There are 3 owner-reported speed control & cruise complaints for the 2024 Mazda CX-5in NHTSA's database. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
The contact owns a 2024 Mazda CX-5. The contact stated that while his wife was entering the garage, at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle suddenly accelerated; the brake pedal was applied but failed to respond, and it crashed into the refrigerator. The contact was concerned that the failure could have occurred while children were at play. No warning lights illuminated. There were no reported injuries, airbag deployments, fires, or police reports filed. There was a tire imprint on the garage floor. The contact called the local dealer, who scheduled an appointment. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, who opened a case and confirmed there was no recall coverage. The failure mileage was approximately 10,000.
Straight to the point, I backed the vehicle up, pushed the brake peddle in and shifted into park. The engine begun to increase in RPMs and I could hear the engine load increase, maybe about 2,000 to 5,000 rpms higher than idle or first start building vacuum idle, as if I was pushing on the accelerator. I literally looked down at the peddles, as I was just doing a quick spot change in my driveway, the accelerator did not appear to be stuck or in contact with the aftermarket winter weather plastic floor mat. I decompressed the brake peddle again and shifted the car from P to D and the engine went to its normal baseline idling RPMs and sound. I put it back in P and turned it off, no issue. I have noticed this problem before, but I only noticed it during this past winter season and blamed it on my winter boots and/or myself instead of the vehicle. I am going to guess this has happened in total about 4 times, including the most recent incident that I just wrote about. The CX-5 is connected to Mazda's network/ data service or whatever it is called, because I like my cars clock to maintain correct time, which it won't or can't do if I prefer my privacy from Mazda. So Mazda should be able to see what happened on their end. It happened in the late afternoon to early evening. I do also use 'auto hold' daily and cruise control w/out radar active.
I have a 2024 Mazda CX-5 but this is in any model and year that has the Adaptive Radar Cruise Control. When you set the distance you want to follow the vehicle in front of you, you will go the speed you are going until you come to the space you have set for the vehicle in front of you. Your vehicle will slow to match that vehicles speed. If that vehicle slows down, you will slow down. What it doesn't do it turn on your brake lights so the vehicle behind you knows that your vehicle is slowing down. Sometimes if the vehicle in front of you slows down fast, so does your vehicle. You have no control how fast it does that, it just does it. Now if the vehicle behind you doesn't realize that your vehicle has done this, well it has been very close two times so far. I do not want my new car rear ended. I did not know it did this with the brake lights and Mazda doesn't tell you that you have no brake lights when this happens. Why would they have a setup like this. It is like brake checking the vehicle behind you. I do not use my cruise control for that reason. It would be nice to be able to use it on a new car but I do not want to get hurt or get someone else hurt by doing so. I did contact Mazda and they know it does that. This is what they told me "Case Number [XXX] Hello. My name is Dominique. I am sorry that you have had some very close calls while slowing down while vehicles were behind you. As for the question you had asked about cruise control activating the brakes when your vehicle starts to slow down, it does not activate the brake lights. It is just like when you are driving without cruise control and you go to take your foot off of the gas pedal instead of using the brake to slow down, it would not activate brake lights either unless you actually mash the brakes, the same with cruise control. Thank you for being a part of the Mazda family. " Isn't that great. I am now a safely hazard or at least my vehicle is, and they are all like that. Who knew. Not me. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA. A high complaint count may reflect vehicle popularity, not defect severity. Data sourced from NHTSA public records.
Data synced from NHTSA on Apr 25, 2026