Advice To Mazda CX-5 Owners About To Deal With the Fuel Pump Recall

This week, Mazda owners learned that the vehicle they own may be subject to a fuel pump-related recall. This recall is similar in many ways to one that Toyota owners have been undergoing. Consumer Reports has reported, “(The) problem is due to a batch of over 2 million faulty low-pressure fuel pumps manufactured by Denso, an automotive supplier, which were installed on vehicles made by Acura, Ford, Honda, Lexus, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Subaru, and Toyota.” The Toyota recall reporting at this site has generated over 7 pages of comments from owners who experienced the recall. We have noticed some important trends among the owners based on this feedback.

Related Topic: Mazda Second Only To Lexus In Consumer Reports Brand Reliability Rankings

Suggestion One - Document Your Average MPG Now
Many owners of Toyota vehicles who have had the fuel pump recall report significantly lower fuel economy after the repair. We are not talking about a reduction of 1 MPG, or a small difference. Rather, owners are reporting that in many cases the miles per gallon drop by 20 to 25%. One 2018 Camry owner and reader whose comment seems to typify this side effect reported, “My car is down 7 MPG and about 100 MPG to a tank. Had my pump replaced in late May. Have hesitation upon acceleration as well. Seems as if there is a disconnect from throttle to engine or the engine takes a large gasp of air before responding. RPMs jump ridiculously high. Car was perfect before replacement.” You can read the comments from Toyota owners under the story at this link.

Related Story: Subaru Recalls Vehicles For Denso Fuel Pump Issues

By documenting your mileage with images and notes now, you will have more effective communication with your Mazda dealership in the event that something changes after the repair. In the gauge cluster behind the steering wheel is the average MPG. Do not reset your average MPG. You can use the “B” trip odometer to start a new average now and then document the mileage the vehicle has and the miles of that sample. We suggest owners do so. A significant drop in mileage is a common complaint from owners of Toyotas that had their fuel pumps replaced. We suggest that owners take images showing the average MPG reading in their vehicles.

Suggestion Two - Ask The Dealer If Your Car Will Smell Like Gasoline After the Repair
A small sampling of Toyota owners who had the fuel pumps replaced in their cars report that they can smell gasoline in the cabin. This is never acceptable. However, some also report push-back from dealers about it. We suggest that you ask the dealer to confirm prior to the work that the vehicle will not smell like gasoline after the repair is completed and that if the dealer says it might, stop and phone Mazda’s customer advocacy line for clarification.

Suggestion Three - Document or Correct Any Poor Performance Now
In advance of the recall being implemented, if your vehicle runs poorly you should advise your dealer now and make an appointment to have it investigated and corrected. All of the vehicles in the recall should still be under the five-year, 60,000-mile powertrain warranty. If your Mazda is under warranty and not performing properly, have it inspected now. It may be related, or may not be. In any case, some Toyota owners say things to the effect of “Car ran poorly before recall…” Never head into a recall without having reported performance issues and having given the dealer a chance to rectify those problems. It only amplifies the potential problems after the recall is completed.

Fear, uncertainty, and doubt is not part of the daily reporting this author does at Torque news or other outlets. However, with so much feedback from owners of Toyota vehicles flooding our stories in the comments section under coverage of this topic, it is only reasonable that we would provide this information to our readers who are Mazda owners.

About the Mazda Fuel Pump Recall. Information Courtesy of NHTSA:
NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V875000
Components FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE
Potential Number of Units Affected 121,038
Summary
Mazda North American Operations (Mazda) is recalling certain 2018 Mazda3, Mazda6, 2019 CX-3, 2018-2019 MX-5, CX-5, CX-9, and 2019-2020 Mazda2 vehicles. The impeller inside the low-pressure fuel pump may crack and deform, potentially causing the fuel pump to fail.
Remedy
Dealers will replace the fuel pumps, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed January 11, 2022. Owners may contact Mazda customer service at 1-800-222-5500 Option 4. Mazda's number for this recall is 5321K.

To see if your vehicle is included in the recall, use Mazda’s recall lookup tool here. You only need your vehicle identification number found on your vehicle registration.

Note: The author’s household owns a 2018 Mazda CX-5. Top of page image courtesy of Mazda media support. Odometer image by John Goreham.

John Goreham is a long-time New England Motor Press Association member and recovering engineer. John's interest in EVs goes back to 1990 when he designed the thermal control system for an EV battery as part of an academic team. After earning his mechanical engineering degree, John completed a marketing program at Northeastern University and worked with automotive component manufacturers, in the semiconductor industry, and in biotech. In addition to Torque News, John's work has appeared in print in dozens of American news outlets and he provides reviews to many vehicle shopping sites. You can follow John on TikTok @ToknCars, on Twitter, and view his credentials at Linkedin

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