Was braking with traffic and all of a sudden the emergency braking kicked on and brought the car to a stop from about 40 miles per hour with no immediate threat of collision. Brakes were being applied manually and had plenty of room infront of the vehicle and traffic was not stopped. Nearly caused the vehicle behind to collide into me. Very uncomfortable whiplash feeling experienced and my unsecured belongings in my car went flying.

The contact's daughter owns a 2026 Mazda CX-50. The contact stated that while his daughter was driving 40 MPH and decelerating to turn into a parking lot, the front passenger’s side wheel detached and fell in underneath the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to a tow yard and was then towed to the dealer. The dealer stated that the failure was due to a crash and informed the owner that the repair was not covered under warranty; however, the contact stated that a Police Officer confirmed that there was no damage to the curb or in the vicinity of the vehicle during the failure. No diagnostic information was available. Upon inspection by an insurance adjuster, it was determined that the repair would be covered by the insurance company and would be performed using aftermarket parts. The parts were unavailable, and the vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and assisted in locating a dealer. The failure mileage was approximately 3,506.

I was backing out of a parking spot in a parking lot that backed up to a 2 lane highway. I placed the car in Reverse and then put the car in Drive, so that I could exit the parking lot to a side road. When I placed the car in Drive and pressed gas, the car went into Reverse (towards the 2 lane highway behind me). I placed the car in park, then back to Drive, it went in Reverse again. We were now in the 2 lane highway with oncoming traffic swerving to avoid us. We decided to put the car in park and turn off the car. Then, we restarted and place the car in Drive. It went into drive and we moved forward into the parking lot, off the highway and then we could exit the parking lot and drive home.

This report concerns the design of the front seat belt reminder system, which I believe creates a safety hazard. The audible warning begins the instant the engine starts — while the vehicle is stationary in Park — is very loud, and repeats indefinitely until the belt is latched. Federal Standard No. 208 requires only a short warning (up to 8 seconds); this immediate, persistent chime is a voluntary design choice. Other manufacturers (e.g., Honda) meet the same standard while chiming only once the vehicle is in motion, which is sufficient and far less intrusive. The safety problem: because the warning is so aggravating, owners are defeating their own seat belt systems. Owners across the Mazda lineup — CX-5, CX-30, CX-50, CX-90, Mazda3, and Mazda6 — publicly document this on owner forums ([XXX], [XXX], [XXX], [XXX], [XXX], [XXX]) and in TikTok and YouTube tutorials. Common methods include cutting or de-pinning the buckle-latch wire so the car always reads as belted, and installing uncertified seat belt extenders or dummy buckles. The buckle-latch signal feeds the airbag/SRS control module and affects airbag and pretensioner deployment, so these workarounds degrade crash protection. NHTSA's own research notes that reminders annoying enough to be circumvented reduce seat belt use. Mazda has acknowledged the excessive chime volume in Technical Service Bulletin 09-002-24. The system operates as designed — the design itself is the hazard. Symptom: continuous chime and belt warning light at startup while in Park; vehicle available for inspection on request. I request that NHTSA review whether this reminder design induces unsafe circumvention and should be revised. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Component: Air Bags – Knee Airbag / Trim Panel During a collision, on July 3rd with the Mazda CX‑50, the knee airbag deployed and a hard plastic trim panel from the lower dashboard was forcibly ejected. This panel struck my knee and caused a laceration across my kneecap. The injury was not caused by the crash itself but directly by the detached interior component. The trim panel appears to be part of the knee‑airbag assembly and should not detach with enough force or sharpness to cause bodily harm. I experience pain, discomfort, and ongoing issues due to the injury with tingling down my left leg when I get up to walk. I am concerned this represents a design or manufacturing defect in the knee‑airbag trim panel or its breakaway mechanism. Photos of the deployed airbag, the detached part, and the injury are available.