2018 CX-5 Anyone worried about the Unintended Acceleration/Service Brakes problem?

:
2019 Mazda CX-5 AWD Grand Touring
I just bought a used 2018 CX-5 AWD Grand Touring about 3 weeks ago at Carmax. It has near 18K on it.

I was just reading user complaints and problems related to unintended acceleration / service brakes issues. I.e., the car will accelerate when slowing down or stopping even though the brakes are pressed, and people end up crashing their cars. There's some alarming reports I was reading that was turned into the NHTSA, more than the fair share I'd like to read when I just bought this car.

Now I'm worried about the car I just bought. Some of the issues might be related to the Smart City Braking feature I was reading. Do you think one could prevent this issue if you turned off SCBS&SBS ?

Here's the issue I'm refering to, there's 15 complaints of this issue, that's too many IMO and it scares me -

https://www.carcomplaints.com/Mazda/CX-5/2018/brakes/service_brakes.shtml

Here's the actual NHTSA.gov's website where you can read the user complaints on this vehichle that have been officially reported, you'll find those same reports there, so it's real.

https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2018/MAZDA/CX-5/SUV/AWD#complaints

If you google unintended acceleration / service brakes you'll find these complaints.

Is there anyone else kinda worried like me? Or should I just not worry about it? And what do you think about turning off SCBS/SBS to try and avoid the issue?

I hope I didn't make a bad decision buying this car, i'm scared

-Brent
 
If you*re scared, sell it.

The only time I trigger my brake warning is when I*m getting close to another car and the system works like it should. I*ve sat with drivers that are right up the back of the car in front and the system won*t tolerate that. The answer is drop back.

As for unintended acceleration, I doubt it can happen as the brake overrides the accelerator so if I were Mazda, I*d download the data recorder and see what was happening with that. My doubting mind says these people are pulling into a parking place having still got the cruise set and of course if you follow vehicles it will just *resume* if those vehicles move out of the way. It*s surprising how many people will just cling to a steering wheel rather than brake, knock it into neutral or use the emergency parking brake if there really is a problem.
 
I just bought a used 2018 CX-5 AWD Grand Touring about 3 weeks ago at Carmax. It has near 18K on it.

I was just reading user complaints and problems related to unintended acceleration / service brakes issues. I.e., the car will accelerate when slowing down or stopping even though the brakes are pressed, and people end up crashing their cars. There's some alarming reports I was reading that was turned into the NHTSA, more than the fair share I'd like to read when I just bought this car.

Now I'm worried about the car I just bought. Some of the issues might be related to the Smart City Braking feature I was reading. Do you think one could prevent this issue if you turned off SCBS&SBS ?

Here's the issue I'm refering to, there's 15 complaints of this issue, that's too many IMO and it scares me -

https://www.carcomplaints.com/Mazda/CX-5/2018/brakes/service_brakes.shtml

Here's the actual NHTSA.gov's website where you can read the user complaints on this vehichle that have been officially reported, you'll find those same reports there, so it's real.

https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2018/MAZDA/CX-5/SUV/AWD#complaints

If you google unintended acceleration / service brakes you'll find these complaints.

Is there anyone else kinda worried like me? Or should I just not worry about it? And what do you think about turning off SCBS/SBS to try and avoid the issue?

I hope I didn't make a bad decision buying this car, i'm scared

-Brent
I agree with what Anchorman said above, I doubt it can happen as the brake overrides the accelerator. And brake also overpowers acceleration. IMO most unintended acceleration cases are caused by driver error. One should be able to stop the vehicle with brake when unintended acceleration happens. Or at least the driver can simply shift the gear to neutral to avoid the bad result of unintended acceleration.

To me, you did make a bad decision buying this 2018 CX-5 GT AWD though. But its not because the unintended acceleration, but its cylinder deactivation.
 
I agree with what Anchorman said above.

To me, you did make a bad decision buying this 2018 CX-5 GT AWD though. But it's not because the unintended acceleration, but it's cylinder deactivation.

I also agree with Anchorman. Disagree about the bad decision though. Cylinder deactivation issue is being taken care of via a recall, so just ensure your car has had the recall done and enjoy it. As far as I can tell, there is no evidence to suggest that the recall doesn't work, so until such evidence presents itself, I'd be satisfied with the resolution.
 
Last edited:
I also agree with Anchorman. Disagree about the bad decision though. Cylinder deactivation issue is being taken care of via a recall, so just ensure your car has had the recall done and enjoy it. As far as I can tell, there is no evidence to suggest that the recall doesn't work, so until such evidence presents itself, I'd be satisfied with the resolution.
Software fix for a hardware problem can hardly work most of time. An perfect example is EPB dragging issue on 2016/2016.5 CX-5. There're several TSBs for this EPB dragging issue because Mazda didn't figure out what was the root cause in the beginning. Mazda started to replace EPB control module with software fix (just like cylinder deactivation issue with software fix), then eventually have to revise the rear calipers.

TSB 04-005/16: Noise from Rear Brakes Due To Brake Drag

TSB R052/16C: Noise from REAR BRAKE/Trace of Rear Brake Dragging

If there's nothing can physically prevent the rocker arm falling with oil pressure changes, it'll fall when the criteria meet. Software can't cover every criterion on oil pressure changes as there're too many variable to affect it, temperature, viscosity, and so on.

And I haven't discuss the historical long-term problems from cylinder deactivation, such as spark plug fouling, oil burning, engine mount failing, and more, all because of the thermal and mechanical imbalance between active and inactive cylinders.
 
Quick question since we are talking about the cylinder deactivation, does the 2019 model's regular engine have it?
 
I should add, I have already taken care of the cylinder deactivation stall recall issue, I took it in last week to get that updated.

However, I do have the low-speed jerky issue sometimes (not all the time) that is discussed in this thread - https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123865992-2018-mazda-CX5-low-speed-jerky and this thread - https://www.reddit.com/r/CX5/comments/9gm7sk/2018_cx5_lurching_in_low_speeds/
Before 2018 MY CX-5 there were very few complaints for this low-speed jerky issue from transmission. This complaint stated with 2018 CX-5 which coincidentally started to feature a modified transmission to fight the vibration caused by cylinder deactivation.
 
Do you think since I got the recall taken care of this might mitigate the unintended acceleration/service brakes issue?

It seems all the complaints about that specific issue were before the recall came out.
 
52, I*m disappointed that you insist on pushing this CD issue. The rocker arms are held in by oil pressure by design and they can successfully govern oil pressure with a software flash. Instead of making all these owners feel bad or worry about owning these things, why not wait until a modified vehicle fails then you can gloat to your heart*s content ;-)
 
Brent, most "unintended acceleration" should be classified as "driver error" for the reasons Anchorman explained. Don't worry about it.
 
52, I*m disappointed that you insist on pushing this CD issue. The rocker arms are held in by oil pressure by design and they can successfully govern oil pressure with a software flash. Instead of making all these owners feel bad or worry about owning these things, why not wait until a modified vehicle fails then you can gloat to your heart*s content ;-)

Agreed. The CD issue stems from the "wrong software" being installed from the factory. The recall installs the correct software, i.e. the software that was designed to be used with the CD engine in the first place. Thus if the rocker has not fallen off, it stands to reason that it will not fall off after the correct software is installed.

With that said, a software reflash will not reposition a rocker that has already fallen out of place. If this results in further problems, I'm sure that Mazda will deal with it accordingly.
 
The first mistake was paying almost new retail price for a used car from Carmax. If it was under a week, I'd tell you to return it and get a 2019 instead. With the 2019 some fixes have been incorporated into production and you're getting a full warranty, not to mention supporting the company.

You shouldn't be surprised that you found car complaints on carcomplaints.com.

Check out Honda while you are there and the issues/failures on 1-2 year old turbo cars.

Also, would not recommend turning off the laser or radar AEB.
 
Brent. Just drive it and enjoy it. There's no point in worrying what might or might not happen on something you have no control over. At least it won't burst into flames when driving unlike certain Vauxhall (GM) Zafiras in the UK. Think how many CX5's have been sold. Some people in the UK aren't used to driving automatics and blame the car when they reverse instead of going forwards or crash through shop windows when parking and blame the car. The demographic involved do seem to be people in their 70's and 80's or older. I've driven automatics for 6 years now and NEVER had a problem in working out which pedal to push. The day I do, I will give up driving for my own sake and my loved ones.
 
52, I*m disappointed that you insist on pushing this CD issue. The rocker arms are held in by oil pressure by design and they can successfully govern oil pressure with a software flash. Instead of making all these owners feel bad or worry about owning these things, why not wait until a modified vehicle fails then you can gloat to your heart*s content ;-)

Totally agree. Hes basically spamming the boards by bringing this up in every single thread. Tired of it.
 
Btw a lot of you in this thread could be more welcoming. Theres no reason for the just sell it or CARMAX critiques. The OP had a legit question, so why are you treating him like crap?
 
I agree. Perhaps sm1ke's suggestion to "just ensure your car has had the recall done and enjoy it" is the most sensible advice of all.
 
Back