A Flaw Is Causing Mazda3 Cars To Apply Emergency Brakes On Its Own

A flaw in its smart braking system (SBS) can lead the fourth generation Mazda3 vehicles to apply brakes automatically, the Japanese multinational automaker has said. The problem affects 35,390 cars in the US of the 2019 and 2020 models, but Mazda says it is not aware of any injuries or deaths as a result of the defect, Engadget reported on Thursday. According to Reddit, posters report experiencing situations of the system activating while driving with nothing around, and note that while the system can be disabled, it appears to re-enable itself every time the car starts, the report added.

If the issue on account to the bug crops up, the driver of the vehicle will notice their car has suddenly stopped and also an alarm will buzz with a message displayed on the in-car warning display. The fix is easy for some, but more difficult for others. Vehicles with early build dates will need the whole instrument cluster replaced or reprogrammed, as these cars have a different procedure for "temporary manual deactivation of the Smart Braking System", according to autoblog.com.