Dangerous cylinder deactivation trouble on 2018 CX-5 and Mazda6 models

Consider the Takata airbag problem. About 100 million were installed in the US, and there have been 16 deaths. Tens of millions of potentially lethal projectiles are in cars that people are still driving. We've all been informed, but there isn't much we can do about it.
Or like Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. It took two fatal crashes in October 2018 and March 2019, to be grounded by FAA until further notice.
 
tomsdk....Since you can monitor CD on your car, can you please do a test in Sport mode to see if CD still kicks in under light load?

SPORT mode certainly changes (lowers) the CD kick-in threshold. It's is easily compared in Manual mode (in automatic, sport mode uses too high revs IMO). Unfortunately, sport and radar cruise can't be selected at the same time. (but the speed limiter can!)
So, during cruising, if CD normally activates at 25% load, I would say in SPORT mode, it activates at 10-15% load.
I actually like the CD - it's just the constant activation/deactivation on flat roads that annoys me. The fuel saving is significant.
 
They will only act if a certain formula is true:

number of deaths x average settlement payout > cost of recall

This is not a joke as this is standard practice. It mostly works in the companies' favor. But in the cases like Takata and Boeing...they got caught on the wrong side of the equation.
 
They will only act if a certain formula is true:

number of deaths x average settlement payout > cost of recall

This is not a joke as this is standard practice. It mostly works in the companies' favor. But in the cases like Takata and Boeing...they got caught on the wrong side of the equation.

Yup, and it's not a recent thing either.
This type of corporate strategy has been going on for years, in all types of businesses.
Exploding gas tanks in the 70's, bad (Firestone) tires in the 90's, Gm ignition switches in the 2000's. Samsung battery fires....etc.
As long as it's cheaper to pay out a few lawsuit settlements, then nothing will get done.
 
You live in Texas. This has been documented to be an issue in colder climates.

As if Honda doesn't have enough problems, now the newer 2019's (CR-V) has a battery problem.
If left for more than a few days without running, the battery will be dead.
It's not the actual battery either, but a parasitic drain issue. Every post I've read on the problem has Honda and dealers deflecting the problem as "normal" with today's high tech cars.
Really? A brand new $35,000 car that dies after 3 days, and it's normal?
Honda telling owners to get a trickle charger, or starting and running the car everyday for 10 minutes. Wow.
I've read a lot of posts from some very pissed off people about this.
 
I still think you guys are freaking out too much about the CD thing. Until we see issues on cars after recall is done, I wouldnt worry too much about it.

I would much rather have cylinder deactivation than auto stop/start...
 
As if Honda doesn't have enough problems, now the newer 2019's (CR-V) has a battery problem.
If left for more than a few days without running, the battery will be dead.
It's not the actual battery either, but a parasitic drain issue. Every post I've read on the problem has Honda and dealers deflecting the problem as "normal" with today's high tech cars.
Really? A brand new $35,000 car that dies after 3 days, and it's normal?
Honda telling owners to get a trickle charger, or starting and running the car everyday for 10 minutes. Wow.
I've read a lot of posts from some very pissed off people about this.

Mazda had the same problem with the new Miata RF models when they first came out.

Parasitic drain was causing the RF batteries to go dead within a few days. Took forever for Mazda to figure it out. At least it seemed so for the owners of the new RFs. BTW, the RF is not a cheap Miata either. The figures are well within the $35,000 range.

New RF owners couldn't take their cars to the airport parking lots without having brand new cars that would not start when they returned from their short business trips.
 
Thanks to this forum I already upgraded several months ago; courtesy of my garage:= they checked the TSB's and SB's.

And gentlemen, please stay On Topic.
 
That's the frightening thing about the OD issue.

If you don't check or change your own oil, there's no way you know that you basically have no engine lubrication going on. The guy at Jiffy Lube ain't gonna notice, and the dealer sure isn't going to say anything.


Honda sent out letters to every CRV owner in the country making them aware of the issue and if they were experiencing it, to take it to a dealer to get it repaired. The repair involves actual replacement of hardware in addition to a software update.

Mazdas fix is just a software upgrade, which I dont believe will fix anything in my opinion.
 
Honda sent out letters to every CRV owner in the country making them aware of the issue and if they were experiencing it, to take it to a dealer to get it repaired. The repair involves actual replacement of hardware in addition to a software update.

Mazda*s fix is just a software upgrade, which I don*t believe will fix anything in my opinion.

I don't really have a dog in the Honda fight, so please don't take this as anything but me repeating what I've read:

In the United States (again, from what I read), Honda has sent out repair letters saying they plan to repair cars in the 5 coldest states first, then repair cars in the next 16 coldest states. Then they'll stop.

If you live in the remaining 29 states, Honda plans to do nothing. There is no relief available for those owners (except for one-on-one negotiations with the dealers to at least get the software upgraded). Honda extended the warranty for Canadian owners only.

So if you live in one of those 29 states, don't get transferred to a colder climate with your job and don't sell your Honda to someone who might be moving, because Honda won't fix your car where you currently live. And when I was car shopping, I read posts from Honda owners who claimed to have significant oil dilution issues and they lived in Arizona...they were throwing the BS Flag on the "it's only short trips/cold weather" position. Honda Corporate is leaving customers in 29 states hanging on this issue.

And the Oil Dilution solution is just a software fix, excepting that some cars may have the air conditioning control unit replaced. This is not a universal hardware fix, nor is it even a universal software fix, nor is it being performed for all Honda owners. This whole thing is a stupid PR error in my opinion.

You can read posts today on the internet from 2019 owners (whose cars had the "fix" before delivery) claiming that they have significant OD issues. And Honda continues to beg off, saying that "Some OD is normal." Of course, "some" is not defined...that's for all those Honda owners to negotiate with their dealer.
 
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I don't really have a dog in the Honda fight, so please don't take this as anything but me repeating what I've read:

In the United States (again, from what I read), Honda has sent out repair letters saying they plan to repair cars in the 5 coldest states first, then repair cars in the next 16 coldest states. Then they'll stop.

If you live in the remaining 29 states, Honda plans to do nothing. There is no relief available for those owners (except for one-on-one negotiations with the dealers to at least get the software upgraded). Honda extended the warranty for Canadian owners only.

So if you live in one of those 29 states, don't get transferred to a colder climate with your job and don't sell your Honda to someone who might be moving, because Honda won't fix your car where you currently live. And when I was car shopping, I read posts from Honda owners who claimed to have significant oil dilution issues and they lived in Arizona...they were throwing the BS Flag on the "it's only short trips/cold weather" position. Honda Corporate is leaving customers in 29 states hanging on this issue.

And the Oil Dilution solution is just a software fix, excepting that some cars may have the air conditioning control unit replaced. This is not a universal hardware fix, nor is it even a universal software fix, nor is it being performed for all Honda owners. This whole thing is a stupid PR error in my opinion.

You can read posts today on the internet from 2019 owners (whose cars had the "fix" before delivery) claiming that they have significant OD issues. And Honda continues to beg off, saying that "Some OD is normal." Of course, "some" is not defined...that's for all those Honda owners to negotiate with their dealer.


If this issue only affects people in colder states, why would the other CRV owners in the other states care if theyre not affected by it? And if someone moves up north, why wouldnt Honda do the warranty work if they changed their residence to somewhere up north? This issue effects people in cold weather states. If someone in Arizona is experiencing this issue, they probably dont know how to check their own oil and have no clue what theyre doing. Its been widely known this only affects the vehicle in cold weather states. Also Honda extended the warranty on the engine for everyone in the country. Will Mazda do the same?

BTW Im not sure how the CRV was brought into this, considering its a Mazda forum. I guess when there is a serious issue with the NA 2.5 engine in the Mazda, the knee jerk reaction is to find other non-Mazda vehicles with problems. The idea of putting cylinder deactivation in a vehicle to gain a measly 1 mpg and no gain in AWD configurations was a bonehead move on Mazdas part.
 
Bringing another car manufacturer into the conversation makes more sense than bringing in an airplane manufacturer, but we talked about that.

I would think that if Mazda said they would only fix cars based on the climate they're currently located in, people would be [rightly] wetting their britches. It's just a silly cheap thing to do. People relocate. People sell their cars to folks out of the area.

If someone in Arizona is experiencing this issue, they probably don*t know how to check their own oil and have no clue what they*re doing.
Well, I guess that settles that. Sounds like you're ready to own a Honda dealership.

And as I stated, what I read claims that only Canadian warranties have been extended. That article may be wrong. It may also be wrong about this only being a software fix, with some cars getting hardware.
 
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Bringing another car manufacturer into the conversation makes more sense than bringing in an airplane manufacturer, but we talked about that.
Bringing up Boeing 737 MAX 8 grounded matter indicates all manufactures, even as big as Boeing, will make big mistake. And like negusm said earlier, they will only act forced by certain condition:

They will only act if a certain formula is true:

number of deaths x average settlement payout > cost of recall

This is not a joke as this is standard practice. It mostly works in the companies' favor. But in the cases like Takata and Boeing...they got caught on the wrong side of the equation.


I would think that if Mazda said they would only fix cars based on the climate they're currently located in, people would be [rightly] wetting their britches. It's just a silly cheap thing to do. People relocate. People sell their cars to folks out of the area.
Since you mentioned it, I have a personal experience on EPB dragging issue on my CX-5. There're several TSBs for this EPB dragging issue because Mazda didn't figure out tthe root cause in the beginning. Mazda started to replace EPB control module with software fix (just like cylinder deactivation issue with software fix on first try), AND only applicable to those CX-5s in cold climate! When I was aware this issue and brought up to my Mazda dealer, they couldnt do anything to it as the TSB specifically said the TSB is only for cold climate and unfortunately I live in hot Texas.

Eventually Mazda found out the issue was not only happening in cold region, and they had to revise the rear calipers to fix the problem.

TSB 04-005/16: Noise from Rear Brakes Due To Brake Drag

TSB R052/16C: Noise from REAR BRAKE/Trace of Rear Brake Dragging
 
I agree, yrwei52.

They all do it. Customers be damned.

No one is worse, but no one is better.
That's what stinks.
 
The idea of putting cylinder deactivation in a vehicle to gain a measly 1 mpg and no gain in AWD configurations was a bonehead move on Mazdas part.
Well, I guess Ford must have thought it was a good idea too though.
Just read a review in my local paper's auto section on the new for 2020 Escape.
Ford finally did a clean sheet on it, so it's new from the ground up (the old platform had been around since around 2012 I believe)
Here's the interesting part:
The base engine is a 1.5-liter turbocharged three-cylinder that makes 180 horsepower and 177 pound-feet of torque, and for the first time in a Ford engine, there's cylinder deactivation. It shuts down one cylinder so it operates as a two-cylinder.
A 3 banger with CD. Wow.
I have not seen how they do it, but man oh man, would you buy one of those things?
I also read that the 180 horsepower comes with premium fuel.
It's worse on regular gas.
 
Here's the interesting part:
The base engine is a 1.5-liter turbocharged three-cylinder that makes 180 horsepower and 177 pound-feet of torque, and for the first time in a Ford engine, there's cylinder deactivation. It shuts down one cylinder so it operates as a two-cylinder.
A 3 banger with CD. Wow.

Here's one of the few reviews I could find of that engine.

The reviewer echos the same thing a lot of us say about Cylinder Deactivation in general: why bother for the marginal benefit? He had other issues with the 3-banger (gotta continuously get into it to keep the car moving; engine vibrations due to odd-#cylinder imbalance.

It makes one wonder what the holy grail is here: a one-cylinder with CD???
Maybe pedals for passengers and Spinning Classes coupons?

I've ridden in one of these when I was a kid:

maxresdefault.jpg


Maybe we're going back there. I'm sure we can put an SUV body on it...
 
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Well, I guess Ford must have thought it was a good idea too though.
Just read a review in my local paper's auto section on the new for 2020 Escape.
Ford finally did a clean sheet on it, so it's new from the ground up (the old platform had been around since around 2012 I believe)
Here's the interesting part:
The base engine is a 1.5-liter turbocharged three-cylinder that makes 180 horsepower and 177 pound-feet of torque, and for the first time in a Ford engine, there's cylinder deactivation. It shuts down one cylinder so it operates as a two-cylinder.
A 3 banger with CD. Wow.
I have not seen how they do it, but man oh man, would you buy one of those things?
I also read that the 180 horsepower comes with premium fuel.
It's worse on regular gas.
People say Fords 4-cylinder engines are all based on Mazdas. May be Ford still has crush on Mazdas engineering and just follows suit?
 
Here's one of the few reviews I could find of that engine.

The reviewer echos the same thing a lot of us say about Cylinder Deactivation in general: why bother for the marginal benefit? He had other issues with the 3-banger (gotta continuously get into it to keep the car moving; engine vibrations due to odd-#cylinder imbalance.

It makes one wonder what the holy grail is here: a one-cylinder with CD???
Maybe pedals for passengers and Spinning Classes coupons?

I've ridden in one of these when I was a kid:

maxresdefault.jpg


Maybe we're going back there. I'm sure we can put an SUV body on it...
Actually its a two-cylinder with CD.

Yeah Id seen that 3-wheeler BMW when I was a kid, but have never ridden in one.
 
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