Hi all,
I just bought a 2021 Mazda CX-5. I was driving tonight and the hood latch popped open. The hood has not been opened yet by me. Why would this happen and why isn't there some sort of warning light on the dash? I had a notification on my phone from the Mazda app when I stopped. It was raining so hard that I couldn't see it was popped. Anyone else ever experienced this? The car has less than 800 miles on it.

 

I have never had a car that gave a warning for the hood. It only indicates open doors or hatchback on the CX5. I can't say I have had that happen. Are you sure you didn't just not fully close the hood by accident? If it happens a second time I would go by the dealer.

One issue I have is the hood prop rod. It is really difficult to get out of the hood once in place. I am strongly considering the hood struts so I can stop using the prop rod. It was like that in my '19 as well.

 

THanks for the reply. I've only had the car a few weeks so I haven't had a reason to open the hood yet. This is the first car I've EVER had that didn't have a hood open warning light or audible alarm. It's quite a surprise. I'm coming over to Mazda from Honda and Subaru and they both had warnings but, ultimately it is my job to make sure things are closed. I do a walk around before I leave public parking as I did last night and everything looked fine. I didn't notice whenever it happened because of darkness and driving rain. I definitely don't want it to happen on the interstate.
Thanks, also, for the heads up on the rod.

 

An odd occurrence which could be caused by an incorrectly adjusted latch cable. But I would think that the OP would be aware that the hood won’t fly open while driving on the interstate, all vehicles have a safety hood latch since at least the late-1970s which prevents that from happening. Since the vehicle is new he needs to take it to the dealer for a looksee.

Oh, it is the owner’s responsibility to check the fluid levels under the hood regularly, so there was a reason for him to open the hood. I always check the fluid levels on a new vehicle immediately after purchase and every couple weeks after that. Things happen, like the dealer didn’t check the levels during prep, there is a small leak, the engine is using an unexpected amount of oil, the coolant tank overflowed….you get the idea. Far better to avoid the hassle of major warranty repairs by spending five minutes a month looking for potential trouble and addressing it first.

BTW out of the 18 vehicles I’ve owned I’ve never owned one with a hood warning alarm. Interesting.

 

Thanks for the reply. With only 750 miles on the car, no I haven't checked the levels yet. My bad. My concern about the hood opening is because the secondary latch can fail. There have been recalls on other makes for that very problem.

The other thing I find interesting is that there IS a hood latch sensor. Why the heck didn't they just put that on the instrument cluster where it shows if a door is open? The phone app provides a delayed status alert but not in real time. All I can do is have them check it out, and trust it, while keeping a close eye on it.

Good to see by the replies that it isn't a common occurrence with Mazdas. That's reassuring. Thanks for the responses.

 

Love the hood struts I added . . . that shoulda been standard with the car. No excuse in a vehicle like the CX-5 to have to manually prop open the hood . . . BAD, MAZDA!

MiltB

 

Same here, I wonder what cars actually have one?

 

Unless an operator experiences the warning, the operator might not realize that it exists. Here are some makes with hood open warning indicators:
​​​​VW, Audi, Hyundai, Mercedes, Honda, Subaru, BMW, Buick, Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, Range Rover, and probably others.

The 2021 Mazda CX-5 apparently has a security alarm for the hood, but not an indicator if the hood is open and the engine is running as it does with a door or trunk/hatch. At least I know now that it's not going to indicate if there's a problem with the primary or secondary hood latch. My Mazda learning curve...

 

You've had your brand new car for a few weeks now and you've not looked under the hood yet?

You've not checked the oil or the coolant or anything at all?

You sure are a trusting soul! Trust but verify. Pop that hood and do some checking!

 

I definitely pay my 22 yr old Honda more attention. I checked out the Mazda after the hood popped and all is well. It's only been driven a handful of times but still...