First CX-5 Transmission Has Been Replaced

[ta240]

When I arrived at the dealership, the service adviser they assigned to me was was a nice lady, but she also mentioned that it should be covered under warranty unless they found chewed wires by a mouse or something. I find this odd that two service advisers mentioned the same reason that the warranty might not possibility be honored.

Even though it initially sounds like they are trying to set it up to not be covered it is probably that they have just run into that issue in the past and if the customer thinks that their problem is 100% guaranteed to be covered for free right from the start it probably creates some drama when they have to explain to them later that it isn't. Dealers get paid for warranty work so they like it too. (it is what kept the domestic dealers in business for all those years)

I know it's a new model and there are usually bugs that need to be ironed out,

Even with well established car models with great reliability histories there will still be the occasional defect in a component.

I think I rather have the car replaced than have to deal with transmission issues after the warranty expires, especially since the car is so new. Am I crazy?

I wouldn't think you'd get any car company to replace a 10 month old car under warranty for the transmission going. With the OP's 3 day old car I might have tried for that.

If you had turned off your engine for a little bit then turned it back on, it may have been fine. This seems to be an annoying, intermittent problem with the tranny.

Did the tow truck driver drive the car once he got there at all? Any indication the problem was still there at that point or did he just winch it up?

 

[taralsmith]

Thank you @Bombadil...I did turn it off...and back on again. As I was driving, the engine was revving but not fully accelerating. I drove to a safe place and called roadside for a tow. The lights all came back on as well. Thank you for the other references, I'm reading those as well regarding the transmission valve. I'll update as I get more information from Mazda.

 

[taralsmith]

The tow truck driver was a 3rd party towing company, he just winched it up.

 

[darekd]

The tow truck driver was a 3rd party towing company, he just winched it up.

I hope your car is not AWD. I've heard that AWD vehicles should only be towed on flatbed trucks.

 

[CX-SV]

I hope your car is not AWD. I've heard that AWD vehicles should only be towed on flatbed trucks.

Good practice with any car. I only use AAA road service and request a flatbed always, no matter what kind of car.

Yes, Mazda recommends w/AWD:

Always tow a AWD vehicle with all four
wheels off the ground:
Towing a AWD vehicle with either the
front or rear wheels on the ground is
dangerous as the drive train could be
damaged, or the vehicle could trail
away from the tow truck and cause
an accident. If the drive train has
been damaged, transport the vehicle
on a flat bed truck.

 

[taralsmith]

Turns out that it is the transmission valve. It is covered under warranty. The part is going to take a few days to arrive and then the repairs will be another few days. They exchanged the rental for a courtesy car of the same model so at least I'll get the same good gas mileage with the loaner. I will report back with updates.

 

[taralsmith]

It is not a AWD, but that is good to know. Thanks

 

[Bombadil]

Worrisome incident. Is this just a few transmission valves failing, or it is a design flaw or manufacturing defect? Is it something that many Mazda owners will have to worry about over the years to come?

Given that only a tiny percentage of Skyactiv transmission owners frequent this forum, it makes one wonder just how many times this problem has popped up.

 

[diplomatt]

Hi , i have almost 4000 miles on my '13 cx5 , and i start feel my tranny goes down, in normal accseleration tranny start sleep between 1 and second gear, same at2 to 3 , i set up appointmet with my dealer, and i let u know what happens in my case.
looks like cx5 have a tranny issue same like volvo xc 90 with turbo

 

[SayNoToPistons]

^ What?

 

[CX-SV]

^ yes, what (regarding post #29) ?

 

[Bladecutter]

looks like cx5 have a tranny issue same like volvo xc 90 with turbo

Exactly what transmission problem does an XC90 have, and why do you think that is similar to the issue you are having with the CX-5?

Also, when one person has multiple problems with completely different vehicles like you do, I have to wonder just a little bit if the problem is related to the way the vehicles are used.

BC.

 

[Zeal Red]

The internet is a wonderful world full of information when you search --> http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f18a651

The vehicle issues related in this post is actual, he is trying to make a comparison, albeit not a good one.

Exactly what transmission problem does an XC90 have, and why do you think that is similar to the issue you are having with the CX-5?

Also, when one person has multiple problems with completely different vehicles like you do, I have to wonder just a little bit if the problem is related to the way the vehicles are used.



BC.

 

[BearRed1]

My experience is so exactly like Fusion360’s, I just copied his story and replaced the different time frames, and numbers where necessary.

At 1595 miles (2 months of owning the car), my tranny started to slip. Anytime I shifted into Drive from Park, Reverse or Neutral, it took about 1.5 seconds for 1st gear to engage. I had a couple of violent starts because of that – the RPMs would rise to 3500 and then the tranny caught.

Immediately, I contacted my dealer and dropped off the car to have them inspect it. They provided me with a rental for the duration of the repair. After a day, they contacted me saying Mazda USA wanted to replace the transmission; it is apparently the second one to be replaced in the country.

It took 5 days to have the tranny shipped, replacing it will start on Monday and should take 2 days.
Then they’ll test drive it and it should be back in my hands in under 2 weeks.

The only part I would like to add was the complete lack of surprise on the part of the dealership. They showed no amazement that a brand new car with so little mileage would have the transmission fail in only 2 months time. That alone makes me think that Mazda knows more about this issue then they would admit. The service people didn’t even bother to ask me about the details of the failure, they just matter of factly said “we’ll take a look at it” I will not be surprised to hear of more Skyactiv transmission failures down the road.

 

[MikeM.]

They showed no amazement that a brand new car with so little mileage would have the transmission fail in only 2 months time.

That's because they're experienced professionals who have been in the business for a while. They know all models, even Mercedes, have occasional catastrophic failure. It's called a manufacturing defect. It would only surprise them if it became a regular occurrence.

I will not be surprised to hear of more Skyactiv transmission failures down the road.

I will guarantee there will be more almost new transmissions failing down the road. Manufacturing defects happen with all mass produced products. It happens to the best of them. And every transmission will fail eventually (with high enough mileage). What I find reassuring is we are not seeing them fail early, like at 70-100,000 miles. I don't recall seeing the failure or even one high mileage CX-5 transmission (auto or manual). That tells me is a very solid design.

 

[craigo]

My experience is so exactly like Fusion360’s, I just copied his story and replaced the different time frames, and numbers where necessary.

At 1595 miles (2 months of owning the car), my tranny started to slip. Anytime I shifted into Drive from Park, Reverse or Neutral, it took about 1.5 seconds for 1st gear to engage. I had a couple of violent starts because of that – the RPMs would rise to 3500 and then the tranny caught.

Immediately, I contacted my dealer and dropped off the car to have them inspect it. They provided me with a rental for the duration of the repair. After a day, they contacted me saying Mazda USA wanted to replace the transmission; it is apparently the second one to be replaced in the country.

It took 5 days to have the tranny shipped, replacing it will start on Monday and should take 2 days.
Then they’ll test drive it and it should be back in my hands in under 2 weeks.

The only part I would like to add was the complete lack of surprise on the part of the dealership. They showed no amazement that a brand new car with so little mileage would have the transmission fail in only 2 months time. That alone makes me think that Mazda knows more about this issue then they would admit. The service people didn’t even bother to ask me about the details of the failure, they just matter of factly said “we’ll take a look at it” I will not be surprised to hear of more Skyactiv transmission failures down the road.

Mean Time Between Failures. The graphs that chart this often look like bell curves. A small percentage of any system will fail early. An equally small percentage will fail very late. This is how warranty periods are calculated - an actuary calculates the probability of failure and cuts off the warranty as the curve trends toward the longer end where failure is more certain. Yours fell in the early standard deviation. Most of the complaints you read on the internet are folks who fell in here. It's incorrect to extrapolate your experience to a larger number - there are relatively few mentions here with thousands of vehicles sold. Contrast the mazda transmission with the Ford focus' dual clutch fiasco - that one has literally thousands of complaints and thousands of replacements, some more than once. That's a bad transmission.

I once had a battery with a 3 year warranty fail after 6 weeks. It happens, they replaced. I have a friend who managed to stretch her battery 8 years in Texas - an amazing age for a hot location.

 

[AK_NickS]

I'm new - but want to thank this thread as I'm in exactly the same boat with my new 2016 AWD CX-5 and it was nice to see that I'm not alone!

Transmission started to slip a few weeks ago, and finally had time to take it in to the dealer today, which was a good thing as it has only gotten worse and actually displayed a check engine light and transmission error for the first time on the drive to the dealership. Now at 4000 miles and exactly 3 months of ownership...and it's now sitting at the dealership waiting for a new transmission...no ETA yet...stuck with a tiny Hyundai rental car for the time being!

 

[Chris_Top_Her]

I'm new - but want to thank this thread as I'm in exactly the same boat with my new 2016 AWD CX-5 and it was nice to see that I'm not alone!

Transmission started to slip a few weeks ago, and finally had time to take it in to the dealer today, which was a good thing as it has only gotten worse and actually displayed a check engine light and transmission error for the first time on the drive to the dealership. Now at 4000 miles and exactly 3 months of ownership...and it's now sitting at the dealership waiting for a new transmission...no ETA yet...stuck with a tiny Hyundai rental car for the time being!

Wow that sucks. At least they could have given you a Mirage.

 

[Unobtanium]

What is causing these failures?

 

[Chris_Top_Her]

driving like grandma; here is an article to support it and one way to fix it.