Owners have filed 123 complaints on the Mazda 929, covering 1988–1995. The system named most often is Service Brakes (27 reports). Worst years by volume: 1989, 1992, 1988; cleanest: 1995, 1990, 1993. 7 reports describe a crash, 2 a fire. On average the car was 5.9 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Mazda 929
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 123 929 complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Service Brakes 27 Read
Vehicle begins to roll forward after stopping and brake pedal is still depressed
ABS brakes failed. Also, front brake disc rotors/pads continuously warped due to manufacturer's defect
Brakes pedal goes directly to floor when applied or idling at stoplight. Please describe details. Tt
Structure 22 Read
Automatic trunk latch failed three times
Front door panels are cracked and need to be replaced
Outside door handle failed, causing right/rear door not to open from inside/outside prior to recall, repairs refused, only pertains to front doors (93V-174)
Seat Belts 15 Read
Driver's seat becomes very loose and rocks back and forth during acceleration/ deceleration, and braking. Vehicle becomes very difficult to maintain, welded section of seat adjuster rod broke
Leather upholstry is peeling and something on the underside causes the seat to rock
Drivers side seat belt will not unlatch or latch at all. Tt
Engine And Engine Cooling 13 Read
Sun roof/driver window/left rear window and right rear window came down while driving on its own,and the motor will not assist in helping the window to go back up. Also my car is stalling while driving approximately 17 miles. The car does a jerking motion before stalling. Finally, the passenger's air bag is warped,…
My spouse was on her way to work when the car engine was rough idling and stalled. No engine light or instrument warning indicator came on. The car was towed to a local mazda service dealer the same day. We contacted the service dept on 01/07/99 and learned that the car had a failure, an electrical short in one of the…
1994 mazda 929 has been experiencing unintended acceleration problems. Have not gotten it fixed yet so I don't know what it will cost
Electrical System 6 Read
While driving the vehicle defective ignition wiring caused the gas to builded up in cataylic converter, which caused a fire in the middle bottom of the vehicle
Rear window regulators failed causing the windows not to roll up
While driving on the freeway about (50) mph the car stalled then completely stopped
Power Train 6 Read
The consumer has been experiencing problems with automatic transmission. While the consumer was driving, the vehicle cut off and would not restart. The manufacturer has been contacted
Transmission hesitation
Transmission replaced due to slipping
Tires 5 Read
Please see my e-mail of sept. 4 wherein I described the tire failure fully. Our tire shredded as we were driving on the interstate and apparently we are lucky not to be injured physically...or worse. However, I am furious that firestone dealers were not only still selling the tires the week before the announced…
Right rear tire belt broke causing extensive damage to rear bumper / under carriage & right rear door
While driving about 80 mph left front tire had a tread separation. Consumer pulled over while tire still had air, then went flat. Bridgetone, turanza, p205/65 r15 92h and DOT # em9ldlf127. *ak tread separation occurd to two tires at 1500 miles interval
Latches/locks/linkages 5 Read
3 of the 4 vehicle doors will not open
Driver's side rear passenger door won't open from outside. Tt
Mfr 53404 NHTSA 93V174; door assembly; outer handle; gillman mazda rosenburg tx. Vehicle experiencing doors locking 3 of 4 after recall service 9/19/95
929 years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Child Seat | — | — | |
| 1994 | Air Bags | 3 | — | |
| 1993 | Electrical System | 1 | — | |
| 1992 | Air Bags,vehicle Speed Control | 2 | 1 | |
| 1991 | Electrical System | 1 | 1 | |
| 1990 | Engine And Engine Cooling | — | — | |
| 1989 | Engine And Engine Cooling | — | — | |
| 1988 | Electrical System | — | — |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 72 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.7 |
| Worst single series | 6 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 5.9 years |
A model average of 1.7 hides a worst series at 6. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
- Full research report as a PDF for the pre-purchase inspection
- No ads, on every page
- No ads, no tracking — and much more
How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the 929?
By complaint volume, 1989, 1992, 1988 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which 929 years are the cleanest?
1995, 1990, 1993 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Mazda 929 have?
123 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1988–1995. Of those, 7 describe a crash and 2 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.