Mazda owner sues after misunderstanding over common safety feature

Mazda is facing a class action lawsuit in the US, with the owner of one of its cars claiming it has a major defect… that’s actually just an extremely common safety feature.

Filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California, Pennsylvanian Mazda CX-50 owner Joshua Meltzer is attempting to sue the carmaker for US$5 million (A$7.35 million) following an incident which resulted in his daughter jumping out of the moving vehicle.

The feature in particular is the requirement for drivers to press the brake pedal when switching the car on, which is shown in the instrument cluster as “Depress Brake Pedal to Start Vehicle.”

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According to Car Complaints, Mr Meltzer says he purchased the CX-50 in May 2024 and told his daughter how to operate it.

Two weeks later upon her first attempt at driving it, the incident occurred.

“She pressed the Stop-Start button. The display then informed her ‘Depress Brake to Start Vehicle’,” Mr Meltzer’s lawsuit says. 

“She then depressed the brake and shifted the vehicle out of Park and into Drive. The vehicle immediately began to roll backwards. She attempted to control the vehicle, including pressing the brakes, but both the power brakes and power steering were unresponsive.”

Effectively, Mr Meltzer’s daughter appears to have taken the instruction to mean depressing the brake would start the vehicle, and not that she should depress the brake and then press the start button again.

His daughter, whose age is unknown, allegedly feared for her life and jumped out of the driver’s door, with the Mazda continuing on its trajectory until it hit a kerb and then a neighbour’s tree, which Mr Meltzer had to pay to repair.

Mazda has denied the CX-50’s feature and how it operates is defective, with a dealership service manager telling the owner the car was shifted into gear when in accessory mode before the engine was on, meaning it couldn’t provide power assistance to the steering or brakes.

The owner is not only suing for financial compensation but also alleges owners of Mazdas fitted with push-button start since 2017 have been overpaying for their vehicles, with the “defect” leading to diminished values.