Mazda Recalls CX-90 And CX-70 Because They Might Run Out Of Gas

Running out of gas may seem like a silly mistake, but some Mazda SUV owners may end up doing this through no fault of their own. Mazda has recalled over 100,000 CX-90 and CX-70 models because the gas gauge may tell you there’s plenty of gas in the tank even when you’re running on empty.

According to NHTSA, the recall includes 88,798 model year 2024 and 2025 CX-90s, as well as 16,056 CX-70 models from 2025. In both cases, the problem is that ethanol in the gasoline reacts with materials on the circuit board of the sending unit in unexpected ways. A build-up of gunk (that’s a technical term) occurs that can send false readings to the instrument cluster. Most likely, either the material build-up itself or chemical changes in the board during the reaction cause changes in electrical resistance values, which is how the sending unit communicates the fuel level to the gas gauge, according to How Stuff Works. The wrong resistance will cause the gauge to display the wrong fuel level. With ethanol fuel being the norm these days, it’s strange that Mazda hadn’t considered this possibility, or that problems hadn’t come up in pre-production testing.

Since the problem is with the sender unit, you might expect the fix to be a replacement unit made of materials that don’t react with ethanol like the original one. However, Mazda intends to fix this with a simple software update instead. Dealers will simply reprogram the body control module, and the fuel gauge will read accurately.

This may seem like magic, but it does make sense. If the sender unit is sending the wrong signals, but in a consistent, predictable way, the new programming can teach the fuel gauge how to interpret these “wrong” readings correctly. A software fix is faster, easier, and less expensive than dropping the gas tank and replacing the sender unit. Mazda doesn’t have to design and build a new ethanol-resistant part, either. The only way the fix could be easier would be if an over-the-air update could do it. Instead, owners will have to bring their Mazdas to a dealer, who will fix them free of charge. Then you can safely push the limits of your gas tank as much as you want.