Mazda CX-9 vs BMW X5

Both cars' complete complaint records, side by side.

Read the totals carefully. NHTSA publishes no sales figures, so the car that sold more collects more complaints regardless of quality. The rows worth weighing are the proportions — the share of complaints that involved harm, and which part dominates.

Measure	Mazda CX-9	BMW X5
Complaints on file	1,832	4,578
Model years covered	2007–2023	2000–2026
Worst model year	2012	2021
Best model year	2020	2007
Crashes reported	92	190
Fires reported	15	236
Injuries reported	38	142
Deaths reported	0	7
Most complained-about part	Brakes	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	7.9%	12.6%

Mazda CX-9 by year

98 234 66 194 209 263 80 73 45 142 78 167 75 26 51 14 17

07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Brakes 436 23.8%

Engine & Cooling 369 20.1%

Transmission & Drivetrain 163 8.9%

Suspension 148 8.1%

Airbags 135 7.4%

Other & Unspecified 120 6.6%

Electrical System 85 4.6%

Steering 61 3.3%

BMW X5 by year

37 215 136 134 93 109 221 119 319 203 190 395 374 215 130 203 113 111 101 274 159 166 118 48 253 107 35

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 914 20.0%

Airbags 628 13.7%

Electrical System 546 11.9%

Transmission & Drivetrain 433 9.5%

Fuel & Propulsion 403 8.8%

Brakes 309 6.7%

Other & Unspecified 279 6.1%

Steering 138 3.0%