If you drive a Mazda CX-90, the steering wheel is not supposed to surprise you. Yet a growing number of owners say their big family SUV suddenly becomes harder or easier to turn, a quirk that federal regulators now link to crash risk. After an earlier recall that was meant to fix the problem, the model is under fresh scrutiny as a federal probe asks whether the danger ever really went away.

The investigation zeroes in on what owners describe as “sticky steering,” a moment when the wheel seems to resist input or then abruptly frees up. For a three-row SUV that often carries kids, that kind of unpredictability is more than an annoyance, and it is why safety officials are now digging into how the steering system was designed, how it was repaired, and what you should do if you feel anything similar in your own CX-90.

How a recall turned into a federal investigation

The story starts with a steering defect that Mazda itself acknowledged in the CX-90, a model whose name and badging prominently feature the number 90. The company filed an initial recall in Jan 2024 targeting a faulty worm gear inside the steering system, a component that could change how much effort you need to turn the wheel and potentially contribute to a loss of control. That early campaign was supposed to be a clean solution for CX-90 owners, with dealers replacing parts to address the defective worm gear in affected vehicles, according to recall details summarized in recall filings.

Instead of closing the book, the repair work opened a new chapter. After the recall fix was rolled out, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, began receiving fresh complaints from CX-90 drivers who said their steering still behaved unpredictably. Agency documents cited in coverage of the probe describe 26 new reports from owners of vehicles that had already been through the recall, a cluster of cases serious enough to trigger a formal investigation into whether Mazda’s remedy actually worked as intended. That escalation is what now puts the CX-90 under a federal microscope.

What “sticky steering” feels like from behind the wheel

For you as a driver, the technical language about worm gears and steering racks boils down to a simple and unsettling experience. Owners describe the CX-90’s wheel as feeling normal one moment, then suddenly requiring more effort to turn, before abruptly loosening up again. NHTSA documents, as summarized in Jan reports on the probe, say that While the SUV is not expected to lose power steering entirely, the effort required to steer can suddenly change, which is exactly the kind of surprise that can send a heavy three-row SUV off its intended line in a curve or lane change. That description appears in safety write-ups that quote NHTSA’s own language about how the steering effort can shift without warning in the CX-90, including in agency summaries.

Regulators are blunt about why that matters. A separate account of the probe notes that NHTSA warned of a “Sudden and unexpected change of steering effort while driving” and explicitly tied that behavior to an increased risk of a crash. All 26 reports that prompted the current investigation came from vehicles that had already received the recall repair, which is why the agency is now looking at both the original defect and the adequacy of Mazda’s fix across gasoline and plug-in hybrid versions of the CX-90 SUV, as detailed in investigation summaries.

Why the earlier repair may not have solved the problem

On paper, Mazda’s recall fix was straightforward. Dealers were instructed to address the steering worm gear and related components that could cause the steering effort to change, and owners were told that the remedy would resolve the sticky feel. Yet after those repairs, NHTSA still logged 26 complaints from CX-90 drivers who said their steering felt wrong, a pattern that prompted the agency to open a defect investigation into the recall itself. Reporting on the probe notes that Mazda told regulators the issue had been corrected, but NHTSA’s complaint data suggested otherwise, which is why the agency is now reviewing whether the original recall remedy was sufficient, as outlined in coverage citing NHTSA’s investigation notice.

Some owners and independent observers have raised questions about how carefully the repair work was executed. One detailed account of the CX-90 steering saga, published in Jan, describes a case where power steering fluid line holes going into the steering rack were reportedly left exposed after service, a detail that hardly inspires confidence in the thoroughness of the fix. That critique, which frames the CX-90 as Mazda’s biggest SUV and questions whether the company truly resolved the sticky steering in its flagship, appears in an analysis of the recall and investigation that highlights how such oversights can undermine trust, as seen in owner-focused reporting.

What federal regulators are looking at now

The current probe is not a fresh recall, at least not yet. Instead, NHTSA has opened what it calls a recall query, a type of investigation that examines whether a manufacturer’s previous remedy actually fixed the safety defect it was supposed to address. In the CX-90 case, regulators are reviewing the 26 post-repair complaints, analyzing crash and incident data, and scrutinizing Mazda’s engineering changes to the steering system. The agency’s public description of the case, which is accessible through its main portal for safety actions, lays out how investigators will evaluate the steering behavior and the prior recall campaign, as reflected in the official investigation notice.

Coverage of the probe notes that the CX-90’s troubles are unfolding against a broader backdrop of Mobility innovation and autonomous driving on display at CES, where automakers tout ever more advanced driver assistance systems. Yet the CX-90 case is a reminder that basic mechanical reliability still underpins all of that technology. NHTSA’s own description of the sticky steering investigation, which has been highlighted in multiple reports, makes clear that the agency is not only looking at the original defect but also at how Mazda monitored vehicles after the recall and whether additional action is needed to protect drivers, as summarized in federal statements.

What you should do if you own a CX-90

If you have a CX-90 in your driveway, you do not need to wait for regulators to finish their work before taking action. The first step is to confirm whether your SUV is covered by the existing recall and whether the repair has already been performed. You can do that by locating your 17-character Vehicle Identification Number, or VIN, on the lower left of your windshield or on the label inside your driver-side door, then entering it into the federal recall lookup tool described in NHTSA’s own vehicle safety resources. That search will tell you whether your CX-90 is subject to an open campaign and whether the steering fix is still outstanding.

If your steering wheel already feels off, you should treat that as a safety issue, not a quirk to live with. Owners discussing the investigation in online forums are urging each other to schedule service visits and to make sure Mazda has a record of any lingering problems. One widely shared post advises drivers, “Please contact your local Mazda dealership to have your car serviced under warranty and report the issue to the NHTSA,” a call to action that reflects how important it is for regulators to hear directly from affected owners, as seen in a CX-90 owner discussion. The more detailed your complaint, the easier it is for investigators to spot patterns and push for stronger remedies if they are needed.

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