2019 Mazda CX-5 problems: recalls, complaints and whether this is a year to avoid

Is 2019 a good year for the Mazda CX-5?

The spread across this nameplate is wide: the 2016 draws 12 times the complaints of the 2024. On a run like that the model year you buy matters more than the badge, and 2019 sits near the top of it.

Older years have been on the road longer and collect more complaints for that reason alone, and a year that sold in higher volume collects more while being no worse.

This retrieval holds 9 of the nameplate’s model years. 2020, 2022 are absent, which means no records came back for them — not that they were clean. The ranking above is among the years shown.

The 2019 accounts for 15% of every complaint filed against the Mazda CX-5 in this retrieval, which works out to 38.6 complaints per year on the road across the 7 years since it was sold new — the figure to compare against other years, because it removes the advantage a newer car gets simply from having had less time to accumulate reports.

Complaints rose sharply against the preceding year: the 2019 carries 2.3 times the reports of the 2018. A jump that size between consecutive years usually means something changed in the car rather than in how many were sold, and it is worth asking a seller what was done to this one.

Which recalls cover the 2019?

NHTSA records 2 recall entries against the 2019 Mazda CX-5. The campaign text for this year was not part of the stored sample — check the VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls, which is the only way to know whether a specific car’s campaigns were carried out.

What do owners report on the Mazda CX-5?

Across every Mazda CX-5 year, not the 2019 alone — NHTSA does not split component totals by model year.

• Engine — 304 reports
• Electrical System — 294 reports
• Power Train — 199 reports
• Unknown or Other — 184 reports

If your 2019 is doing something now, these are the guides for that system — each opens with whether it is safe to keep driving:

• Engine knocking
• Engine overheating
• Check engine light steady
• Rough idle or stalling

Which other Mazda CX-5 years should you compare?

← 2018 Mazda CX-5 · 2021 Mazda CX-5 → · All Mazda CX-5 years

If you are deciding between years, the table above is the short answer and the Mazda CX-5 page carries the full run with the component breakdown. Before money changes hands, run the VIN for open recalls and read the inspection checklist — ten minutes in the seller’s driveway finds most of what matters.