Sport Mazda South · Orlando, FL · Mazda Research Hub
Last updated July 27, 2026 · Written and reviewed by the Sport Mazda South product team, Orlando, Florida
One rating covers all five trims, and the interesting parts of this answer are the figures Mazda does not publish and the one feature this vehicle does not have.
Genuine Mazda tow hitch KLAK-V3-920, which is what the phrase properly equipped means on this vehicle.
The 2026 Mazda CX-5 tows a maximum trailer weight of 1,500 pounds when properly equipped.1 That figure is identical on all five trims. Mazda publishes one towing table for the United States and no trim, drivetrain or package variation appears anywhere in it, which follows from i-Activ AWD® and the 2.5-liter engine being standard across the range.
Two limits sit alongside the headline number and get quoted far less often. Maximum gross combined weight rating is 6,299 pounds. Trailer brakes are required once the trailer and its cargo exceed 1,000 pounds, which is two-thirds of the way to the capacity rather than near the top of it.
These come from the trailer towing load table in the 2026 Mazda CX-5 Owner’s Manual, which is the controlling document for your vehicle.
| Rating | Figure | What it limits |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum trailer weight | 1,500 lbs. | Total weight of the trailer plus everything loaded on it. |
| Maximum gross combined weight rating | 6,299 lbs. | Vehicle, occupants, cargo and trailer added together. |
| Gross vehicle weight rating | 4,914 lbs. | The vehicle itself, fully loaded, without the trailer. |
| Gross axle weight rating, front | 2,524 lbs. | Load carried by the front axle. |
| Gross axle weight rating, rear | 2,396 lbs. | Load carried by the rear axle, which is where tongue load lands. |
| Maximum trailer frontal area | 20.0 sq. ft. | How much air the trailer pushes. A light but tall box trailer can exceed this while staying under the weight limit. |
| Trailer brakes required above | 1,000 lbs. | Trailer and cargo combined. Above this the trailer needs its own braking system. |
| Tongue load | 10 to 15 percent of trailer weight | How much of the trailer’s weight presses down on the hitch. |
Twenty square feet is roughly a trailer five feet wide and four feet tall. An enclosed cargo trailer or a tall pop-up can sit comfortably under 1,500 pounds and still be outside the specification, because at highway speed it is the air the trailer moves that loads the engine and the brakes.1
Tongue load is the weight the trailer puts straight down on the hitch ball. Too little and the trailer sways. Too much and you unload the front axle, which affects steering and braking.
Mazda expresses tongue load for the 2026 Mazda CX-5 only as a ratio: 10 to 15 percent of the total trailer load. There is no maximum tongue weight in pounds anywhere in the manual.
Apply the ratio to the 1,500-pound maximum and you get 150 to 225 pounds on the ball. We did that division; Mazda did not print it.1 Use it as a target when you load a trailer, not as a rating to quote. And note the manual’s own instruction that tongue load counts as cargo weight in the vehicle, so it comes out of what you can carry inside.
Mazda publishes no payload figure for the 2026 Mazda CX-5 either. Subtracting the 3,856-pound curb weight from the 4,914-pound gross vehicle weight rating leaves about 1,058 pounds, which is again our arithmetic rather than a published rating.2 The document that governs is the tire and loading information placard on your driver’s door jamb, which states the combined weight of occupants and cargo that vehicle may carry.
The placard on your own door jamb carries the payload figure for your specific vehicle. It outranks anything published at the model level.
Work it through with four adults in the car and the arithmetic gets tight quickly. That is not a criticism of this vehicle, it is true of every compact SUV, and it is the reason we would rather you did the sum before you hitched up than after.
Properly equipped means a hitch and trailer wiring. The 2026 Mazda CX-5 is not built with a hitch from the factory and towing equipment does not appear on the build sheet, so this is a parts and service item rather than an option you order with the car.
| Genuine Mazda part | Part number |
|---|---|
| Trailer Tow Hitch | KLAK-V3-920 |
| Trailer Hitch Harness, 4-pin | KLAK-V7-780 |
| Trailer Tow Hitch Cover, 2 inch | C9N1-V3-924 |
Those part numbers are new for the third generation and do not interchange with 2022 to 2025 Mazda CX-5 parts.3 Confirm fitment against your VIN with our parts department at (407) 851-8510 before ordering anything.
Genuine Mazda hitch and 4-pin connector.
When a trailer is plugged into Mazda’s own hitch, the vehicle automatically switches off the driver-assistance systems that would otherwise see the trailer as an obstacle. With a non-Mazda hitch you have to turn them off yourself, every time.
The list Mazda tells you to switch off manually is long: blind spot monitoring and its turn and exit warnings, rear cross traffic alert, the rear parking sensors, low-speed object detection under Smart Brake Support, the emergency lane keeping assists, and Cruising and Traffic Support lane change assist.4 Forgetting one is not dangerous so much as maddening, because a trailer sitting three feet behind the bumper sets off warnings continuously.
Mazda published class ratings on previous-generation Mazda CX-5 hitches and does not publish one for this part. The only cover offered for it is a 2-inch part, which points to a 2-inch receiver, but we are treating that as an inference rather than a fact.3 If your rack, carrier or ball mount depends on the opening size, call our parts counter at (407) 851-8510 and we will measure a fitted one.
This is the finding on this page we most want you to read, because it is asserted the other way round in a lot of places.
The 2026 Mazda CX-5 does not have trailer sway control under any name. We went looking for it in four separate Mazda documents. The owner’s manual index does not contain the word stability at all. The dynamic stability control pages describe side-slip control and never mention a trailer. The i-Activsense® feature list does not include it. The 2026 specification deck lists dynamic stability control and traction control as standard, and nothing else.
The clincher is in the towing chapter itself. Where a vehicle with sway control would describe the system, Mazda instead gives the driver an instruction: if swaying occurs, grip the wheel firmly, reduce speed immediately but gradually, steer straight ahead, and let less speed and firm steering settle it. That is what a manual says when the hardware is not there.
For contrast, the 2026 Mazda CX-90 manual does document Trailer Stability Control, and Mazda used the name Trailer Stability Assist on the older Mazda CX-9. The feature exists in the Mazda range. It is not on this vehicle.1
What that means practically is that load distribution does the work instead of electronics. Sixty percent of the trailer’s load forward of its axle, forty percent behind, tongue weight inside the 10 to 15 percent band, and nothing loose. Get that right and a 1,500-pound trailer behind this car is stable. Get it wrong and no vehicle in this class will save you.
Mazda attaches more conditions to towing than most people expect, and several of them are easy to breach without noticing.
Mazda also asks you to have the cooling and braking systems checked by an authorized dealer before towing, and to shut the air conditioning off and pull over if the temperature gauge climbs on a long grade. Our service department at (321) 236-9164 will do the pre-tow inspection.6
Fifteen hundred pounds is useful rather than token, and it is also a firm ceiling. Working out which side of it you sit on takes about two minutes.
Look at the trailer’s own VIN plate, not at what it weighs empty. The plate carries a gross vehicle weight rating, and that rating is what you compare against 1,500 pounds. Then add what you intend to put on it. A single personal watercraft on a light trailer, a small utility trailer with yard waste, a compact teardrop camper or a couple of kayaks on a purpose-built trailer generally sit inside the rating. A double watercraft trailer, a boat of any real size, a car hauler or a conventional travel trailer do not.
Small utility and single-watercraft trailers sit inside the rating. Most travel trailers do not.
If your trailer plate reads above 1,500 pounds, this is not the vehicle for it and we will tell you so. The Mazda CX-50, Mazda CX-70 and Mazda CX-90 all tow more, and we stock all three on the same lot.7
Two Central Florida notes. Heat and a loaded trailer are a combination that finds a marginal cooling system, so the pre-tow inspection matters more here than it would in a mild climate. And the boat ramp question comes up constantly: a wet ramp is where standard i-Activ AWD® is worth having, but the weight limit does not move because the trailer is floating. The rating is the rating.
What the Mazda CX-5 weighs, what it is rated to carry and how the two interact.
Engine output, transmission and what the discontinued turbo means for towing.
How the all-wheel-drive system predicts loss of traction rather than reacting to it.
The 2026 Mazda CX-5 has a maximum trailer weight of 1,500 pounds when properly equipped, and the rating is the same on all five trims.1 Maximum gross combined weight rating is 6,299 pounds, and maximum trailer frontal area is 20.0 square feet.
No. Mazda publishes a single towing table for the 2026 Mazda CX-5 in the United States, with no variation by trim, drivetrain or package.1 All five trims use the same 2.5-liter engine, six-speed automatic and standard i-Activ AWD®, so there is no configuration that tows more.
Mazda states tongue load for the 2026 Mazda CX-5 as 10 to 15 percent of total trailer weight and publishes no figure in pounds.1 Against the 1,500-pound maximum that works out to roughly 150 to 225 pounds, which is arithmetic rather than a Mazda rating. Tongue load also counts against the vehicle’s cargo weight.
Yes. Mazda offers a Genuine Mazda Trailer Tow Hitch, part KLAK-V3-920, with its matching 4-pin trailer wiring, part KLAK-V7-780, for the 2026 Mazda CX-5.3 It is a dealer-fitted accessory rather than a factory build option. Plugging a trailer into Mazda’s own hitch automatically disables the driver-assistance systems a trailer would confuse. Call (407) 851-8510.
No. The 2026 Mazda CX-5 has no trailer sway control or trailer stability system under any name, and none appears in the owner’s manual, the i-Activsense® feature list or the 2026 specification deck.1 Mazda instead instructs the driver to grip the wheel and reduce speed gradually if sway occurs. The Mazda CX-90 does have the feature.
Yes, once the total trailer weight exceeds 1,000 pounds. The 2026 Mazda CX-5 Owner’s Manual requires trailer brakes above that figure.1 Because the maximum rating is 1,500 pounds, a meaningful share of what this vehicle can legally tow requires the trailer to have its own braking system.
1. Maximum towing capacity of 1,500 pounds when properly equipped. Towing capacity varies with passenger and cargo weight and requires the appropriate factory or Genuine Mazda towing equipment. Consult your Owner’s Manual and see dealer for complete details before towing.
2. Dimensions, weights and cargo volumes are manufacturer-published figures and may vary by trim, optional equipment and measurement method. Cargo capacity and passenger volume vary with configuration. See dealer for complete details.
3. Genuine Mazda accessories are sold and installed separately from the vehicle and are not included in MSRP. Part numbers, availability, fitment and installation labor are current as of the last-updated date of this page. Confirm fitment against your vehicle’s VIN with the Sport Mazda South parts department before ordering, and confirm any accessory installation with the service department before towing.
4. i-Activsense® features are driver-assistance technologies and are not a substitute for safe and attentive driving. They have limitations and may not detect all objects or operate in all conditions. Factors including weather, road conditions, sensor obstruction, vehicle speed and traffic can affect performance. Always check your surroundings and drive attentively.
5. Recommended cold tire inflation pressures are those shown on the tire and loading information placard on the driver’s door jamb of your vehicle, which is the controlling source. “Cold” means the vehicle has been parked for at least three hours, or driven less than one mile. Check pressures when tires are cold; pressure rises as tires heat up.
6. 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.
7. Vehicle availability, trim availability and color availability are subject to current inventory and change without notice. Contact Sport Mazda South at (321) 235-6764 to confirm availability of a specific 2026 Mazda CX-5 configuration.
8. 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.
