Sport Mazda South · Orlando, FL · Mazda Research Hub
Last updated July 27, 2026 · Written by Michael Craig-Voyk
Almost every reliability figure you will find under the Mazda CX-5 name describes a 2013 to 2025 vehicle. This page separates what is actually known about the 2026 car from what has been carried over, and names the publisher behind each number.
The 2026 Mazda CX-5 has no open NHTSA safety recalls and no long-term reliability record, because it is an all-new third-generation vehicle that has been on sale for roughly a year.[2] Every reliability score currently published under the Mazda CX-5 name is drawn from 2013 to 2025 vehicles or from Mazda brand averages, not from this car.[3]
What is known about the third-generation car so far points in one direction. The engine, transmission and all-wheel-drive hardware carry over largely unchanged and nothing mechanical has surfaced. The new Google-based infotainment and telematics stack has produced real complaints, Mazda has acknowledged them, and software updates are being issued. We would rather tell you that now.
Search for Mazda CX-5 reliability and you will find confident numbers. Read the fine print under each one and most of them are describing a different car.
| Published measure | Publisher | What it actually covers |
|---|---|---|
| Quality and reliability rated 82 out of 100 | J.D. Power | Carried over from the previous-generation Mazda CX-5. J.D. Power applies the prior model year’s rating until new owner survey data arrives, so no third-generation owner has contributed to it. |
| Predicted reliability, about average | Consumer Reports | Modeled from previous-generation data and the Mazda brand score. Consumer Reports states in the same place that the redesigned Mazda CX-5 is excluded from its 2026 new-car predicted reliability ratings. |
| Brand reliability, 14th of 26 brands | Consumer Reports, December 2025 | A Mazda brand average across roughly 2023 to 2025 vehicles. Consumer Reports attributes the fall to the Mazda CX-70 and Mazda CX-90 rather than to the Mazda CX-5, which it excluded. |
| 4.5 out of 5 for reliability | RepairPal | Repair-invoice data across every Mazda CX-5 model year, which in practice means 2013 to 2025 vehicles. A car sold last year cannot have produced a repair invoice history. |
| Average annual repair cost near 447 dollars | RepairPal | The same all-model-year invoice pool, against a segment average nearer 573 dollars. Useful as a signal about the nameplate, not as a forecast for a 2026 vehicle. |
We are not calling any of those publishers wrong. Each one is transparent about its method, and the Mazda CX-5 nameplate has an excellent record over eleven years.[3] What we will not do is let a score built from second-generation cars be read as a prediction about a vehicle with a new body, a new interior and an entirely new electrical architecture.
Two J.D. Power studies are worth understanding rather than quoting. The Vehicle Dependability Study counts problems per hundred vehicles reported by original owners of three-year-old cars, so a 2026 vehicle cannot appear in it until 2029. The Initial Quality Study counts problems in the first ninety days of ownership. Mazda’s exact placement in either 2026 study is not published in the free release, so we are not going to print a rank we cannot source.[3]
This is the part that can actually be checked, and it was, against the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration databases on the last-updated date shown at the top of this page.
| Record type | 2026 Mazda CX-5 | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Open safety recalls | 0 | No recall campaign has been issued for the 2026 Mazda CX-5. |
| Owner complaints filed | 3 | All three concern the center display, telematics or driver-assistance messages. No crashes, fires, injuries or fatalities are reported in any of them. |
| Open defect investigations | None found | No investigation was found. NHTSA does not expose investigations through the same public interface, so treat this as not found rather than formally confirmed. |
A complaint is an unverified owner report, not a finding. Three of them on a vehicle that has been selling for a year is a low number, and the fact that all three land on the same system is more informative than the count itself.[2]
Recall status attaches to a VIN, not to a model year, and it changes without notice. If you own a Mazda CX-5 of any age, our service department will run your VIN while you wait. Call (321) 236-9164 or schedule online.
The 2026 Mazda CX-5 runs an all-new infotainment and telematics stack with Google built in, and that stack is where the early trouble has been.
Car and Driver bought a 2.5 S Premium Plus for a forty-thousand-mile long-term test and reported at about three thousand miles that the infotainment was freezing, locking them out of climate and audio, and that driver-assistance warnings kept appearing. A dealer software update did not resolve it for them. All three owner complaints on file with NHTSA describe variations of the same thing.[3]
Mazda has not been silent about it. A service communication issued in spring 2026 describes an available software update addressing battery drain, black-screen events and connectivity dropouts, with further improvements to follow and over-the-air update capability arriving later. This is a software problem being fixed with software, which is a materially better position than a hardware fault.
We check for outstanding software updates on every Mazda CX-5 that comes through our service drive, whether you booked it for that or not. If your screen is misbehaving, do not live with it. It is warranty work.
Worth keeping in proportion. Across the NHTSA complaint file, Car and Driver’s long-term car and Consumer Reports’ test vehicle, we have found no reports of engine, transmission, all-wheel-drive, suspension or brake hardware failures on the third-generation car. The 2.5-liter engine and six-speed automatic are the same pair that gave the previous Mazda CX-5 its record.
One piece of context that is not about Mazda at all. J.D. Power has found phone-projection connectivity to be the single most-reported problem across the entire industry for three consecutive years, and infotainment the worst category overall.[4] Every manufacturer moving to a large software-defined cabin is fighting the same fight.
Warranty is the part of reliability you can hold Mazda to in writing.
| Coverage | Term, whichever comes first |
|---|---|
| New Vehicle Limited Warranty | 36 months / 36,000 miles |
| Powertrain | 60 months / 60,000 miles |
| Safety Restraint System | 60 months / 60,000 miles |
| Roadside Assistance | 36 months / 36,000 miles |
| Corrosion perforation | 60 months / unlimited miles |
| 12-volt battery | 36 months / 36,000 miles |
| Scheduled maintenance | Not included. The warranty booklet lists normal maintenance at the owner’s expense. |
Mazda does not include complimentary scheduled maintenance on the 2026 Mazda CX-5. Any maintenance package attached to a car is a dealer or prepaid program with its own terms, and it should be described to you as one.
The software issues described above are warranty work under the New Vehicle Limited Warranty.[1] So is anything else that fails inside 36 months and 36,000 miles and is not wear, damage or maintenance.
Maintenance on this car is unusually predictable, because Mazda publishes the whole schedule and the intervals got longer with the redesign.
| Service | Normal schedule | Severe schedule |
|---|---|---|
| Engine oil and filter | Every 10,000 miles or 12 months | Every 5,000 miles or 6 months |
| Tire rotation | Every 10,000 miles or 12 months | Same |
| Brake fluid | Every 20,000 miles or 2 years | Annually |
| Engine air filter | Every 30,000 miles | Clean or replace as required |
| Cabin air filter | Every 30,000 miles or 2 years | Same |
| Spark plugs | At 70,000 miles | Same |
| Engine coolant | First at 120,000 miles, then every 60,000 | Same |
Two intervals changed with the redesign, and they matter if you are moving out of an older Mazda CX-5. Oil and tire rotation both moved from 7,500 miles to 10,000, and spark plugs came in from 75,000 to 70,000.[5] Brake fluid replacement is new to the United States schedule for this generation.
Mazda’s severe-conditions list triggers the shorter oil interval for extended idling or sustained low-speed operation, unpaved or dusty roads, and mountain roads.[6] An Orlando stop-and-go commute qualifies under the first. Heat on its own does not, and neither do short trips. Humidity is what triggers annual brake fluid replacement, and Central Florida is humid by any reading. A lot of published advice has this backwards.
People ask us this question expecting either a sales pitch or a hedge. This is neither.
The mechanical case for this car is strong. The engine and transmission are proven, all-wheel drive is standard rather than an option that might be skimped on, and the maintenance schedule is longer and cheaper to keep than the one it replaces. Nothing in the complaint record suggests a hardware problem.
The caution is the electronics, and it is a fair caution. First-year software on any all-new platform is a risk, and this platform brought an entirely new stack with it. If you are the kind of buyer who would be deeply annoyed by a screen that needs a dealer visit in the first six months, we would tell you to buy late in the model year, take the update, and keep the warranty paperwork.
What we can offer that a review site cannot is the service drive. We see these cars come back. If something systematic develops, our technicians will know before any publication does, and you can call (321) 236-9164 and ask them directly. That is a fairer test of a dealership than anything written on a page like this one.
Every coverage term, what is excluded, and what sits at the owner’s expense.
What Mazda requires at every scheduled service, and the severe-conditions overrides.
How often the oil needs changing and which Orlando driving patterns shorten it.
The 2026 Mazda CX-5 is an all-new third-generation vehicle with roughly a year on the road, so no long-term reliability record exists for it yet.[3] It has no open NHTSA safety recalls and three owner complaints on file, all concerning the infotainment and telematics system rather than mechanical components.[2]
As of the last-updated date at the top of this page, NHTSA lists no open safety recalls for the 2026 Mazda CX-5.[2] Recall status attaches to a specific VIN and changes without notice, so check your own vehicle at nhtsa.gov/recalls or call the Sport Mazda South service department at (321) 236-9164 and we will run it.
The reported issues on the 2026 Mazda CX-5 concern the new infotainment and telematics system: screen freezes, connectivity dropouts and driver-assistance warning messages. Mazda has issued a software update addressing battery drain, black-screen events and connectivity, with further updates to follow.[3] No engine, transmission or all-wheel-drive hardware failures have been reported.
Mazda schedules the 2026 Mazda CX-5 at 10,000-mile or 12-month intervals for oil and filter and tire rotation, brake fluid every 20,000 miles, engine and cabin air filters at 30,000 and spark plugs at 70,000.[5] Central Florida stop-and-go driving puts many owners on the 5,000-mile oil interval.[6] Call (321) 236-9164 for current menu pricing.
No. The Mazda New Vehicle Limited Warranty does not include scheduled maintenance, and the warranty booklet lists normal maintenance at the owner’s expense.[1] Mazda sells prepaid maintenance separately, and Sport Mazda South runs its own service programs. Any maintenance included with a vehicle here is a store program with its own terms.
The 2026 Mazda CX-5 carries a 36-month or 36,000-mile New Vehicle Limited Warranty, 60 months or 60,000 miles of powertrain and safety restraint coverage, 36 months or 36,000 miles of roadside assistance, and 60 months with unlimited mileage against corrosion perforation.[1] The 12-volt battery is covered for 36 months or 36,000 miles.
[1] Warranty terms reflect the Mazda New Vehicle Limited Warranty for 2026 model-year vehicles. Coverage terms, exclusions and conditions apply. Normal maintenance services are at the owner’s expense and are not covered by the New Vehicle Limited Warranty. See your Mazda Warranty Information Booklet or ask a Sport Mazda South representative for complete details.
[2] Recall, complaint and investigation counts shown are taken from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration databases as of the last-updated date of this page and change without notice. A vehicle with no open recall today may have one tomorrow, and a complaint is an unverified owner report rather than a confirmed defect finding. Check your own vehicle by VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls, or ask the Sport Mazda South service department to run it for you.
[3] Reliability ratings, quality studies and ownership-cost estimates are published by the organizations named and are not produced, endorsed or verified by Mazda North American Operations or by Sport Mazda South. Each publisher uses its own methodology, sample and model-year coverage. Several figures currently published under the Mazda CX-5 name are drawn from 2013–2025 vehicles or from Mazda brand averages rather than from the all-new 2026 Mazda CX-5, and are shown here for context only.
[4] Don’t drive while distracted. Even with voice commands, only use mobile phones and other devices when it is safe to do so. Apple CarPlay® and Apple are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Android Auto™ and Google are trademarks of Google LLC. Requires a compatible phone; standard text and data rates apply.
[5] Maintenance intervals, capacities and specifications are taken from the 2026 Mazda CX-5 Owner’s Manual and Scheduled Maintenance table published by Mazda North American Operations. Your vehicle’s Owner’s Manual is the controlling document. Intervals shown are whichever comes first, miles or months. Confirm the requirements for your specific vehicle with the Sport Mazda South service department before performing any service.
[6] Mazda publishes a separate set of intervals for vehicles operated under severe conditions, which the 2026 Mazda CX-5 Owner’s Manual defines to include extended idling or sustained low-speed operation, mainly unpaved or dusty roads, mainly mountain or uphill roads, repeated short trips, extremely high temperatures, sustained cold or heavy rain, and extensive brake use or extremely humid climates. Not every condition applies to every service item. Ask our service advisors which schedule fits how you actually drive.
[7] Dealership hours shown on this page are accurate as of the last-updated date above and are subject to change without notice, including on holidays and during special events. Call Sport Mazda South at (321) 235-6764 or visit sportmazdaorlando.com to confirm current hours before visiting.
This article is intended for general informational purposes only. Information herein is subject to change without notice and does not constitute an offer to sell. Specifications, features, pricing and availability are based on manufacturer-published data available as of the last-updated date shown at the top of this page. Confirm all details with a Sport Mazda South representative before purchase.
