Owners have filed 787 complaints on the Mazda Protege, covering 1990–2003. The system named most often is Seat Belts (143 reports). Worst years by volume: 1995, 2003, 2002; cleanest: 1990, 1993, 1991. 137 reports describe a crash, 16 a fire, 2 a death. On average the car was 4.6 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Mazda Protege
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 787 Protege complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Seat Belts 143 Read
I was involved in an auto accident while driving an '03 mazda protege5. Upon impact my seat belt failed
Upon impact, during frontal crash, hit telephone pole, 2:00 on front bumper, driver's shoulder harness failed to retract enough, causing him to hit steering wheel
During front end collision drivers air bag failed and passenger seatbelt failed. Tt
Air Bags 100 Read
I was taking a corner on hwy 36 and hit gravel on the side of the road. The car went off the road did a nose dive into a ditch flip forward end over end, slid and rolled twice. Non of the air bags deployed. Neither driver or passenger. I am not positive but my car should have had side curtain air bags but they did not…
Failure of side air bag to deploy. On date indicated the right side of my 2003 mazda protege5 struck a metal utility pole with sufficient force to cause the vehicle to be a total loss, yet the side curtain air bag did not deploy. This was a direct and not glancing blow the main force of which struck immediately over…
My son was involved in an auto accident and none of the front or side air bags went off. Though he or the other driver was not seriously injured my concern was why didnt the air bags go off? Everyone I have spoke to about this felt there may of been some defect in this car because of all the damage involved my son was…
Power Train 98 Read
My daughter drove my mazda protege 5 to pick up my son and to retrieve something from a friend's house. She parked the car on the friend's flat driveway, placing it in first gear. While she was inside of the house, the car somehow popped out of gear and picked up enough momentum to roll onto the road. The road was a…
When driving on highway, the overdrive light started to flash and tachometer went to 5000 rpms, vehicle did not accelerate and did not change gear. The second time, driver lost control and hit a curb while driving on slippery road
While vehicle is in reverse and then switches to drive, vehicle will jump without a warning. One time resulted in crash into a cement wall, driver was injured. *ak
Engine And Engine Cooling 92 Read
My son bought a 2003 mazda protege 5, back in late july 2010. Shortly thereafter, on august 3rd, 2010 in fact, he knowing of an open recall, had the car serviced at the local mazda dealership. Apparently they performed part a of recall 3005c and did a compression check and slapped a "recall completed" sticker under…
While approaching a stop sign, the engine stalled causing the brakes and power steering not to work. I was unable to stop at the stop sign and ran into the embankment on the other side. This car has had a history of engine stalling while running
While pulling into parking space with foot on brakes vehicle suddenly accelerated. The vehicle jumped the parking bump & hit a brick wall. No physical injuries. Prior to acceleration, had venicle at dealer & the timing belt was adjusted
Service Brakes 59 Read
The problems with this particular vehicle occurred on 11/01/2001 in an auto accident. I'm the passenger who was driving the vehicle southbound on the interstate when suddenly I couldn't stop the vehicle because of the brakes, so I tried to change lanes, and the car veered off the road, landing in a ditch after…
Brake failure on my 2001 mazda protege es which caused me to rear-end another vehicle. Both vehicles are total losses
I had been in an accident in early 2006 that was reported to the police and when I applied my brakes, they were not effective. I thought it was the type of tire I had on my car so about 2 weeks ago I spent 600 for top of the line tires. On 11/17/2006, I was behind a car that slammed on their brakes and when I applied…
Electrical System 42 Read
The current issues ( which we believe are mazda corporate issues) and inherent to this vehicle which has low, low, low miles have caused the engine to overheat and have resulted in an engine fire, twice, on the freeway: 1)faulty electrical parts: this vehicle has had the same electrical problems since the first day we…
Purchased a new 2002 mazda protege on 2/20/02 from ramsey mazda, ramsey, nj. Other than regular oil changes, only service to vehicle done by mazda dealer on 5/8/02 when car stalled and dealer installed new computer. On 8/24/03, while driving car stalled and I saw smoke coming from under the hood. Opened hood and saw…
I was at a local restaurant when they announced a mazda protege was on fire in the parking lot. Fire department and police were called. Fire was put out and fire department looked to find source of fire. I was told it was electrical. It started in the wiring at the left rear door. The fireman asked what was in the…
Tires 31 Read
I was driving alone my 1998 mazda protege along a local route in tewksbury ma in light rain at about 30-35 mph when a car a few cars ahead of me made a quick stop for a left turn. Several car behind stopped without problem, but I was not able to stop and skid all the way into the car at front which was a 2002 camry.…
Third tire of set of 4 that tread had separated - this one totaled the car and injured one person. Tire had 18,000 miles wear. *ak (tiresize: p185/60r14)( DOT number: tire size: p185/60r14 )
Tread on the center rib of tires started to break off.*mr consumer noticed splitting on the outside of both front tires. Condition gotten worse, traction on the tires had be affected and tires tended to slip. Vehicle was taken to the dealer who concluded the tire were defective. Only the center rib and outer shoulder…
Suspension 28 Read
- the contact owns a 2003 mazda protg. The contact was driving 15 mph when the passenger side lower control arm split in half and the strut went through the fender along with the upper control arm. The road conditions were normal. When the vehicle hit the ground both airbags deployed. The driver was injured as a…
2002 mazda protege was involved in a head on collision at 30 mph yet the air bags did not deploy.*mr the consumer sustained two slipped disk in her back. After the vehicle's body damage was repaired the vehicle was taken to the dealer to have the air bags tested but the dealer refused to test the air bag. The…
Less than two months after purchasing my 2000 mazda protege new from the dealer I took the vehicle to the service dept. While accelerating, the car would jerk and buck as if I hit a brick wall. The car continued to do this. Each time I complained to the service dept. At the dealership I was told nothing was wrong. I…
Protege 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Air Bags | 14 | 2 | |
| 2002 | Air Bags | 7 | 2 | |
| 2001 | Air Bags | 10 | 1 | |
| 2000 | Air Bags | 15 | 2 | |
| 1999 | Air Bags | 14 | 1 | |
| 1998 | Air Bags | 7 | — | |
| 1997 | Air Bags | 12 | 1 | |
| 1996 | Air Bags | 18 | 1 | |
| 1995 | Air Bags | 25 | 2 | |
| 1994 | Electrical System | 6 | 1 | |
| 1993 | Back Over Prevention | 1 | 1 | |
| 1992 | Air Bags | 3 | — | |
| 1991 | Air Bags,seat Belts | 3 | 2 | |
| 1990 | Electrical System | 2 | — |
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 | 345 |
| Average complaints per series | 2.3 |
| Worst single series | 17 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 4.6 years |
A model average of 2.3 hides a worst series at 17. 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 Protege?
By complaint volume, 1995, 2003, 2002 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 Protege years are the cleanest?
1990, 1993, 1991 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Mazda Protege have?
787 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1990–2003. Of those, 137 describe a crash and 16 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.