We recently got to see a lawsuit against Mazda because there were a lot of car owners who were having issues with Mazda cars like most of the time, it got something to do with their infotainment systems like there were screen freezes, random reboots, and sometimes it just stopped working entirely. This may not sound way too severe of a thing, but just imagine you’re mid-drive, completely relying on the navigation system of the car, but then it just stops working completely. Just like this, there were some other issues too, like some with the Bluetooth call connectivity and with the backup camera as well.
As per the experts, these issues are mainly because of faulty SD cards and overall weak software which wasn’t that much optimized. And it is not like this problem is occurring in newer models only, nah, Mazda cars from 2014 to 2023 model ones have these problems. Cars like the Mazda2, Mazda3, Mazda6, CX-3, CX-5, CX-9, and MX-5 all had these frustrating infotainment failures. The surprising thing was that Mazda even told their customers that there was no fix for this, and that’s what got a lot of people angry and they went on to file this lawsuit. Though, now we have the Mazda Infotainment Lawsuit Settlement, but a lot of people are saying that it is just unfair and doesn’t seem right. Let’s talk about just that.
How the Lawsuit Began
It actually started in July 2024 when a class-action lawsuit was filed in Kentucky, USA, against Mazda. As per the details that are already out, the case claimed that Mazda had even issued Technical Service Bulletins (TSBs) as early as 2016. Back then, they clearly told this issue to the dealerships, but not the customers.
To hide this thing or make it slightly better, the company even tried to offer an extended warranty for some of the infotainment problems, but as per the lawsuit details, even the replacements were just as faulty. And sure enough, it wasn’t until 2023 that Mazda issued a recall. But not for all!
Is This Settlement Fair? The Controversy Explained
Well yes, Mazda actually settled this case outside of court because they didn’t want to get into the trials and all that. So yes, we now have a settlement where the company agreed to pay about $1,750 to customers who have already paid for the repairs out of their pockets. Meanwhile, the lawyers who worked on the case walked away with a massive $1.9 million in fees.
A lot of customers who have Mazda cars say that this settlement is straight-up unfair because people who have faced these failures won’t get anything unless they go through the complex reimbursement process. And the affected people aka the customers who have faced the real issues have gotten just about $1,750, and the lawyers are walking away with 200 times of that, like a total of $1.9 million? In what way does that sound fair? That’s precisely what the customers are asking, and that’s why they’re calling this settlement a failure and straight-up unfair.