1998 MAZDA 626 — Owner-Reported Problems

NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation Snapshot 2026-08-22 422 complaints · 0 recalls
Most-reported system: POWER TRAIN (286 complaints · 67.8%)
Safety signals:
  • Crashes 12
  • Fires 5
  • Injuries 15
  • Deaths 0
Compare with 1997 →
NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Component Problem Distribution

Share of owner complaints filed for each vehicle system (unaffected by sales volume)

Component Problem Distribution POWER TRAIN appears in 286 of 422 owner complaints (67.8%) in this vehicle snapshot. POWER TRAIN: 286 complaints, 67.8% of reports POWER TRAIN 286 · 67.8% · 1 crash reports 2 fire reports ENGINE: 76 complaints, 18.0% of reports ENGINE 76 · 18.0% · 1 fire reports AIR BAGS: 10 complaints, 2.4% of reports AIR BAGS 10 · 2.4% · 7 crash reports VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL: 8 complaints, 1.9% of reports VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 8 · 1.9% ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: 5 complaints, 1.2% of reports ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 5 · 1.2% FUEL SYSTEM: 4 complaints, 1.0% of reports FUEL SYSTEM 4 · 1.0% SEAT BELTS: 4 complaints, 1.0% of reports SEAT BELTS 4 · 1.0% STEERING: 3 complaints, 0.7% of reports STEERING 3 · 0.7% · 1 crash reports TIRES: 3 complaints, 0.7% of reports TIRES 3 · 0.7% UNKNOWN OR OTHER: 346 complaints, 82.0% of reports UNKNOWN OR OTHER 346 · 82.0% · 8 crash reports 4 fire reports 0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

UNKNOWN OR OTHER is an NHTSA classification artifact and is always listed last.

View component data as a table
System / Component Complaints Share of Reports Safety Reports (Crashes / Fires)
POWER TRAIN 286 67.8% 1 crashes · 2 fires
ENGINE 76 18.0% 0 crashes · 1 fires
AIR BAGS 10 2.4% 7 crashes · 0 fires
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 8 1.9% 0 crashes · 0 fires
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 5 1.2% 0 crashes · 0 fires
FUEL SYSTEM 4 1.0% 0 crashes · 0 fires
SEAT BELTS 4 1.0% 0 crashes · 0 fires
STEERING 3 0.7% 1 crashes · 0 fires
TIRES 3 0.7% 0 crashes · 0 fires
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 346 82.0% 8 crashes · 4 fires
NHTSA Consumer Complaints, NHTSA Safety Recalls, and NHTSA Defect Investigations Snapshot 2026-08-22 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Problem & Recall Timeline

Observed complaint volume and manufacturer recall actions over time

Problem & Recall Timeline Owner reports in this snapshot begin in Jan 1998. 1998-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 1998-Q2: 2 owner reports 2 1998-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 1998-Q4: 2 owner reports 2 1999-Q1: 5 owner reports 5 1999-Q2: 5 owner reports 5 1999-Q3: 5 owner reports 5 1999-Q4: 3 owner reports 3 2000-Q1: 2 owner reports 2 2000-Q2: 5 owner reports 5 2000-Q3: 5 owner reports 5 2000-Q4: 11 owner reports 11 2001-Q1: 8 owner reports 8 2001-Q2: 9 owner reports 9 2001-Q3: 12 owner reports 12 2001-Q4: 6 owner reports 6 2002-Q1: 7 owner reports 7 2002-Q2: 16 owner reports 16 2002-Q3: 18 owner reports 18 2002-Q4: 13 owner reports 13 2003-Q1: 18 owner reports 18 2003-Q2: 20 owner reports 20 2003-Q3: 19 owner reports 19 2003-Q4: 14 owner reports 14 2004-Q1: 26 owner reports 26 2004-Q2: 9 owner reports 9 2004-Q3: 25 owner reports 25 2004-Q4: 12 owner reports 12 2005-Q1: 22 owner reports 22 2005-Q2: 10 owner reports 10 2005-Q3: 12 owner reports 12 2005-Q4: 8 owner reports 8 2006-Q1: 4 owner reports 4 2006-Q2: 7 owner reports 7 2006-Q3: 14 owner reports 14 2006-Q4: 5 owner reports 5 2007-Q1: 6 owner reports 6 2007-Q2: 7 owner reports 7 2007-Q3: 6 owner reports 6 2007-Q4: 5 owner reports 5 2008-Q1: 7 owner reports 7 2008-Q2: 2 owner reports 2 2008-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2008-Q4: 4 owner reports 4 2009-Q1: 3 owner reports 3 2009-Q2: 3 owner reports 3 2009-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2009-Q4: 3 owner reports 3 2010-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2010-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2010-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2011-Q1: 3 owner reports 3 2011-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2014-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2016-Q1: 2 owner reports 2 2017-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2018-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 Owner reports Jan 1998 Jan 2018 Investigation SQ98024 ● Investigation SQ98024
View timeline records as a table
Date Record type Count Record identifier
1998-Q1 Owner reports 1
1998-Q2 Owner reports 2
1998-Q3 Owner reports 1
1998-Q4 Owner reports 2
1999-Q1 Owner reports 5
1999-Q2 Owner reports 5
1999-Q3 Owner reports 5
1999-Q4 Owner reports 3
2000-Q1 Owner reports 2
2000-Q2 Owner reports 5
2000-Q3 Owner reports 5
2000-Q4 Owner reports 11
2001-Q1 Owner reports 8
2001-Q2 Owner reports 9
2001-Q3 Owner reports 12
2001-Q4 Owner reports 6
2002-Q1 Owner reports 7
2002-Q2 Owner reports 16
2002-Q3 Owner reports 18
2002-Q4 Owner reports 13
2003-Q1 Owner reports 18
2003-Q2 Owner reports 20
2003-Q3 Owner reports 19
2003-Q4 Owner reports 14
2004-Q1 Owner reports 26
2004-Q2 Owner reports 9
2004-Q3 Owner reports 25
2004-Q4 Owner reports 12
2005-Q1 Owner reports 22
2005-Q2 Owner reports 10
2005-Q3 Owner reports 12
2005-Q4 Owner reports 8
2006-Q1 Owner reports 4
2006-Q2 Owner reports 7
2006-Q3 Owner reports 14
2006-Q4 Owner reports 5
2007-Q1 Owner reports 6
2007-Q2 Owner reports 7
2007-Q3 Owner reports 6
2007-Q4 Owner reports 5
2008-Q1 Owner reports 7
2008-Q2 Owner reports 2
2008-Q3 Owner reports 2
2008-Q4 Owner reports 4
2009-Q1 Owner reports 3
2009-Q2 Owner reports 3
2009-Q3 Owner reports 1
2009-Q4 Owner reports 3
2010-Q1 Owner reports 1
2010-Q2 Owner reports 1
2010-Q3 Owner reports 1
2011-Q1 Owner reports 3
2011-Q4 Owner reports 1
2014-Q4 Owner reports 1
2016-Q1 Owner reports 2
2017-Q2 Owner reports 1
2018-Q1 Owner reports 1
Defect investigation 1 SQ98024
NHTSA Safety Recalls Snapshot 2026-08-22 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Safety Recalls (0)

Official safety recall campaigns filed with NHTSA

Zero safety recalls recorded for this model year in official NHTSA records.

NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Complaint Narrative Explorer

Verbatim owner-reported defect narratives from NHTSA public records

Data: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation · snapshot Aug 21, 2026
Safety incident filters
Showing 0 of 422 complaints · page 1 of 17

No complaints match the current filters.
EPA Fuel Economy Database Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Estimated Ownership Cost

EPA fuel economy ratings and annual operating cost estimates

Data: US EPA Fuel Economy Guide · snapshot Aug 21, 2026
Supported range: 1,000–60,000 miles per year
Supported range: $1.50–$10.00 per gallon
55% city45% highway
Estimate unavailable

EPA fuel-economy data is unavailable for this vehicle.

No estimate is shown when required EPA values are unavailable.

 Open Ownership Cost Calculator →

Adjacent Model Years

Immediate preceding and succeeding model year records

NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Methodology & Data Integrity

Data sourced from NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation. Snapshot date: 2026-08-21.

Read our complete data methodology → Sources