The Mazda CX-90 is back under the federal microscope after drivers reported that a steering problem they were told was fixed is still showing up on the road. Owners describe a wheel that suddenly feels heavy or refuses to unwind smoothly out of a turn, a “sticky” sensation that can make a three-row family SUV feel unpredictable at exactly the wrong moment. Regulators are now asking whether Mazda’s earlier recall remedy actually did what it was supposed to do, and what that means for people still driving these vehicles every day.
The renewed scrutiny turns a technical defect into a trust issue, both for Mazda loyalists and for anyone who assumes a recall notice is the end of a safety story, not the midpoint. Federal investigators are digging into how a modern steering system could pass through a repair campaign and still leave drivers fighting the wheel, and what that says about how automakers and regulators close the loop on serious defects.
How a recall fix turned into a fresh safety probe
The current investigation centers on whether Mazda’s original recall for the CX-90’s steering system actually solved the underlying problem or simply swapped one risk for another. The initial campaign, filed in January 2024, targeted a faulty worm gear inside the steering assembly that could cause the wheel to feel like it was sticking off center, a defect that federal safety regulators warned might cause the vehicle’s direction to change suddenly and unexpectedly if the driver overcorrected. That first fix was supposed to be the clean break, the moment when owners could get their big three-row SUV back and stop worrying about what might happen mid-corner.
Instead, complaints kept coming in after the recall work was done, which is why the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s defect arm is now looking at the effectiveness of Mazda’s remedy rather than the original design alone. The Office of Defects Investigation, often shortened to ODI, has logged 26 complaints along with several Early Warning Reporting Field Repo submissions that describe steering that still feels sticky or resists returning to center even after the recall repair, according to an ODI summary. Those reports triggered a formal recall query, a specific type of probe that asks whether the fix itself is flawed, and that is a more awkward question for any automaker than a straight design defect.
Regulators are not starting from scratch. They already have a detailed paper trail from the original recall filings in the federal recall database, which lays out Mazda’s description of the worm gear issue and the steps dealers were instructed to take. Now they are layering on owner narratives that say the steering still binds or feels inconsistent, and they are comparing those stories with Mazda’s technical explanation of how the repair should behave. That gap between the promised behavior and what drivers say they feel on the highway is exactly what ODI is trying to close.
Inside the “sticky steering” complaints and Mazda’s response
For CX-90 owners, the technical jargon boils down to a simple, unnerving sensation: the wheel does not glide back to center the way it should, and sometimes it feels like it wants to hold the car in a turn longer than the driver intends. Some drivers describe the steering as notchy or reluctant to move off center, others say it suddenly lightens up after resisting, which can make the SUV dart more than expected. Federal investigators have noted that such behavior can cause the vehicle’s path to change in ways that catch drivers off guard, a point echoed in reporting that explains how the worm gear defect could let the CX-90’s direction shift if the driver fights the wheel and then it suddenly frees up, as outlined in one regulator summary.
What makes this case stand out is that many of the new complaints are coming from people whose vehicles already went through the recall process. The Office of Defects Investigation has flagged that pattern in its documentation, and a separate investigation notice repeats the same count of 26 complaints and several Early Warning Reporting Field Repo entries tied to the CX-90 steering fix. Owners are effectively telling regulators that the promised cure did not stick, which is why the new probe is framed around remedy effectiveness rather than a brand new defect. That framing matters, because it suggests the agency is testing whether Mazda’s quality control on the repair side kept pace with the seriousness of the original problem.
Outside the government paperwork, enthusiasts and owners have been trading notes on how the steering feels after the recall, and some of those stories are blunt. One detailed breakdown points to power steering fluid line holes going into the steering rack that were reportedly left exposed on certain vehicles, raising questions about how carefully the repair procedure was executed in the field, an issue highlighted in an owner-focused analysis. Another account notes that Mazda is again under federal scrutiny after CX-90 steering complaints resurfaced, with the new probe framed as a follow up to the original recall rather than a clean slate, as described in a recent overview. Together, those threads paint a picture of a fix that may have looked solid on paper but has not fully convinced the people holding the wheel.
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