Last summer I bought a 2020 CX-5. Two main reasons were Mazda's reputation as being a "driver's car", and a real transmission rather than a CVT (limited towing capacity). The former is absolutely TRUE. It drives and handles great, and is very comfortable even for a 3-4 hour trip.
I have owned many different cars, SUV's, and trucks since 1969. I live in Northern Illinois, so it is now winter. This CX-5 has, by far, the Worst windshield defrost system than any other vehicle I have ever owned ! ! ! The major part of the problem is air flow vents, or rather the lack of vents. The center-front of the dash has about 12" of vents aimed to the center and about 60degrees to each side. That's it, NO OTHER VENTS to send warm air to the ends of the windshield near the A-pillars. When it is snowing, the left side wiper pushes snow up to near the left A-pillar, but with no warming of the end of the windshield, the returning wiper brings a smear of ice/snow with it to cover the glass and obstruct the view. The only thing to do is apply a quick shot of washer fluid, which is a short-term remedy.
Have Mazda executives ever actually driven the vehicles they sell in winter conditions ?

Maybe I should have kept my 2010 Ford Escape, which at least I could see out of in winter.

 

Can you check and make sure that you are using defrost only and that your AC light comes on? If not, then the air inside the passenger compartment is filled with moisture that the AC removes to help the HVAC which includes the defrost work properly.

Iit does gets old on many forums not just this one or Mazda related when members suggest that they should have kept or purchased another auto manufacture mostly because before making their choice of a new(or used) choice should have considered and tried out all the features and functions before deciding to buy. It also really helps to have a cup of coffee and spend an hour or so and go read in your spoken language front to back the owner's manual and how everything works?

 

Of course they haven’t, it never snows in Japan, and they have no customers in Canada, the snow belt or northern Europe. How would they possibly know anything about cold winter weather?

Seriously, your complaint is very rare on CX forums in spite of a great many members living in Canada and the northern US - as well as in Europe. I’m of no help living in southern Arizona but if it was a common problem we’d hear about it - a lot. Perhaps there is a partially blocked vent or a leaking air channel in your CX. A trip to the dealer is probably called for.

 

Nice posting ^^

I wonder how many Mazda owners realize that the engine coolant light when you first start the engine is on until the coolant reaches 129.9F? That would also be the same temperature at that point that when the HVAC system has been warmed up will have being run through the defrost vents and heater vents? Naturally as the coolant continues to get hotter so does the air temperature out the vents unless it is adjusted.

As for where you live or I live for operating conditions well for me I see below zero temperatures in my travels in the western states and here is one for you that sort of goes with your responses. Check out this MAZDA dealership's location

New & Used Mazda Vehicles in Anchorage | Continental Mazda (continental-mazda.com)


Auto manufacture executives are as far as I am aware are not Automotive design Engineers either?

And it des snow in both Japan and also Mexico although rare in Mexico.

Japan




MEXICO

 

It would be a simple fix for Mazda to sort this annoying issue.

 

I to have a 2020 and was "confused" at first as to why the AC would come on when I was using the defrost.
I know the reason why, but up until now had never owned a vehicle with enough "smarts" to run the AC to reduce humidity if the defrost or heat were on.
The first few times I would shut the AC off until I realized Mazda actually had engineers who knew about HVAC.
My defrost works like a charm and it gets fairly cold around here in the winter.

 

I agree, my first impression when I test drove my cx5 was that the front windshield vent is smaller than usual and thought this would be a problem during winter. But I'm on 2 winters now and never had any problems defrosting the windshield. Also, my 2021 GT Turbo has a windshield de-icer grid which works when depressing the rear defrost button. The button activates the heated side mirrors, the rear window defrost and the windshield de-icer grid. I don't know if all model trims have this feature however. There are YouTube videos explaining this feature, here is one:

 

Interesting. I suspect your past cars did this as well, but you may not have had anything on the HVAC display indicating the A/C was operating when in defrost mode. Even my old school 2020 Nissan Frontier (first released in 2005) activates the A/C when defrost is selected.

As for the OP, I have seen similar posts a couple of times over the years (here is one example from '21: https://www.mazdaforum.com/forum/maz...g-issue-46362/) but it certainly isn't a common complaint. Personally, my defrost works well, but I am in a mild region of the country.

 

This has been going on with HVAC system earlier then the 90's. One member is correct that not all platforms or models in those platforms display AC on. However it does explain about the HVAC operation in detail in most owners manuals.

 

A little trick I know that you know it, by turning off the AC if the defrost has cleared your glass will help support improved MPG. If you had a gauge that showed in real time MPG you would see that the use of the AC which actuates the clutch/compressor on the AC lowers your MPG. This is not officially written in any owners or factory service manual, but I like to call it FIM= Frequent Instrument Monitoring. Oh one more thing a another little known or published tid nit of information... the instant MPG is adjusted in the ECU calibration at a very slow rate and also limited to the maximum displayed MPG. This is because it was determined that the average driver cannot comprehend to many fast moving and large number values.