2018 CX-9 problems - towed twice to the dealer.

It is understandable. I had a lot of problems with my first CX-9 2017 right from the start, but the dealer replaced it with a new 2018 CX-9 and so far no issues. I mean, at least no real problems like the previous unit but only some minor annoyances that can be tolerated. But as LemonCX9, at one point in the long and frustrating process, I lost confidence in the brand too. I like the new CX-9, but I'm worried about issues in the future because of all the troubles that I had. I decided to accept the new unit, but I was very closed to go with BMW as well. Every brand has lemons, some more, some less but the effects of a terrible experience can deter anyone to go with any other brand, even if only a 0.01% of all CX-9s have this kind of problem.
 
It is understandable. I had a lot of problems with my first CX-9 2017 right from the start, but the dealer replaced it with a new 2018 CX-9 and so far no issues. I mean, at least no real problems like the previous unit but only some minor annoyances that can be tolerated. But as LemonCX9, at one point in the long and frustrating process, I lost confidence in the brand too. I like the new CX-9, but I'm worried about issues in the future because of all the troubles that I had. I decided to accept the new unit, but I was very closed to go with BMW as well. Every brand has lemons, some more, some less but the effects of a terrible experience can deter anyone to go with any other brand, even if only a 0.01% of all CX-9s have this kind of problem.

Very true. It's one thing to read about someone else's experience on a forum, but when its actually happening to you, that can really colour your personal opinions about the brand/model. That's why I'm hesitant to even consider BMWs.
 
Yup. From cx9 to x3. We should of got it from the beginning, although we were looking at the X5. We really didnt care about the 3rd row.

Sorry you had a bad experience with BMW. As most of you here are partial to mazda, I am partial to bmw since thats all I drive. Last one, 5 series, I made over 200k miles on her and she still looked and drove awesome. I have to say, after test driving all these vehicles, it will be extremely hard for me to leave the brand. The whole experience is day and night.

We also dont lease but prefer to purchase.
 
Dont get me wrong. Cx9 is a great vehicle. I do wish they offered V6.

I did like Mazda and still do. Beautiful cars. For what its worth, the buying agent told us that this was his first Mazda buyout ever. He does a lot of Chryslers and Maseratis.

But, we are in BMW now and we are very happy. Probably should of go that route from the beginning. I am just glad that Mazda moved quick and bought the car back.
 
Don’t get me wrong. Cx9 is a great vehicle. I do wish they offered V6.

I did like Mazda and still do. Beautiful cars. For what it’s worth, the buying agent told us that this was his first Mazda buyout ever. He does a lot of Chryslers and Maseratis.

But, we are in BMW now and we are very happy. Probably should of go that route from the beginning. I am just glad that Mazda moved quick and bought the car back.

Ah, that makes a lot of sense. After a lot of experience with BMW, you stepped out and took a risk on a different brand, and it just happened to be a lemon. If that happened to me, I think I probably would have gone back to Lexus.

All the best!
 
I agree with the other posters saying all car brands have their issues.

For decades I have heard that VWs have nothing but problems with their electrical systems. A girl I know owned a Jetta and, sure enough, it had electrical problems. I have had several former BMW owners tell me they'd never purchase another one due to the issues they had and the costs associated with getting them fixed. Same with Land/Range Rover owners.

I have owned two Jeeps, both had electrical issues despite being different models. It definitely soured me on Jeeps, even though I love them and have seriously considered buying a Wrangler.

My father purchased a Mazda Tribute back in 2001, I believe, and he experienced the same issues as the OP - the Tribute would shut down on him while driving. It did this several times and each time he took it into the dealership to be "fixed." Finally, Mazda figured out what happened and permanently fixed the issue. He hasn't had any problems with his Tribute since and, yes, he still owns it in 2018. Not only that but my mom has had three Mazda's since he bought his Tribute and none of them had any problems, minus some tire issues on a Millenia. They are definitely loyal Mazda owners even after the Tribute issue.

I can't really blame the OP for not wanting to do the trade but I would bet dollars to donuts the second CX-9 would not have had issues. Sorry for your experience, OP.
 
Happened to me an hour back. The new car (CX9 2018 GS) has done 950 Kms.. I was on my way back from office just now, and it just stopped on the freeway, thankfully I was on a right side lane, so put on neutral and restarted. Happened again, next 10 minutes, so I realised I have to switch off AC..somehow have reached home without ac.. have been able to replicate. If I switch on ac, in 10-15 seconds the car switches off (with or without racing the engine) and the warning lights show up (charging malfunction, and engine).. have to then put on P/N and restart, switch off AC. Have had two earlier episodes, around 400kms of AC not cooling without restart. Taking it to the service station in morning, not getting onto the freeway without getting this sorted.
 
Happened to me an hour back. The new car (CX9 2018 GS) has done 950 Kms.. I was on my way back from office just now, and it just stopped on the freeway, thankfully I was on a right side lane, so put on neutral and restarted. Happened again, next 10 minutes, so I realised I have to switch off AC..somehow have reached home without ac.. have been able to replicate. If I switch on ac, in 10-15 seconds the car switches off (with or without racing the engine) and the warning lights show up (charging malfunction, and engine).. have to then put on P/N and restart, switch off AC. Have had two earlier episodes, around 400kms of AC not cooling without restart. Taking it to the service station in morning, not getting onto the freeway without getting this sorted.

Dang, that's not good. I have about ~1000 miles on my lease and seeing a second report of this in this thread with a 2018 vehicle has me worried. I drive on the highway a lot commuting to/from work and the thought of losing power unexpectedly and thus putting me in a dangerous situation is very concerning. I still believe that these occurrences are very rare though, but it's still not good. I'm especially worried about it happening with my infant son or anyone else really in my car with me.

I hope that this isn't widespread and for anyone affected, I hope it gets addressed quickly and definitively.

Maybe we can try to establish some sort of pattern to this? Trim level doesn't seem to matter as I've seen this reported as happening to GS (I think equivalent to Sport trim in the US), GT, and Signature. All seem to be low mileage and 2018s though.

What about build date? @LemonCX9, @hanpra, and @mbaylor (from other thread), what's the build date on your cars (should say so on door jamb). For reference, mine says 08/17.

Maybe certain option(s) that are installed? Only ones that I could think that may have some sort of link would be things like keyless entry or remote start (whether it be via the remote or phone app). I have the former, but not the latter.
 
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Dang, that's not good. I have about ~1000 miles on my lease and seeing a second report of this in this thread with a 2018 vehicle has me worried. I drive on the highway a lot commuting to/from work and the thought of losing power unexpectedly and thus putting me in a dangerous situation is very concerning. I still believe that these occurrences are very rare though, but it's still not good. I'm especially worried about it happening with my infant son or anyone else really in my car with me.

I hope that this isn't widespread and for anyone affected, I hope it gets addressed quickly and definitively.

Maybe we can try to establish some sort of pattern to this? Trim level doesn't seem to matter as I've seen this reported as happening to GS (I think equivalent to Sport trim in the US), GT, and Signature. All seem to be low mileage and 2018s though.

What about build date? @LemonCX9, @hanpra, and @mbaylor (from other thread), what's the build date on your cars (should say so on door jamb). For reference, mine says 08/17.

Maybe certain option(s) that are installed? Only ones that I could think that may have some sort of link would be things like keyless entry or remote start (whether it be via the remote or phone app). I have the former, but not the latter.

I am sorry, but we do not have a car any longer, so I can't tell you what the build date was. What I know is that Mazda identified the problem and know that it is a result of about a month and a half period that cars were build during that period. Last I was told was that they have a fix for it.

I wish all of you luck with this. Luckily, it is not a wide spread issue, but when it happens, it does suck because it leaves you stranded. In our case, you couldn't do anything to the car...couldn't turn ON the hazards, couldn't lock the car, turn the car off, start the car, if wipers were running, you couldn't turn them off until the whole thing "cooled" off, which would take about 20 minutes.
 
Happened to me an hour back. The new car (CX9 2018 GS) has done 950 Kms.. I was on my way back from office just now, and it just stopped on the freeway, thankfully I was on a right side lane, so put on neutral and restarted. Happened again, next 10 minutes, so I realised I have to switch off AC..somehow have reached home without ac.. have been able to replicate. If I switch on ac, in 10-15 seconds the car switches off (with or without racing the engine) and the warning lights show up (charging malfunction, and engine).. have to then put on P/N and restart, switch off AC. Have had two earlier episodes, around 400kms of AC not cooling without restart. Taking it to the service station in morning, not getting onto the freeway without getting this sorted.

Can you tell us your build date? Maybe there was a problem on the assembly line affecting some build periods.
 
Build on door jamb 01/18

Took it to the service station this morning without switching on the AC. Replicated the issue with the service associate. They called a couple of hours later saying their systems are showing no error codes, nothing is amiss. Called back again an hour later saying the did normal 1k check, tightened the connectors on the battery (which were actually loose), and that's it. Took a couple of test drives including with the dealership's technical head (?), he was surprised it happened and still wasn't sure why. The test drives went well, ac cooling well.

I am very "under confident" on the road. When it happens to you once, you just are scared for it to happen to you again. Telling myself to let go of the fear and start enjoying the car again! Happy came out without any mechanical/electrical problems apparently. Let's see how the upcoming weeks go.
 
I am sorry, but we do not have a car any longer, so I can't tell you what the build date was. What I know is that Mazda identified the problem and know that it is a result of about a month and a half period that cars were build during that period. Last I was told was that they have a fix for it.

I wish all of you luck with this. Luckily, it is not a wide spread issue, but when it happens, it does suck because it leaves you stranded. In our case, you couldn't do anything to the car...couldn't turn ON the hazards, couldn't lock the car, turn the car off, start the car, if wipers were running, you couldn't turn them off until the whole thing "cooled" off, which would take about 20 minutes.

Aw, dang. No worries! Considering they told you though that there was a ~1.5 month production period where cars were affected though, it'd be very interesting to know what your CX-9's build date was. Looks like hanpra's was 1/18, so I wonder if yours was right around then too?

I was hoping to see if I could find a VIN decoder/lookup online that would pull up build date info just in case you had your paperwork from the purchase around somewhere, but I had no luck finding such a tool online, unfortunately.

Anyway, I'm glad you found a replacement vehicle that you're happy with!
 
Mine was built 8/17, the first run for the '18's and mine has been perfect. Odd that later units would become affected by this issue when more usually, first run units have the issues.
 
Build on door jamb 01/18

Took it to the service station this morning without switching on the AC. Replicated the issue with the service associate. They called a couple of hours later saying their systems are showing no error codes, nothing is amiss. Called back again an hour later saying the did normal 1k check, tightened the connectors on the battery (which were actually loose), and that's it. Took a couple of test drives including with the dealership's technical head (?), he was surprised it happened and still wasn't sure why. The test drives went well, ac cooling well.

I am very "under confident" on the road. When it happens to you once, you just are scared for it to happen to you again. Telling myself to let go of the fear and start enjoying the car again! Happy came out without any mechanical/electrical problems apparently. Let's see how the upcoming weeks go.

Hopefully is not the same problem as LemonCX9's. My CX9 build date is 2/18, so far no problems at all.
 
Aw, dang. No worries! Considering they told you though that there was a ~1.5 month production period where cars were affected though, it'd be very interesting to know what your CX-9's build date was. Looks like hanpra's was 1/18, so I wonder if yours was right around then too?

I was hoping to see if I could find a VIN decoder/lookup online that would pull up build date info just in case you had your paperwork from the purchase around somewhere, but I had no luck finding such a tool online, unfortunately.

Anyway, I'm glad you found a replacement vehicle that you're happy with!

I want to say it was February 2018, because I remember the dealer telling me they were looking for a replacement with the build date as far away as possible from february.
 
I want to say it was February 2018, because I remember the dealer telling me they were looking for a replacement with the build date as far away as possible from february.

Thanks for the info, that helps!!
 
I'm curious as to why LemonCX9 was offered a replacement if there's supposed to be a fix for this problem.
 
I'm curious as to why LemonCX9 was offered a replacement if there's supposed to be a fix for this problem.

Two reasons.

First, I demanded money back and told them we will not accept the replacement vehicle. Second, at the time, they didn't have a fix. They came up with the fix for the problem at the tail end of our process. They asked if we would take a replacement, but we declined.

Edit to add: Actually, there was few more reasons. The dealer had the car for over 30 days without a resolution, so that put it in the Lemon Law category. The fix would not be sufficient for us, even if they suggested it
 
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Two reasons.

First, I demanded money back and told them we will not accept the replacement vehicle. Second, at the time, they didn't have a fix. They came up with the fix for the problem at the tail end of our process. They asked if we would take a replacement, but we declined.

Edit to add: Actually, there was few more reasons. The dealer had the car for over 30 days without a resolution, so that put it in the Lemon Law category. The fix would not be sufficient for us, even if they suggested it

Thanks for replying. I was just curious.
 
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