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2011 Mazda Mazda3Problems: Top Complaints, Recalls & Failures (NHTSA)

Every owner complaint and safety recall the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has on file for the 2011 Mazda Mazda3, ranked by the component that failed most.

Complaints on file

132

Recalls issued

2

Crashes reported

12

Fires reported

2

What breaks most

  • Air Bags29 complaints · 22%
  • Seats20 complaints · 15.2%
  • Electrical System15 complaints · 11.4%
  • Steering13 complaints · 9.8%
  • Structure13 complaints · 9.8%

Recalls on this model year

  • Seats

    Mazda North American Operations (Mazda) is recalling certain 2011 Mazda2 and 2010-2011 Mazda3 and Mazdaspeed3 vehicles equipped with a manual seat lifter. In the affected vehicles, the seat height adjustment lifter links may break or detach from the seat frame and the seat angle may incline causing

    Campaign 17V082000 · reported 09/02/2017 · recall work is free at any franchised dealer

  • Structure › Body › Hatchback/Liftgate

    Mazda North American Operations (Mazda) is recalling certain model year 2010-2013 Mazda3 and Mazdaspeed3 vehicles manufactured November 18, 2008, to June 8, 2013, 2012-2015 Mazda5 vehicles manufactured October 26, 2010, to June 22, 2015, 2016 CX-3 vehicles manufactured June 1, 2015, to December 26,

    Campaign 16V644000 · reported 06/09/2016 · recall work is free at any franchised dealer

What owners report

Air Bags

  • The contact owns a 2011 Mazda Mazda3. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the front driver’s side seat wobbled and was unsecured. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, who determ
  • The airbag system failed to deploy during a major accident I was in, where my car rolled multiple times, and the collision that totaled my car. This includes the front airbags, impact sensors, and/or
  • When I’m driving the car, electricity of the car goes off, including headlights. The steering wheel gets locked. It doesn’t do that regularly. Sometimes, it takes weeks to do that, but sometimes it ha

Seats

  • The contact owns a 2011 Mazda Mazda3. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the front driver’s side seat wobbled and was unsecured. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, who determ
  • Defective Driver's seat construction made by Mazda Mfg Corp. I was the first person to report this cheaply made driver's seat failure to Mazda Corp in Irvine, CA in early 2015 or 2016. Recall was fina
  • My seat lifter broke causing the driver's seat to rock back and forth. I brought my vehicle to my local dealer on 05/18/2022 to have an outstanding NHTSA recall 17V-082 performed to repair the issue.

Electrical System

  • The Dashboard is peeling above the display screen that shows information for Radio,CD, AUX, Time, Volume, Temp Outside, etc (black display screen with orange text/font). Above this display screen th
  • When I’m driving the car, electricity of the car goes off, including headlights. The steering wheel gets locked. It doesn’t do that regularly. Sometimes, it takes weeks to do that, but sometimes it ha
  • my Mazda 3 2011 passenger headlight always had water coming into the headlight itself. It has condensation and it is hard to see when using the headlight itself at night. have to wait a few days or so

Steering

  • UNKNOWN. Electric power steering just suddenly stopped working for no apparent reason. Very hard to steer. DANGEROUS!
  • When I’m driving the car, electricity of the car goes off, including headlights. The steering wheel gets locked. It doesn’t do that regularly. Sometimes, it takes weeks to do that, but sometimes it ha
  • WHEN DRIVING THE STEERING WHEEL LOCKS UP . SUPER HARD TO PULL OVER. VERY DANGEROUS. COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED. THE POWER STEERING LIGHT AND ENGINE LIGHT COME UNILL I TURN VEHICLE OFF AND ON. I HAVE READ

Structure

  • THE DASHBOARD IS LIFTING UP POSSIBLY AFFECTING THE DRIVERS SIDE AND PASSENGERS SIDE AIRBAGS DEPLOYMENT. I AM VERY CONCERNED I DONT KNOW WHEN IT HAPPENED
  • THE DASHBOARD ABOVE THE CLOCK AND INFO DISPLAY SEPARATED WHILE THE VEHICLE WAS STATIONARY.
  • MY DASHBOARD HAS COME APART - LIKE ITS NOT GLUED TOGETHER BUT THEY TELL ME AT MAZDA THAT MY CAR IS NOT APART OF THE DASHBOARD RECALL WHICH I FIND HARD TO BELIEVE SINCE THIS IS A KNOWN ISSUE WITH THIS

Excerpts are anonymized owner complaints as filed with NHTSA, trimmed to 200 characters.

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