In-car Electronics
CD or DVD players, radio, speakers, GPS, communication system (e.g., OnStar), display screen freezes or goes blank, phone pairing (e.g. Bluetooth), voice control commands, steering wheel controls, portable music device interface (e.g., iPod/MP3 player), backup or other camera/sensors.
What Owners Say
"auto dimming and bright feature does not work well. dims sometimes when it should not and vicve versa. Also shows error message saying camera is blocked???? Replaced cameraz and Mazda said that's how it's supposed to work. Crappy!"
Anonymous, MO (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring)"It is not set to random but it randomly jumps from track to track when I turn off the car. It was replaced, but the new one does the same. The best I can do to keep it on track is, before I turn off the car, move the dial to pause and hit it, then put the volume on pause. Usually this will keep it on track. I use the CD to listen to books on CD. It is very frustrating to find the CD not where is was when I turned off the car. I do not always remember to do the above routine to make it resume whe"
Beverly R., FL (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Difficult to see"
Al T., MB (2016 Mazda CX-5 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"The infotainment center went out completely. The system would continue to re-boot and there was nothing we cold do about it. That in itself was very distracting.....not what you need while driving. This meant no radio, no hands free phone, no access to digital vehicle information. If we had had GPS that would have been out also. Dealer revealed it was a known problem with this vehicle. We were just past the 36 month warranty, dealer applied for waiver on repairs which would have been $1500. I do not understand how a communication module (which the dealer showed us) could possibly cost $1500. We researched other alternates to getting a radio (CarToys) but with today's in-dash infotainment centers there are no inexpensive alternatives. So we went with Mazda. Fortunately, Mazda agreed with our waiver and repaired the unit without cost to us! I consider this excellent customer experience and certainly generates customer loyalty. As a result I will consider Mazda in the future. Other than this the car has been completely reliable."
Anonymous, TX (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"The Infotainment system will just crash and freeze a few minutes into the drive without reproducible steps, though, usually on cold starts. There is a disconnect between our version of the software and with what the dealer is reporting. We have not upgraded to the new infotainment with Apple carplay due to the cost ($500). most of our trips are pretty short so it's not a huge deal when it happens, we'll just turn the car off and on again at a light and it comes back."
Anonymous, CA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"was fixed under warantee"
Anonymous, IL (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"The touch screen frequently quits working."
Anonymous, CO (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"This seems to happen when it is really cold/than it starts working after the vehicle has warmed up"
Anonymous, PA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"The display and software for navigation, radio and phone kept re-booting several times for first 10 minutes. Mazda repaired once and the problem re-occurred. Mazda was going to order some part to repair. The problem stopped occurring. Mazda never contacted us for follow up despite follow up email I sent."
Anonymous, ON (2016 Mazda CX-5 Sport 2.0-L 4 Cyl)"The navigation/entertainment system went into permanent reboot mode last week. It took the ability to recharge my phone along with it. It is being replaced under warranty."
Anonymous, TX (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"The display screen would freeze up and restart when temperature under 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Apparently there was a computer chip that needed to be replaced. The dealership replaced it at no cost (car still under warranty)."
Jonathan H., (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Unit constantly rebooted itself causing me to lose radio, navigation ,phone connection and information system access."
Anonymous, PA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"The screen has frozen about 5 times in the last year. It takes shutting the car off overnight to resolve it. It also involves an incredibly and needlessly complex time and time zone adjustment mechanism when simple forward and backward controls would do. The selection of radio stations is also needlessly complex and has frozen a couple times."
Anonymous, IL (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"When it's cold the display goes through the start up sequence over and over until the interior of the car warms up."
Larry P., WV (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"The built in infotainment system is decent but continues to suffer from several issues. The system locks up and reboots with no warning, takes up to 30 seconds to boot at times, changes volume levels on its own, and overall is frustrating to use. When something happens, nobody can fix it, even the passenger, as most controls are locked out while the vehicle is in motion."
Anonymous, WA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Screen freezes up and when rebooted loses all settings"
Dennis M., MI (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"The display screen will freeze and not work sometimes. Especially when it re-pairs with the bluetooth after every time the car is turned on"
Jack K., CA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Sport 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"When the car first starts, screen is blank. It sometimes comes on after a while or it will come on if I restart the car. Has only happened a few times."
Anonymous, CA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring Unsure)"Problem started suddenly. Electronics stopped working. Fortunately car had 36,000 miles on it so Mazda warranty covered the cost."
Anonymous, CA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Sport Unsure)"Entire nav system shuts down every 10 minutes. Been to dealer 5 times. No solution found"
Anonymous, MA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Entertainment system continuously reboots"
Bob P., TN (2016 Mazda CX-5)"Traffic congestion map sometimes will not come up."
Wade G., CA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"This has happened 5 times, the screen will go blank twice when I have started the vehicle and 3 times when I have been driving the vehicle. When I was driving, I had to pull over and turn the vehicle off a couple times for the screen to register."
Anonymous, OH (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"On very rare occasions, the in-dash display refused to turn on. I suspect this is related to the GPS hanging issues I described previously, although it happens far less frequently than the GPS issue. When the screen refuses to turn on, the only way to get it working again is to turn off the car completely, wait several minutes, then turn on the engine again. Obviously, if you didn't notice the blank screen and you already started driving, this is fairly annoying because you can't listen to music or make bluetooth calls from your car or use any other features, until you find a place to stop and restart the car."
Ivan T., CA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Sport 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"an intermittent problem; not worth the hazel to fix, nor recommend"
Tim B., NS (2016 Mazda CX-5 Sport 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"All three problems were related to the infotainment unit. I had to go to the dealer and they repaired it, and all three worked again."
Michael R., OR (2016 Mazda CX-5 Sport 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"It seems that at random times, the Display screen resets when listening to an iPod"
Anonymous, RI (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.0-L 4 Cyl)"Complete info system goes off, re-boots, restarts randomly."
Anonymous, CO (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"It has only happened a few times. We took it in to the dealer after it happened twice. It has happened a couple of times since, but then works the next time the car is started."
Mark S., VA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"while driving the screen turns off and then reboots. it starts back at the place it left off music/gps. no problems with the car not being able to drive while this is happening"
Tracy D., PA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.0-L 4 Cyl)"Sometimes for odd reasons the screen just goes blank for intervals. It is rare, but annoying"
Jack K., CA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Sport 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Display will go blank at random times"
Mark M., TN (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Periodically the display screen would not work. It was resolved with an update to the system"
Anonymous, WA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Sport)"When I connect my phone by Bluetooth (every 4-5th time I connect my phone), it will recognize the device then after 30 seconds disconnect it. It's problematic when I'm trying to talk on the phone and it keeps disconnecting."
Anonymous, OH (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"System occasionally will not see USB sticks, stops playing, Cell Ph interface via Voice commands could really use some common sense , porly set up software"
Tim B., NS (2016 Mazda CX-5 Sport 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"USB connection is intermittent"
Anonymous, RI (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Same root cause for all three issues; there's a short in the wiring in the dashboard somewhere, possibly associated with moisture, most often affects the GPS and dashboard display on very cold days, until the car heats up fully."
Anonymous, (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"This is an intermittent problem. The navigation screen does not load so is inoperable until it loads properly. I have tried pressing a combination of buttons to "reboot" the system. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't."
Anonymous, BC (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"GPS would reboot-covered under a "recall""
Anonymous, NY (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring Unsure)"I have difficulty getting the directions spoken"
Anonymous, NJ (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring Unsure)"The dealer refused to fix the system and said to do it myself, which is not possible without a different computer. The charging unit formthe phones does not work. The dealer is not reputable"
Anonymous, TX (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring Unsure)"when driving, the GPS system does not allow driver to move the map to another location, e.g., where i'm going. Previous Mazda system did offer this access. Disappointed at this change."
Anonymous, (2016 Mazda CX-5 Sport 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"the navigation system is basically useless. It can't be used as a map because you can't zoom, and you have to be stopped for minutes to enter an address. Stopped using it years ago. My Acura was 12 years older and had a better navigation system"
Anonymous, MA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.0-L 4 Cyl)"Broken chip in consul needed for Nav to function"
Anonymous, OR (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Not user friendly each time results vary have to be too exact to get results occasionally"
Anonymous, QC (2016 Mazda CX-5)"The system occasionally freezes and becomes inoperable. It usually re-boots on its own after several minutes."
Jeremy J., BC (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Very poor operating system (GPS). The “update” they provided was very poor. (Eg.) There is a residential development that is 7 years old in Orlando and a 4 lane bridge that is 4 years old next to me that are still not showing in the updates. Also, it is very hard to use."
T M., FL (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"For me it is very difficult to work with. There are times when entering it provides the correct info. but frequently displays wrong locations. Very difficult to operate. I have a portable Garmin which is much better than the in car unit"
Anonymous, NJ (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Occasionally failed to accurately show correct location. Unit replaced under warranty."
Anonymous, ON (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Navigation system extremely unreliable. It often doesn't know just where I am or takes me far out of the way or not to the destination at all. Sometimes won't allow a particular destination to be entered. Purchased new chip. Installed by dealer. No improvement. I would not have bought the car if I had known this. When I recently complained to a service writer at the dealer, he said, yes, we know. Very irritating."
Carol S., TX (2016 Mazda CX-5 Sport 2.0-L 4 Cyl)"The GPS often hangs when you stop at a gas station, and the only way to get it working again is to do a full factory reset of the in-dash electronics display. Unfortunately, you can only do this reset while the car is stationary. If you are already pulled away from the gas station and are driving on the highway there is no way to do anything about it until you find a place to stop and fiddle with it. Also, every time you have to do this factory reset you lose all your settings and favorites (like favorite radio stations, or favorite GPS locations that you have set up)."
Ivan T., CA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Sport 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"System screen froze. Attempted to restart software but required bringing to the dealership. Technician at Mazda indicated this was happening to a lot of models with the system."
Kestutis P., OH (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.0-L 4 Cyl)"In dash navigation system is very user unfriendly and difficult to program. It is very difficult to change a location once you have programmed it."
M N., DE (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"The GPS screen on occasion and randomly does not come up. Typically , I have to pull over, turn off the car, wait 10 seconds and then restart (essentially rebooting the GPS). Ocassionally this does not work and car has to sit overnight in my garage and will then re-start the next day. This could be a real pain if on a complex trip with many turns. I typically always carry paper maps and if really concerned will print out Google Map directions as back up."
Michael P., NJ (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"System does not take all legitimate house number. Also the system, does not remember commonly used route and have to be reset e dry time, and the results are often different on long trips."
Thomas E., NY (2016 Mazda CX-5)"Automatically clears and resets itself. Tried clearing snd going back to factory settings twice to no avail."
Anonymous, NY (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Navigation system would not start up"
Jeff S., MI (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"GPS worked poorly. Wasn't accurate and frequently lost track of where we were. Took 9 trips to the dealer before they finally replaced the whole unit like I asked them to after the 5th visit."
Anonymous, OH (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"A new release was defective so I reinstalled the backup release to correct the problem. The subsequent February 2016 release installed fine."
Anonymous, LA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Navigation system stopped working. Was told I had to have an update from dealer. It was not something that I could do on my own. I discovered that to get the update you have to take the car to a dealer to have it done. Sounds like a money making racket to me. I was behind by four updates which to me means a visit to the dealer every 6 months!!!!!"
Anonymous, FL (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"My cell Phone not compatible with a software update requiring a replacement of my cell phone"
Anonymous, MN (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Feel the system ix not at all intuitive. Liked the nav system in the 2014 model much better"
Anonymous, SC (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"System not properly integrated with Sirius"
Anonymous, PA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Nav system would lose track of where I was"
Anonymous, OH (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"gps froze and did not respond"
Joel F., PA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Navigation system chip faulty"
Anonymous, NJ (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"IT WAS GIVING UNRELIABLE DIRECTIONS. IE, IT HAD US MAKING U TURNS ON FREEWAYS AND OTHER POOR INSTRUCTIONS. MAZDA REPLACED THE WHOLE UNIT AND IT IS WORKING PROPERLY NOW"
Anonymous, CA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"The nav system abruptly stopped working. There was a display, but it did not connect or provide directions"
Janet C., MO (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Rebooted periodically"
Anonymous, FL (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.0-L 4 Cyl)"Gps determines routes that are not accurate and miss directed"
Anonymous, MA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Without warning, the GPS menu disappears and is not usable. Dealer said to update software online. I did and issue has not reoccurred"
Anonymous, FL (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring)"Features are locked out while the vehicle is in motion. This only applies to vehicles sold in the US; in every other country in which Mazda sells, these features are operational. GPS is therefore useless"
Mark B., VA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"it works most of the time and occasionally, just doesn't work at all. you get a blank screen."
Anonymous, MA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.0-L 4 Cyl)"Dealer was able to resolve."
Anonymous, QC (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Bluetooth reception is frequently failing to pair with my phone."
Julie M., NY (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Car would randomly drop calls or disconnect. Also unable to end calls without hanging up on the actual phone or waiting for other person to hang up. Dealer unable to fix this problem."
Philip N., CT (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"We each Have a Samsung android tracfone. Mine phone connect every time with no problem. When my wife has to repair her phone every time she wants to make call in the car. Very annoying."
Thomas E., NY (2016 Mazda CX-5)"My old cell phone was not on a list of cell phones their software supported after an update"
Anonymous, MN (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Loses Bluetooth connection frequently. Often cannot take an incoming call. Have discussed with dealership but can,t seem to correct the problem"
Anonymous, SC (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"I experienced issues with bluetooth pairing but more specifically with the ability for the infotainment system to play bluetooth audio (Primarily Pandora). I took the vehicle in for a firmware update because the service adviser stated that they've seen similar behavior in other vehicles and the firmware update seemed to fix things. Since the update I've experienced situations where I get into the vehicle and the screen stays black until my phone is done importing contacts. Every time my p"
Mark B., CO (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"When starting to drive, my phone will sometimes automatically dials my number. Not sure if this is the phone or the car"
Anonymous, MA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"The radio that came with the car just quit working after a year. I bought an after market radio to replace it"
Anonymous, (2016 Mazda CX-5 Unsure Unsure)"Radio would not come on."
Anonymous, CO (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Loses radio station memory"
Dennis M., MI (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Infotainment screen goes blank, lose all functionality. Will spontaneously reboot and resume in 5 to 30 minutes"
Mark M., TN (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"The radio controls froze up so that the stations could not be changed, and the radio could not be turned off. Nothing worked to fix this, until I turned the car off overnight and turned it on the next morning (to go to the dealer for repairs). The problem disappeared and has never returned"
Anonymous, IL (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Already explained. (GPS update)"
T M., FL (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"It's been a problem for the past year, for certain podcasts and music types there is a tinny sound coming from the front driver side speaker. We've isolated this by adjusting the balance and listening for that sound. While the dealer was able to reproduce the sound they said there is nothing wrong with the speaker so there is nothing they can do. Now we have the balance set to just the passenger side which is very annoying."
Anonymous, CA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"The front passenger door speaker began to rattle. It's the bose system. The dealer replaced the speaker. I've read that water gets into the door and drips on the speaker. This degrades the glue in the speaker assembly. And the speaker rattles. I've read that this is ot isolated to the cx-5 and that other models have this issue."
Anonymous, NJ (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"3 driver side speaker was beginning to fail (buzzing distortion) requiring replacement of both driver and passenger side speakers."
Julie M., NY (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Background: I had leased a 2015 Mazda CX 5 and was very happy with it. In November 2016 the dealership sent out a promotional letter saying that they wanted to “trade keys and put me into a new car.” I happen to go to the dealership the day after Thanksgiving. And they did make me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I gave them the keys, and the car and drove out with a 2016 model that was virtually identical to my 2015, with no out-of-pocket cash, and my lease payments actually went down. What could be wrong with that? Well, I soon found out. This car got poorer gas mileage compared to my 2015. While I drove the same way, the same exact distances, on the same roads, it dropped from the solid 25 MPG of the 2015, to slightly less than 23 miles a gallon for the 2016. And then I began to experience the other issues described. Whether this quality drop was due to the introduction of a remodeled CX 5 for 2017 or not I can only speculate. The speakers on the stereo system began randomly and intermittently cutting out on the left side. There is no discernible pattern to this. Sometimes it worked fine for weeks, then will start going out three or four times on the way to work. I took it to a Mazda dealer, their guy said it was because I had set the fader so more sound came out of the back speakers. This sounded ludicrous to me. He zeroed everything back out. Which is not the way I wanted it, and now it doesn’t cut out completely on the left side, it partially cuts out on both sides. By that I mean the sound quality drops, the high-end notes lose volume, and the sound is degraded generally. Of course, the sound system worked fine when the Mazda tech listened to it. And without actually hearing the problem, it is a real shot the dark for anyone to fix it, or not fix it, as in my case. The problem continues to this day."
Mike K., CA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"They are difficult to use and often do not work. I rely on Waze"
Anonymous, TX (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring Unsure)"Voice control commands have never worked on this car."
Anonymous, CO (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"It would not respond to voice commands"
Anonymous, CO (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)"Voice recognition has difficulty understanding voice commands"
Anonymous, TX (2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)
"Forward camera keeps reporting that it is blocked on clear days"
Anonymous, PA (2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring 2.5-L 4 Cyl)