1996 Mazda Protege problems
Owners have filed 91 complaints with NHTSA about the 1996 Mazda Protege. Air bags is the most reported problem area, at 27% of complaints. After that come brakes (11%) and seat belts (8%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 91 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 28% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 31 and 2
- Injuries and deaths
- 33 and 0
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
What the data shows
Safety-related details: 31 complaints mention a crash; 2 complaints mention a fire; 33 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 98% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1996 ranks 9th most-complained-about out of 14 model years of the Mazda Protege with enough data (47 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 1 safety recall campaign.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
ABS: when applied, brake pedal went to floor, vehicle rearended another vehicle, airbags did not deploy. Dealer replaced rotors/pads. Also, shoulder/lap belts did not hold occupants. Please provide VIN.
Car started smoking & within less than 10 minutes the fire that started under the hood had half the car engulfed in flames, within 25 minutes the whole car was completely burned up from front to back.
Serious rust problem discovered in the windshield area of car when having new windshield installed. Several years ago, probably 1999, while the car was still under warranty, I attempted to have mazda repair rust that was appearing on the front pillars by the windshield. Their area representative refused, saying that the warranty only covered rusting through. Now this has become a safety hazard, because the integrity of the new windshield's mounting is in doubt.