Mazda Protege Years to Avoid, Problems & Recalls

Which Mazda Protege years should you avoid?

Going by 1,074 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the Mazda Protege years to avoid are 1995.

1995165 complaints, 2.4× a typical Protege year, most often about the airbags.

How this is worked out: each year is compared with a typical year of the same model, which takes most of the difference in sales out of it, and its share of serious failures is compared with every other car of the same model year, because older cars were complained about differently. A year needs 25 complaints to be judged at all. Complaints are unverified owner reports. Full method →

Year	Complaints	Recalls	Fires	Crashes	Most reported	Status
2006	0	1	—	—	—	Routine
2005	0	1	—	—	—	Routine
2004	0	1	—	—	—	Routine
2003	120	4	2	16	Seat Belts	Fatalities reported
2002	98	4	2	12	Seat Belts	Routine
2001	50	5	1	12	Air Bags	Routine
2000	102	3	3	25	Power Train › Automatic Transmission	Routine
1999	88	3	1	21	Power Train › Automatic Transmission	Routine
1998	46	2	—	8	Power Train › Automatic Transmission	Routine
1997	66	2	2	15	Air Bags › Frontal	Routine
1996	70	2	1	24	Air Bags › Frontal	Routine
1995Avoid	165	5	4	30	Air Bags › Frontal	Fatalities reported
1994	74	1	1	6	Seat Belts	Routine
1993	44	1	2	1	Seat Belts	Routine
1992	63	1	1	5	Seat Belts	Routine
1991	51	1	2	5	Seat Belts › Front › Retractor	Routine
1990	37	1	—	3	Seat Belts	Routine

Year

Complaints

Relative volume

Recalls

Fires

Crashes

Most reported

Status

2006

—

Routine

2005