Sluggish frequent pedal/throttle response. Need suggestions

[GFrosty]

The pedal/throttle response on my 2016.5 CX-5 GT AWD is frequently sluggish. Need everyone's expertise and experience with identifying all the parts, sensors and whatnot that might come into play, with this issue.

It doesn't happen every acceleration. It doesn't happen in every gear. But it almost always seems to be in a situation where the load is suitably "light to middling" and the RPMs are in the ~1400-1800 range. The car frequently doesn't seem to sense that the load's rising, that my accelerator pedal is being depressed additionally.

I've been toying with the degree and firmness of pressing the accelerator pedal. And while it does seem to be problematic less frequently when I press hard and far on the pedal, IMO it shouldn't be so hesitant and sluggish in responding to increasing loads/pedal.

Am hopeful it's simply one or more sensors and/or parts that are causing this. Need help identifying every last component in the vehicle that could be part of this sluggishness, as I'm unaware of all them.

List:

1. Throttle Body, containing the throttle position sensor -- have properly cleaned the TB and the sensor's contacts, twice in the past year; but haven't tested the signals.
2. Accelerator Pedal assembly (with the included sensors) -- haven't touched this, yet, nor tested the signals.
3. Anything else???

I would prefer that it's some sensor or cleaning that would rectify. Am open to a tuning of the vehicle's performance, though I don't have any performance extras on the car that would otherwise justify such a thing. I just want the hesitant, sluggish response (for dropping a gear when load and pedal angle dictate) to be more brisk and responsive. Like all the test-driven CX-5 vehicles were, when I took them each through their paces.

 

[Lazy2.5]

Is this something new that you're experiencing?

Sounds like the way the throttle is tuned from the factory to me, not an issue. It's tuned this way to save gas and reduce emissions by essentially ignoring or dumbing down your request for additional throttle when conditions for said throttle increase are not optimal.

etc. let's say you're going 70km/h in 5th gear at 1500rpm. you push the throttle harder. you may notice that the throttle doesn't really respond much. this is normal. the ecu is limiting the opening of the plate in your throttle body because it doesn't make sense to start loading up the engine at 1500rpm due to lugging.

But... the AT is tuned so stubborn, and will refuse to drop down to 4th gear at a throttle position which suggests that it's probably best to.

So... simply use manual mode, and drop to fourth gear, which would bring you to about 2000rpm. You should have more "freedom" now to apply additional throttle as needed, with the response you desire.

 

[GFrosty]

Is this something new that you're experiencing?

I purchased this vehicle pre-owned, about five years back. Generally speaking, to me it has always felt sluggish or hesitant in deciding to drop down a gear when the loads and/or accelerator pedal depression would (IMO) justify a drop down. Instead, it remains in the taller gear far, far longer than I would expect. Most of the time.

It's almost as though the car has been configured to prioritize fuel economy above everything else, at all times and under all loads. That is, unless I mash the accelerator pedal. Even in "Sport" mode it requires a mashing or near-mashing of the pedal in order to get it to kick down a gear.

So... simply use manual mode, and drop to fourth gear, which would bring you to about 2000rpm. You should have more "freedom" now to apply additional throttle as needed, with the response you desire.

Sure, I often use manual mode, when I feel the transmission's being particularly laggy at the moment. But on an "automatic" transmission, to me that seems weak. I would think that it would be far more responsive to accelerator pedal angle than it is.

Which is why I asked the questions. Hoping to hear from people what parts and sensors, specifically, are involved in all of this, such that I can do a bit of further digging.

Have had a 2012 Mazda 3 2.5L with A/T. And that vehicle was downright responsive when moving the accelerator pedal even a little bit. Almost never required mashing the pedal in order to get it to wake up and drop to a lower gear. Wasn't excessive, but it was "how it should be", at least IMO. This partucular CX-5 hasn't ever been.

 

[Yo'sDad]

23 CX5 Carbon. Was very annoyed with the delay in the throttle response especially when the light turns green. I installed a 'Pedal Commander', (City 0) is my current fave setting. Very easy to install. You can change the settings directly on the wired module or download an app that does the same. Since I wanted to hide the module I use the app. This totally eliminated the throttle delay and made it drive like I feel should be normal. Good luck.

 

[N7turbo]

This has been my experience in all the NA CX-5's I've had. The transmission is just too reluctant to downshift and what you experience is "lugging" the engine. Sport mode would be the only way around it without an additional device or tune.

 

[sm1ke]

Assuming your air filter isn't clogged/leaking and there are no other components that might affect performance (fouled/old spark plugs, bad gas, etc), I would try a transmission relearn.

Here's a copy/paste of the steps from this post. Please note, this works for 2nd gen CX-5s and 2nd gen CX-9s - I'm not sure if it'll work for the 1st gen CX-5, but it's worth trying.

1. Make sure car is up to normal operating temperature before starting - if it is cold, drive it around until it's up to temperature

2. With car idling in Park, place foot firmly on the brake pedal and keep it there for the entire process - do not let up on it for the entire time

3. Put the car into neutral

4. Turn off the Car

5. Shift the car into Manual (-) and hold it there for 5 seconds

6. After 5 seconds, keep the car in Manual (-) and press the start engine button (car will not start)

7. Put the car into neutral

8. Press the start engine button (it will start this time)

9. Move the shifter to Manual (+) and hold it there for five seconds

10. Move the shifter to Manual (-) and hold it there for five seconds

11. The engine idle should increase and you'll see the gear display show "M". You can then release the shifter but leave it in manual mode

12. Once the idle goes back to normal, the gear display should show "M1". Once this happens, shift the car to park and shut off the engine.

You've successfully reset the transmission!

And here's a link to the video these steps were pulled from:

 

[GFrosty]

Assuming your air filter isn't clogged/leaking and there are no other components that might affect performance (fouled/old spark plugs, bad gas, etc), I would try a transmission relearn.

Have evaluated and corrected all of those. They all were my first go-to checks.

• Vehicle has 135Kmi+, now.
• @ 125Kmi, new plugs -- NGK Ruthenium, properly gapped. Prior plugs were still in great condition, not fouled, about half-way through their lives.
• @ 124Kmi, new ignition coils -- OEM Mazda.
• Air filter -- frequently changed, to keep ahead of the curve.
• Transmission re-learn procedure -- a couple of times.

It's a problem which hasn't changed much in the past 50Kmi. Plugs and coils in good shape. Not bad gas (though I've had one tank of such, in the past 5yrs). I keep the air filter fresh. Have done the transmission relearn a couple of times.

Just has a characteristic sluggish tip-in, in terms of accepting that I want to go more-briskly than the car's doing currently. "Sport" mode cures that, as does manually shifting.

I've been imagining that, perhaps, the accelerator pedal's sensor (or a related sensor) isn't correctly communicating the pedal's angle. Or perhaps the throttle position sensor and/or throttle body itself isn't as responsive as an as-new unit. Uncertain if either of those have a great material impact on accelerator pedal tip-in responsiveness.

 

[dunhillmc]

Floor it through the kickdown switch a few times. If you baby it too much, the programing picks up bad acceleration habits