unit starting beeping constantly and being unresponsive. Since we had no warranty left, I ran a USB based mod to disable the touch screen, which corrected the problem. The command button module is also somewhat broken now and are very expensive to replace. Half of the buttons don't work. 6 year old car..."

"repaired under manufacturer warranty"

"Sometimes the screen freezes but often, buttons are activated and songs are changed without me touching any audio controls. Sometimes it works better if I turn the car off and back on but not lately. When I'm listening to music from my iPod (USB connection), the song will suddenly start fast forwarding. It will also skip songs and even change the audio source without me touching any controls to do that. It's very annoying."

"At times the whole system freezes up. This has been happening since I purchased the vehicle. Every time I take it in, they cannot duplicate the problem. One time when it was acting up, the dealership couldn't fix it. I have been disappointed with both the vehicle and the dealership. The infotainment system has never worked properly since I purchased the car. The response from the dealership is ???????. I will never buy another Mazda again. After purchase there is no really support except excuses. I don't even bother bringing it in any more. I have just been beaten down, I have given up."

"The screen would freeze, seemingly as a computer issue as the radio/phone/rear camera/etc would simply cease to work (or display properly as the screen would sometimes be stuck on a frozen glitch, sometimes in a bootloop, sometimes not turn on at all)"

"Intermittent blank screen during cold weather. Sometimes also includes loss of rear camera display when backing up"

"It is linked to the previous problem"

"About once a month, the system gives a plain bluescreen or forgets it has a navigation system (it has one). I restart the car, and it is OK. Initially, the Mazda dealer said they new about the issue and a software fix was coming. Now, they shrug"

"Info system went dark on three occasions since purchase in December 2014. Problem was fixed by dealer each time, but it continued to happen. Each fix wiped out all personals settings which had to be reset after each repair"

"Screen went blank. Reset and worked fine. notified Mazda and they recommended a software update. had that done and haven't had any more problems"

"When the system is not freezing, the screen goes blank and it reboots. When that happens, I lose all of my previous settings"

"The display screen goes blank seemingly randomly when driving. Can go weeks without blanking or twice in one trip. Sometimes it forgets the favorites and nav destination, sometimes not"

"screen went blank, it was replaced by the dealer. Had to be fixed once more after the replacement"

"Infotainment system ceased three times in ten months. Each time all features (backup camera, audio, & bluetooth) attached to the screen ceased. Dealer had to run updates each time"

"glitchy"

"Dash unit went dead. Had to take it in to Mazda to be serviced"

"Display went blank and all programming was lost."

"The physical screen is delaminating in the corners. Also, rarely the system freezes and the car must be restarted to reset it."

"See previous response"

"a couple of times the display screen went blank during operation. car functions weren't affected, but radio was unresponsive. when it went totally blank i took it in for service and had the radio system replaced. a subsequent recall didn't apply to my situation."

"There are random instances when the display does not initiate or stops working. Restarting the car fixes the problem."

"The speedometer reading shows on a popup screen in front of the driver. Intermittently this screen would come up and the only other speedometer display was at the bottom of guage display and sometimes blocked by the steering wheel. I repeatedly notified the service dealer who said they could not repair something they could not duplicate, which left me very frustrated. A call to Mazda help line was of no help. Finally the screen failed when I had time to take it to the dealer to see, which led to it eventual repair. I consider that even though it was an intermittent problem, after numerous complaints at two different dealerships, it should have been taken care some time ago."

"System fails to properly play albums from a USB stick. It plays one song and then stops instead of continuing the album. I have tried multiple USB drives and the problem continues. This started happening recently for no apparent reason, with no system updates or any other culprit"

"the playlist and the songs being played back is different"

"The car is supposed to be able to show me my text messages. I have never been able to set that up on my iPhone, (my current iphones 6s or the 5 I had before) the people I've asked at the dealership don't know (nor did the sales person)."

"See my discussion of the Stuck Display Screen problem, its cause, and its solution. The same cause (and solution) for that problem applies to this problem. Truly just a faulty touchscreen causing all the problems."

"It doesn't recognize my brand-new Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and the iPod interface is just downright terrible. When plugging your iPod in it freezes up and starts playing, alphabetically, all your songs. You have no control on the progress screen becau"

"Difficulty in getting a WI FI signal. Users manual no help and dealer unfamiliar with Wi Fi feature"

"Bluetooth and auxiliary connections to iPhone are unreliable and don't always play songs correctly"

"The songs on my iphone replay no matter what I do. The only way around it is to not choose a song by an artist, but instead the song itself"

"Screen malfuncion, Mazda recalled and replaced."

"Display/touch screen failed - replaced eventually via warranty repair when Mazda owned up to the problem/defect."

"repaired under warranty from manufacturer"

"Problems with the Infotainment system from purchase through year 3. The dealer finally changed the system, resolving the problem. This past year the commander control broke, preventing downloading of software fixes."

"It sometimes goes nuts"

"Nav system locks up time to time need to turn off ignition to reboot ."

"The antenna for the GPS quit working. Unfortunately, you have to take the dash apart to replace a relatively inexpensive item."

"Touch screen goes haywire when I come to a stop. Acts as if I am punching in random commands."

"I was on a holiday trip in the US when suddenly my navigation system, gps, radio, bluetooth all went haywire. The radio changed stations without reason, the gps changed screen displays, asked for new input all without reason. The bluetooth when activated would call the last number without reason. Nothing made sense."

"The electronic system has a fundamental flaw and normally can't be used. Mazda knows this about this model but has never chosen to fix it."

"it had to be reprogramed several times"

"system stopped loading. Old program had to be updated. Afterwards it works fine. By the way I live in Thailand not US"

"Although better than the GPS on the Mazda 6, The indash GPS on the Mazda 3 s more difficult to use than add-on units, such as TomTom and Garmin. It also has a dangerour "feature" that requires the car to stop on a freeway in order to find the neares"

"Can't get to navigation system - turn dial and press enter but doesn't go to nav system. Sometimes turning the car off and on does it. Sometimes after you've drive a bit it unfreezes"

"Fails when the whole system freezes. Difficult to input navigation across a state line"

"UnUSble while driving - even for the passenger. Mazda US locked all functionality while the vehicle is in motion. I have to bring a dash mounted Garmin on trips"

"would not work!!! Dealer had to remove and reboot the GPS"

"1. The original GPS map is accurate and is drawn correctly. However, the annual map updates introduce errors with the GPS map visuals and colors in some cities. 2. The clock does not keep time accurately when it is set to sync the time via GPS. Thi"

"About 5% of the time, GPS does not start upo Message "GPS not installed". Need to restart car and then GPS loads. Also, poor guidance, off then immediately back on freeway in middle of trip"

"Had to be up dated & reprogramed 3 times"

"The entire system is flaky. It can be very slow to boot up.The GPS sometimes drops out entirely in mid-trip, replaced by a compass and a note telling me I don't have a GPS system installed and that I see should see my dealer about buying one"

"Most of the Navigation issues I have experieneced in the past year were remedied by a software update, but it has still failed to load once in the last 6 months (since the update was applied) - Overall, the navigation issues appear to be mostly resol"

"in 1 case, display screen told me I did not have a navigation system. restart resolved problem"

"GPS satellite failed at about 35K miles. The part is not overly expensive but it appears the dash needs to be taken apart to replace. It's easier to use my smart phone for navigation (which does a better job anyway) than to bother replacing it."

"Ghost input from touch screen"

"The gps did not recognize our voice or gave us widely inaccurate choices, sometimes in other cities."

"sometimes the system states that I have no navigation installed, even though I do."

"It will not follow my voice commands. It seems confused about giving me navigation directions. It sends me via the longest, most time consuming route. I do not have these problems with the navigation system in my 2012 Toyota Prius."

"Presence of navigation system is not recognized; nav system takes too long to load or freezes on load."

"The gps stopped working and the dealer had to replace the computer that controls that function. Work was done under extended warranty."

"Unpredictable loss of contact. Seems to have been remedied in later upgrades"

"SOMETIMES THE PHONE CONNECTS SOMETIMES IT DOESN'T"

"Constantly dropped the Bluetooth connection!"

"My DORO cell phone wouldn't pair. Not tested by Mazda for compatibility"

"The system has stopped working several times and required reset/upgrade done by the dealer"

"Had to be up dated & reprogramed 3 times"

"The phone (Apple) does not pair properly so that I can use the bluetooth capability. Apparently Mazda is aware of this but there is not much that they can do"

"Phone does not always connect automatically and no indication until you realize yourself. Pairing requires repairing which is unsafe and inconvenient. Sometimes pairing freezes in connect mode disabling access to all features. Does not reset when"

"Sometimes it works then it will forget my phone and will not pair"

"Car won't recognize previously paired phone consistently"

"Every so often, audio would cut out from the left side speakers for a few seconds. Dealer replaced the tuner module under warranty and updated the Mazda Connect firmware. Haven't had it back long enough to know for sure if that fixed the issue or not"

"on very hot florida summer days, would lose radio ability to select favorite satellite stations. Returns to normal during cooler weathe.r"

"The radio is completely non-functional and has been since we got the car. The electronics system is corrupt. Mazda knows this but is not willing to fix it."

"Does not get good reception. Stations "disappear" or are very staticky. Never had a problem with my old car"

"Radio set to mute & intermittently will unmute on it's own"

"fm radio signal has been a problem dealer 1st claim was there is no such thing but after I checked on line as this is a common problem with mazda 3 model according to many online reports this is a firmwire update issue.dealer has been advised waiti"

"It was eventually determined the entire radio needed replacing . The original was defective. The stations saved or on favorites would not be available"

"Radio often changes stations on its own and won't allow tuning or resetting so it becomes unusable"

"Because of a problem with the screen on the infotainment unit the radio station would change all on its own"

"Loses XM connection sporadically - for no good reason - then resets to Channel 1"

"The car,independently, dials my phone when paired. This could be a number from my contacts, or just randomly dials numbers..ie 8887776554339. The dealership is stumped and has done several software updates but the problem continues"

"Screen would freeze. Updates solved the problem"

"Navigation system locked up. We solved it by disconnecting the battery and rebooting the system."

"Right front speaker blown"

"Intermittent failing of rear speakers"

"One speaker produced hissing noises. Fixed under warranty"

"One of the Bose speakers blew out at lower to medium volume use"

"1 speaker stopped working. Replaced under warranty"

"Right Front door speaker failed. I was able to repair it easily myself"

"After starting the car, it takes over 30 seconds to get a response from the steering wheel controls"

"Voice control is overly complex compared with other systems I've seen, especially for navigation"

"Inconsistent; often inaccurate, producing results not close to the spoken request's content"

"When driving you can only use voice to input an address for the GPS. It constantly picked a city with the same name in another county on the other side of the state even though it knows full well that I'm in Rochester in Monroe County. For the life"

"Voice command response is very poor. Usually it does respond to the command correctly"

"Steering wheel button to activate voice control intermittently does not respond"

"Only finds right phone contact 50% of time. Have given up and don't use anymore"

"When I push the voice command button to make a call on the bluetooth it does not always work. This is supposedly tied to the type of phone that I have (Apple)"

"Dashboard makes ticking clicks when warming up or cooling off. Front strut mount bumper makes thumping noise during certain road conditions (speed bumps, sharp turns), despite being replaced by dealer. Isolation mount bumper is cracked again"

"Significant creaks in the cabin around the windshield area"

"The auto locking mechanism that engages when you get to a certain speed. They replaced 3 of the 4 Mazda has issued a service advisory about this problem"

"Intermittent chatter in driver side front window. Stops when window rolled down"

"Car squeaks when hitting bumps or when body is torqued by leaving driveway"

"There is an annoying dash rattle on the passenger side of the car. If you Google it, you'll find it"

"the suspension has groans and something else seeks since it was a year old. Dealership claimed they couldn't hear it, next time they stated there is a flaw in the design of the back bumper they can't make the squeak go away. The suspension kept groaning. I took it back, they advised there was a TSA they needed to replace a lower control arm (not sure if it was right or left), it was so severe they gave me a rental car for three days until the part came in. the car still groans but not as much, less in the winter (when the snow tires are on the car)."

"Multiple dash area buzzes, crackling"

"BRAKE PEDAL SQUEAKS ON RELEASE"

"Strange, unidentifiable suspension "clunk". Has been taken to dealer service many times -- still occurring"

"Rattle in engine compartment - fixed via TSB under warranty"

"CONSTANT RATTLE IN FRONT OF CAR SERVICE PEOPLE CANT FIND IT VERY ANNOYING STARTED WITHIN MONTHS OF LEASE"

"Significant metal rattle in driver side middle post where seat belt attaches"

"There is a rattle in the dash or hood section. Dealer fixed is with multiple Mazda TSBs but the problem still persists"

"Known problem without recall, a hose under the hood on the passenger side required repair by the dealer"

"Creaking from the dash and windshield areas while driving"

"The Mazda has a popping noise in the front when turning the wheel to the right all the way to the bumpstop and then begin to turn back to the left. Pop noise is NOT THE NOISE FROM HITTING THE BUMPSTOP, as Kings Mazda said after 2 visits. Kerry Mazda in Florence, KY made the noise worse by improperly installing parts, and leaving bolts loose. The 3rd dealer, Jake Sweeney Mazda, in Springdale, Ohio has repaired the work done by Kerry Mazda, and greatly reduced, but not eliminated the popping noise. With 52,000 miles I have all but given up on getting the noise fixed. I have decided to live with it."

"Their is a lot of noise, especially when driving on the highway at higher speeds. I never had this much wind noise in any other car I've owned, including a Mazda Prot¿"

"Really, it's road noise. not adequately insulated from road noise"

"rumble either from wind or tires"

"The Mazda3 is somewhat noisy. Our model has an AFTER MARKET (not OEM) sunroof sold by dealer. It creates a lot of noise and should probably be avoided by other buyers. We would have purchased an OEM sunroof, but one is not available at this trim"

"highway speed,"

"This model has been an excellent car, but design caused all Mazda 3s to have some motor noise and road noise"

"Need better road noise reduction"

"intermittently while driving the power steering pump (which is electric) cuts out along with traction control. it often resets on restart and then doesn't appear for months at a time. Mazda dealer could not diagnose it"

"During routine maintenance, both rear shock-absorbers found to be leaking. Both replaced"

"Popping noise when turning and over bumps"

"There was a loud clunking noise from the rear when I drover over expansion joints in the road immediately when I drove the car off the lot after purchase. The dealer finally found the noise and replaced the left rear strut under warranty."

"Broken rear coli spring. This is a lightly driven vehicle and part should not have failed as soon as it did"

"Right rear coil spring broke, which didn't cause any obvious driving problems, so I think it was just the end of the spring that wasn't critical. We were told it could be safely driven while we were waiting for the part to be delivered. The broken piece sitting inside the coil was making a rattling sound on every bump we hit, which is what brought to our attention."

"broken leaf spring, not resolved"

"I have had a clunk/pop noise from the front when cranking the steering wheel all the way to the bump stop and then begin to turn back. This noise has been there since new. I have had the car to 3 different dealers totaling 8 attempts to repair. Most of the front suspension parts that can be replaced have been. The level of incompetence at our Mazda dealers and their inability and unwillingness to help in this matter is very frustrating. They would tighten, adjust and throw parts at the problem, but never took the time to investigate and get to the source of the problem. In the end, it is not the lack of interior storage, or road noise (that drowns out phone conversations) that will keep me out of a Mazda showroom, but the frustrations with the steering issue. Mazda is trying to move up market, but the awful service department will be their Achilles heal."

"This car went in for regular maintenance. When we went to pick it up, they said there was a problem with steering wheel and kept it for a few days. Not sure if it was steering wheel vibration or not"

"Rattles over bumps"

"Both front wheel bearings needed to be replaced this winter. It took 4 trips to the dealer to have them properly diagnose and repair"

"had 2 wheel bearings go almost at the same time @ about 142000 km & it sounds like another may be going now (2000 later). Been driving for over 50 years and only had one previous wheel bearing failure."

"The car had a vibration from the time I first purchased it. It was hard to describe but the dealer too it seriously and kept the car several weeks try to determine the problem. Eventually, they figured out the the front wheel bearings on both sides w"

"Bearings went in one tire, dealer was unable to determine the bearings were going, even through they were indicated as possibly being noisy through 3 standard checkups"

"Road noise was growing louder with every drive. Replaced OEM Dunlop tires with 4/32 of tread remaining. New tires are Continental Extreme DWS. The noise was reduced, but still loud. Took to Jake Sweeney Mazda in Springdale, OH and found that the left wheel bearing was failing. Replaced under Powertrain warranty. Noise is greatly reduced. The Mazda is quieter now."