Owners have filed 1,713 complaints on the Mazda Tribute, covering 2001–2011. The system named most often is Engine And Engine Cooling (233 reports). Worst years by volume: 2001, 2005, 2002; cleanest: 2011, 2010, 2009. 86 reports describe a crash, 52 a fire, 5 a death. On average the car was 6.5 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Mazda Tribute
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 1,713 Tribute complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Engine And Engine Cooling 233 Read
The contact owns a 2008 mazda tribute. While traveling at 40 mph, the contact changed lanes to pass a vehicle but when he depressed the accelerator pedal to speed up, the pedal went to the floorboard and the vehicle stalled. The contact was able to restart the vehicle but the engine only raced up and down with no…
2004 mazda tribute, 6 cylinder. The engine exploded upon starting, specifically the intake manifold. Upon starting, an extremely loud explosion occurred, the hood was raised about an inch and smoke and flame poured out from under the hood. I exited the vehicle and the smoked subsided and plastic parts where scattered…
Wife drove 2003 mazda tribute to arby's (I was meeting her there), got out of car and walked up to the entrance. As she got to arby's door, someone outside mentioned to her that her car was smoking. She came inside to get me and as I came out a lot of smoke was coming out of the engine compartment. I unlocked the car…
Vehicle Speed Control 219 Read
As I am driving the ABS and traction control lights come on and the car will start kicking like something is trying to in gage itself this has caused the transmission to go out so I have had it rebuilt thinking maybe the transmission was bad I have the car back now and the car is doing the same thing as it was doing…
I bought new mazda tribute in 1/17/2006 first time driving in cruise control on freeway suddenly my cruise control not working in the middle of the freeway, luckily chp officer was there with in minute he help me.... My mileage was only 2300 something this is really crazy thing because I have wife and 3 year old…
On several occasions my vehicle has had a sticky gas pedal. I alerted the dealership in the past advising of this same issue regarding my prior 2003 mazda tribute vehicle. I was told in the past to change the gas utilized. In addition, I was recently advised to bring the vehicle in for service due to a possible…
Suspension 202 Read
Right rear frame has rusted out enough to cause brake and shock issues causing a perfectly good vehicle to become unsafe and dangerous for my family and others. The shock and brake line broke and the vehicle slid to a stop
" takata recall" it happened on the two lane highway on bright sunny day at around 1 pm. Car drifted the middle lane and I couldn't bring it back in the lane. I felt somebody was controlled the steering wheel. I hold the steering wheel with both hands but I couldn't direct the car. It did swing around 4 times and hit…
2001 mazda tribute. Consumer writes in regards to the vehicle subframe corrosion recall notice. *smd the consumer received a recall notice in early june. However, she had already paid for the repairs. So, she submitted a request for reimbursement, along with a synopsis of the trouble she experienced. The consumer…
Steering 164 Read
While attempting to get in left lane to turn my steering wheel locked causing me to lose control of my vehicle and collide with an on coming vehicle
Already reported.....this is additional info poor mechanic service had car for month no rental vehicle:2004 trb lx xa safety recall(s) found: 4 special service program (ssp) recall(s) found: 0 last updated: march 11, 2015 mazda recall #: 6812g NHTSA recall #: 12V357000 recall date recall description repair description…
While driving about 45 mph on the highway and without warning the vehicle shut down. Steering locked/ brakes failed, and headlights were flickering on and off. Driver lost control of the vehicle, and went into a fence, causing a collision. Upon impact, air bags failed to deploy. The driver's side air bag did not…
Power Train 148 Read
Throttle freeze up. Could not accelerate out of path of on coming vehicle which crashed into my left front fender. This condition has been on going for years now and when I approached the dealer about it I was told to wait for recall letter which never came. Contacted mazda and was told that this vehicle was not one…
My wife was in the parking lot at church waiting for a car to pull away so she could park. The car started to roll forward so she stepped harder on the brake. The car lurched ahead crashing into the car in front of her. My wife is quite sure she had her foot on the brake. As she told me about this I started…
The axle separated and fell off vehicle while driving. This resulted in the consumer losing steering control of the vehicle and crashing into the side of the bridge
Service Brakes 145 Read
2001 mazda tribute. Consumer states brake failure while driving, causing a crash and vehicle fire *tgw recall # 12V357000 was referenced
Email referral from center for auto safety on behalf of consumer re: NHTSA recall 12V357 / pe12-09. Referral associated an april 2011 incident with the recall and included a police accident report and two photos *tgw according to the narrative from the police report, the driver of the vehicle stated she was traveling…
I purchased a new 2009 mazda tribute. I have always taken it to the dealer for maintenance. It has apx. 15000 miles. The last oil change at about 9,100 miles I complained about squeaking brakes. They verified that they were checked and found in good condition. On june 8, 2010 I was turning into a residential area and…
Structure 145 Read
The passenger subframe is rusted and broke the axel when driving. Glad im ok….So dangerous and the driver side is fine so bad design by ford (the tribute is like the escape)
I was fully stopped at a stop sign on 8/31. I gently stepped on the gas pedal to make a right hand turn onto a busy street and my 05 mazda tribute took off at an uncontrollable rate of speed and I remember my vehicle jumping the curve, running threw a 4' sago palm (on the grass) and traveling approximately 35' - 45')…
The contact owns a 2004 mazda tribute. After the vehicle was serviced under NHTSA campaign number: 14V174000 (structure), the technician stated that there was excessive rust on the undercarriage. As a result, the undercarriage needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. In addition, the contact stated that…
Electrical System 113 Read
The contact owns a 2005 mazda tribute. While the vehicle was stationary, the contact's wife noticed that the vehicle caught on fire. Upon inspection, the contact observed the front driver's seat in flames. The fire department was notified of the fire; however, the contact extinguished the flames. The vehicle was not…
2003 mazda tribute caught on fire while parked in front of house. It had not been driven since the night before. Damage was limited to engine compartment. It appeared to have originated from the anti-lock braking electonic control module directly below the power steering reservoir. The car horn/alarm started beeping,…
The contact owns a 2003 mazda tribute. The contact stated that after driving the vehicle for 15 minutes, she drove it into a drive way and after shifting into park the brake light illuminated. The contact stated that she shifted into drive and back to park to see if the vehicle would reset itself but the ABS light…
Tribute 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Air Bags | 2 | — | |
| 2010 | Air Bags | — | — | |
| 2009 | Air Bags | 2 | — | |
| 2008 | Air Bags | 5 | 1 | |
| 2006 | Air Bags | 9 | 1 | |
| 2005 | Air Bags | 13 | 4 | |
| 2004 | Air Bags | 13 | 3 | |
| 2003 | Air Bags | 14 | 8 | |
| 2002 | Air Bags | 13 | 23 | |
| 2001 | Air Bags | 15 | 12 |
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 | 528 |
| Average complaints per series | 3.2 |
| Worst single series | 19 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 6.5 years |
A model average of 3.2 hides a worst series at 19. 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
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- 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 Tribute?
By complaint volume, 2001, 2005, 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 Tribute years are the cleanest?
2011, 2010, 2009 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Mazda Tribute have?
1,713 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2001–2011. Of those, 86 describe a crash and 52 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.