Open safety recalls, the components owners report failing most often, crash-test results and running costs for the 2010 Mazda CX-9, assembled from NHTSA and EPA records.
Everything on this page applies to the model as a whole. Run its VIN to decode that exact car, its engine, trim, assembly plant and factory equipment, alongside these records.
Open a VIN recordRecalls and complaints are filed against a specific model year, so figures differ from one year to the next even within a single generation. See every Mazda CX-9 year.
NHTSA has issued a do-not-drive warning covering 4 recalls on this make, model and year. Repairs are free at any franchised dealer.
Recalls are issued per model. Confirm whether this specific car has already been repaired using its VIN, free, at any franchised dealer or on nhtsa.gov/recalls.
NHTSA lists 6 recalls for this make, model and year. Recalls apply to the model, so some may already be fixed on this specific car. A dealer can confirm from the VIN.
Issue: Mazda North American Operations (Mazda) is recalling certain 2014-2015 Mazda CX-9 vehicles sold, or ever registered in the states of Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan), and the U.S. Virgin Islands or "Zone A." Additionally, unless covered in "Zone A," Mazda is recalling certain 2011-2013 Mazda6, 2011-2012 CX-7, and 2011-2015 CX-9 sold, or ever registered in the states of Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia, or "Zone B." Additionally, unless covered in Zone A or Zone B, Mazda is recalling certain 2010-2013 Mazda6, 2010-2012 CX-7, and 2010-2015 CX-9 vehicles ever registered in the states of Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming or "Zone C." These vehicles are equipped with certain air bag inflators assembled as part of the passenger frontal air bag modules used as original equipment or replacement equipment. In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger frontal air bag, these inflators may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to absolute humidity and temperature cycling.
Risk: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
Remedy: Mazda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front passenger air bag inflator with an alternate inflator, free of charge. The recall began November 9, 2018. Owners may contact Mazda customer service at 1-800-222-5500, Option 4. Mazda's number for this recall is 1317F.
Campaign 18V717000
Issue: Mazda North American Operations (Mazda) is recalling certain 2007-2012 CX-7, CX-9, and 2009-2012 Maza6 vehicles. These vehicles had their passenger frontal air bag inflators previously replaced under a prior recall using inflators of the same design. The inflators may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, temperature and temperature cycling.
Risk: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
Remedy: Owners are advised not to drive their vehicles until the repair has been performed. Mazda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front passenger air bag inflator with an alternate one, free of charge. The recall began December 3, 2019. Owners may contact Mazda customer service at 1-800-222-5500, option 4. Mazda's number for this recall is 1317F. Note: This recall supersedes recalls 16V356 and 17V012.
Campaign 19V782000
Issue: Mazda North America Operations (Mazda) is recalling certain 2009-2011 Mazda6, and 2007-2011 CX-7 and CX-9 vehicles. These vehicles are equipped with certain air bag inflators assembled as part of the passenger frontal air bag modules, and used as original equipment or replacement equipment. In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the front air bags, these inflators may rupture due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to absolute humidity and temperature cycling.
Risk: An inflator rupture may result in metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
Remedy: Owners are advised not to drive their vehicles until the remedy is performed. Mazda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger frontal air bag inflator with an alternate inflator, free of charge. The recall began on August 30, 2017. Owners may contact Mazda customer service at 1-800-222-5500. Mazda's number for this recall is 1317F. Note: This recall supersedes recall 16V356 and all vehicles that were not remedied under that campaign are now covered by this one.
Campaign 17V429000
Issue: Mazda North American Operations (Mazda) is recalling certain 2013 Mazda6 and CX-9 vehicles sold, or ever registered in the states of Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan), and the U.S. Virgin Islands or "Zone A." Additionally, unless covered in "Zone A," Mazda is recalling certain 2010 Mazda6, CX-7 and CX-9 vehicles sold, or ever registered in the states of Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia or "Zone B." Additionally, unless covered in Zone A or Zone B, Mazda is recalling certain 2009 Mazda6, CX-7, and CX-9 vehicles ever registered in the states of Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming or "Zone C." These vehicles are equipped with certain air bag inflators assembled as part of the passenger frontal air bag modules used as original equipment or replacement equipment. In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger frontal air bag, these inflators may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to absolute humidity and temperature cycling.
Risk: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
Remedy: Mazda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front passenger air bag inflator with an alternate inflator, free of charge. The recall began March 2, 2018. Owners may contact Mazda customer service at 1-800-222-5500. Mazda's number for this recall is 1317F.
Campaign 18V018000
Issue: Mazda North American Operations (Mazda) is recalling certain model year 2007-2014 CX-9 vehicles manufactured October 24, 2006, to December 28, 2013. The affected vehicles have front suspension ball joints that may corrode from water leaking into the fitting.
Risk: Over time, the ball joint corrosion may result in the front lower control arm separating from the ball joint, causing a loss of steering control and increasing the risk of a crash.
Remedy: Mazda will notify owners, and dealers will replace both the left and right lower control arms, free of charge. The recall began on September 14, 2015. The recall will begin with model year 2007-2009 vehicles registered in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington D.C., West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The second phase will be for model year 2010-2014 vehicles in the same states. Finally, all remaining vehicles will be remedied. Owners may contact Mazda customer service at 1-800-222-5500. Mazda's number for this recall is 8515G.
Campaign 15V451000
Issue: MAZDA IS RECALLING CERTAIN MODEL YEAR 2010 CX-9 VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH ELECTRICALLY HEATED FRONT SEATS. THERE IS A POSSIBILITY UNDER EXTREMELY COLD CONDITIONS FOR THE SEAT HEATER CONTROL CIRCUIT TO OVERHEAT AND FAIL DUE TO INSUFFICIENT ELECTRICAL GROUNDING.
Risk: THIS MAY CAUSE BURN DAMAGE OF THE SEAT CUSHION SURFACE, OR A RISK OF SMOKE/FIRE.
Remedy: DEALERS WILL INSTALL AN ADDITIONAL GROUND HARNESS ON THE SEAT HEATER CONTROL SYSTEM. THE SEAT HEATER CONTROL CIRCUIT WILL BE REPLACED IF NECESSARY AND/OR THE SEAT WILL BE REPAIRED FREE OF CHARGE. THE SAFETY RECALL BEGAN ON MARCH 9, 2010. OWNERS MAY CONTACT MAZDA AT 1-800-222-5500.
Campaign 10V051000
No EPA fuel-economy match for this model. Naming may differ, or it predates EPA records.
The parts named most often across 195 owner complaints filed with NHTSA for this make, model and year.
5 crashes · 2 injured
4 fires
1 crash · 1 fire · 2 injured
Complaints are self-reported and skew toward problems people find alarming, so read this as where to look rather than as a defect rate.
The break booster went out without any warning or indicators while driving almost resulting in a collision. There are no warning lights on the dashboard.
Front suspension broke while my husband was driving back from a fire as he is a volunteer firefighter. He states car did not have any lights on dash to report there was a problem. The next thing he knew he heard a loud squealing noise and lost control of the vehicle taking him off road in a small ditch. As the axle broke it went upward and hit both belts and shredded them. He was not able to move or drive the car at all. I am the owner of this vehicle had I been driving I would have totaled and crashed,also I do have A [XXX] son I drive to school most days. Thank goodness my husband is a heck of a driver. I have contacted the Mazda manufacturer and they are stating that the vehicle was already fixed that they will not do a safety remedy. As I found out there was a 8515G recall for the front suspension interior corroding. I just purchased this vehicle on 2/24/2026 it broke on 3/19/2026. The vehicle states to have been fixed in 2017. I have the inspection papers from the previous dealer from whom I bought it from in 2021 and the one from the dealer that I purchased it and that inspection was in 2025. There has been no inspections after I purchased or after the catastrophic failure happened I am in process of this and my insurance is the next I'm contacting. There was no police report as there was only damage done to the vehicle,luckily no one else was involved and my husband was ok. We have never dealt with this before and didn't really know what to do or how to go about this. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
The contact owns a 2010 Mazda CX-9. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V782000 (Air Bags). The contact called the dealer and was advised to tow the vehicle to the dealer for the recall repair. The contact stopped driving the vehicle due to the recall. The contact attempted to call the dealer for an alternative mode of transporting the vehicle to the dealer, but the calls were not returned. The manufacturer was contacted, and the contact was referred to the dealer for assistance. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact had not experienced a failure.
Driver side Lower control arm fail off from the ball joint
Stiff brake pedal , more effort to stop and longer distant to stop.
My wife was taking my daughters for marching band and all of a sudden she tried to press the brakes but the brakes felt too hard and she was unable to stop the car safely. She had to take immediate action by moving the car to the shoulder to stop the car. There were no warning signs on the screen. The car was taken to the mechanic and the dealership. The dealership said that this was a brake booster issue which would be fixed for $1500. This is a serious issue which if had happened on the highway would have been tragic. Mazda and the dealership refuse to fix this free of cost since they say that they had already communicated about "an extension of warranty" to fix this problem in 2015 - at which time there were no issues with the brakes.
Vehicle difficult to stop, believe it is a bad brake booster.
Water pump failure causing catastrophic engine damage
Braking inconsistently - sometimes easy to stop, sometimes hard. I had brakes looked at, and the man said it was the brake booster. He googled it, and found a recall online and told me to take it to my dealer. It doesn't look like there's an active recall - but a lot of complaints. What's going on? This is going to be expensive. My college age daughter drives that car. Do they have to have a severe accident to get that fixed? I can't afford to fix it right now.
The contact owns a 2010 Mazda CX-9. The contact stated while conducting a routine check, he noticed that the coolant and the oil levels were low. An independent mechanic diagnosed that the coolant was leaking into the engine. The vehicle was not repaired. An unknown dealer was contacted and informed the contact that the VIN was not included in a recall related to the failure. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 160,000.
Brakes not working due to brake booster problem which was brought to the attention of Mazda. Mazda and the transportation authority agreed on an extended warranty which is no longer in effect. There have been many more complaints for this same problem, yet a recall has not been listed for this vechicle and alot of people are paying out of pocket. I already brought this to the attention of traffic safety and never received a return reply. Brakes are squishy than you end up having to put brakes all the way to get car to stop. People are unaware of this major brake and safety defect
Driving and brakes would not work without pressing really hard. The problem was reported before on these cars and continue to be a problem. https://www.carcomplaints.com/Mazda/CX-9/2010/brakes/stiff_difficult_braking.shtml my car has been in 2 shops for about 3 months now. They had to replace several parts in the braking system. Than the rear brakes completely froze up and towed to Mazda out of Greensboro NC.
Showing 12 of 195 complaints.
NHTSA frontal crash test
3 open NHTSA investigations into this model. Investigations come before recalls, so these are potential defects not yet covered by one.
Rated configuration: 2010 Mazda CX-9 4-DR.w/SAB