Mazda says the systems aren’t faulty, and plaintiffs will share US$11,500 while the attorneys pocket US$1.9 million
- Mazda has settled a class-action lawsuit over its infotainment system
- The suit involves a number of vehicles from the 2014 to 2023 model years
- The plaintiffs will get between US$2,500 and US$4,000 each—but the lawyers will pocket US$1.9 million
Mazda is agreeing to the settlement while maintaining the systems are not faulty. That’s a very common outcome with many if not most of these suits: In the long run, it’s cheaper to pay the claim than to spend more time and even more money fighting the allegations in court. Along with that, since it wasn’t argued in court, no one has to prove or disprove the problem wasn’t real.
According to the lawsuit, in addition to the system freezing up or simply snuffing out, it could also disconnect from GPS and give slow or incorrect navigation prompts; drop Bluetooth phone calls; be slow to start up when the ignition was activated; or not display the backup camera. The problems are due to faulty navigation SIM cards or “insufficient software that cannot support the infotainment system,” the lawsuit alleged.
The suit also claimed that Mazda had known of the problem since at least late in 2016, and had issued technical service bulletins (TSBs) about it to its dealers, but hadn’t issued any recalls; and if owners complained, they were told there wasn’t a fix for it, and any repairs would be the customer’s responsibility.
Mazda is agreeing to the settlement while maintaining the systems are not faulty—since it wasn’t argued in court, no one has to prove or disprove the problem wasn’t real
One of the TSBs, released in January 2020, said that “some customers may complain about a Mazda Connect system reboot or blank screen.” Other TSBs were subsequently issued, and in 2019, Mazda issued a warranty extension on certain vehicles for problems with the system. The suit argued that when the screen was replaced under warranty, it “merely replaced a defective component with another defective component” and didn’t resolve the problem.
The original suit said it had more than 100 members (and was asking for at least US$5 million) but that was a preliminary estimate, and “the exact number and identities of individual members” wasn’t yet known. It seems that while the lawyers sent out feelers for more affected-vehicle owners, the settlement appears to indicate that only four plaintiffs are involved.
Class-action suits of this type seem to be as common as a red light atop a traffic signal, since plaintiffs just have to sign on, without putting any cash up to join. They share in the settlement if it’s successful, and don’t owe anything if it’s not. The law firm does all the work and risks not getting paid for any of it — but as this example shows, the payoff can be worth the time spent and then some.
So far, a court has only granted preliminary approval on the settlement, and a final “fairness hearing” will be held in August 2025 that should finish everything up. The settlement also includes Mazda covering affected vehicles with a two-year limited warranty that will include software updates or hardware replacement if it’s necessary. Owners who paid for repairs can claim reimbursement of up to US$1,750. Of course, this being a U.S. suit, expect that to apply only to U.S. vehicle owners.
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