Class Action Suit Claims Mazda CX-90 Vehicles Contain ‘Patently Dangerous’ Brake, Steering Defects

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Mazda faces a proposed class action lawsuit that alleges the automaker has knowingly concealed that certain 2024-2026 model year CX-90 vehicles suffer from a defect that can cause premature, excessive deterioration of braking system components and related Lane-keep Assist steering issues.

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The 47-page automotive lawsuit contends that although the Mazda CX-90 crossover SUVs at issue are specifically marketed to families given the cars’ three-row seating, cargo capacity and safety features, the apparent defect renders the vehicles unsafe for their intended use. The filing charges that the alleged Mazda CX-90 defects distract drivers, undermine confidence in the vehicles’ safety systems, diminish the cars’ value and pose safety risks.

According to the complaint, the premature deterioration of the CX-90 braking system components is often accompanied by decreased braking performance, “persistent, abnormal, and intrusive” high-pitched brake squealing, and inappropriate and over-corrective steering from the Lane-Keep Assist system in opposition to steering input from the driver.

A driver may also experience juddering or vibration when the brakes are applied during normal operation, which the lawsuit emphasizes can make handling a vehicle difficult and dangerous during operation. Moreover, some consumers may become accustomed to squealing or creaking sounds coming from the car’s brakes, meaning they may begin to ignore the “typical warning signs” indicating that the brakes are failing, the case adds.

Although Mazda brake pads should last anywhere from 30,000 to 65,000 miles, CX-90 drivers have complained of having to replace their brake pads within the first 1,000 miles of use, the complaint says.

Similarly, consumers have reported that the CX-90’s Lane-keep Assist feature, which is supposed to provide steering assistance to avoid lane departure while driving, allegedly has its own defect that manifests as a “forceful” application of automated steering against steering input from the driver.

The case says the flaw “leaves the driver fighting against automated steering in the wrong direction” and increases the chance of “erratic” steering movement should the steering assistance suddenly cut out.

According to the lawsuit, consumer complaints about the Mazda CX-90 vehicles at issue began “almost immediately” after the vehicle was launched in the United States in 2023. Crucially, the filing says Mazda had prior knowledge of the defects from the release of a “substantially identical” vehicle in Japan and Europe, the MY2024 CX-90, which led to numerous consumer complaints, particularly about the steering assistance feature.

The filing says that prior to Mazda’s 2023 release of the CX-90 in the United States, the manufacturer issued a service alert concerning a brake defect involving “brake noise, brake judder, or brake dragging,” which superseded two previous service alerts about the same defect.

Mazda routinely gathers “substantive” information from its dealerships about consumer complaints and repairs to vehicles, and the case says the automaker knew or should have known of the preexisting defects from its collection and analysis of service repairs and part replacements. The lawsuit contends that Mazda has “detailed, accurate, and real-time data” about the frequency and number of replacement part orders for its CX-90 vehicles that should have indicated the “scope and severity” of the apparent brake and steering assistance defects.

Additionally, the filing says that Mazda previously issued a safety recall over the lane-keep steering assistance feature that ostensibly resolved the issue in CX-90 vehicles sold and leased in the United States.

“This safety recall in no way affected the operation” of the vehicles, the case says, noting that, “unsurprisingly,” steering assistance features “continued to malfunction” after the supposed repairs covered by the recall were completed. The case says that when consumers bring their vehicles to an authorized Mazda dealership, the solutions offered are “temporary band-aids, at best.”

Per the class action lawsuit, the plaintiff purchased a 2024 CX-90 in November 2023 after considering safety and functionality, but brought the vehicle to a Mazda dealership in January 2024 due to concerns about “forceful and erroneous ‘correction’” from the lane-keep assist feature and “squealing” brakes that were “loud and distracting.” The suit adds that while at the dealership, the plaintiff was told the issues were “normal,” but following that service visit, the consumer returned in February 2024 with the same concerns and repairs were supposedly made.

The lawsuit conveys that the plaintiff was forced to return to the dealership over the same concerns nine times over the course of the next year, with the suit noting that “[s]ince plaintiff purchased the vehicle, it spent approximately 36 days at a Mazda dealership for repairs.” Each time, the complaint says, Mazda either “failed” to fix the dangerous defects or only provided “limited or temporary solutions.” In fact, the case claims that one Mazda dealership deemed the brake defects as “unfixable,” with no available recourse for the plaintiff.

The Mazda CX-90 class action lawsuit seeks to cover all individuals residing in the Commonwealth of Virginia who, within the applicable statute of limitations period, purchased or leased in Virginia a model year 2024-2026 Mazda CX-90 for personal, family, or household use.

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