Mazda Infotainment Ghost Touch - Here's How to Fix the Issue

One of the common issues encountered by a number of Mazda owners is the "ghost touch" problem wherein the touchscreen of the vehicle's infotainment system either fails to recognize touch inputs by the user or it suddenly activates some functions on its own. This can indeed turn out to be a very annoying situation and can be distracting at the same time, so this is what we will try to solve in this article.

Infotainment glitch problems highlights

• Reasons:overheating, electrical damage, software problems, connection issues
• Quick fix:manual restart
• Price forrepair:$150 - $800
• Time forrepair:1 - 3 hours
• Howcommon:quite common for modern cars
• DIYrepair:sometimes possible

What Ghost Touch Means

The ghost touch problem, as it is called in the Mazda infotainment system, refers to a user interface issue where users experience unexpected and unintended input from their touchscreen.

It can be especially annoying when the car's multimedia display keeps making random changes that weren't requested by the user or when the user is trying to input a command only for the screen to remain unresponsive.

A good example of this is when you are listening to music while driving and suddenly the display shifts to a navigation screen without being prompted to do so. Or the volume suddenly goes to max and your ears suffer from extremely loud music.

This kind of unexpected behavior can be very distracting for drivers and passengers alike as they may not even notice what has changed until they attempt to use the controls again.

This issue also raises concerns about more serious electrical problems with the vehicle. For instance, if the ghost touch issue is caused by a malfunctioning wire in the vehicle's electrical system, it could be an indicator of a short circuit or other problem that could cause a fire. This means that users should not take this issue lightly and should contact their local Mazda dealership for further investigation.

In addition to these potential safety risks, the ghost touch issue can significantly affect user experience with the Mazda infotainment system. Difficulty in accurately navigating through screens or having settings unexpectedly change can be extremely inconvenient and negatively impact overall satisfaction with the car.

Furthermore, if there are repeated instances of unexpected inputs while driving, it can be quite dangerous as it could lead to taking attention away from focusing on the road ahead.

Most Common Culprits of the Ghost Touch in Mazda Cars

This issue was first reported in 2014, in Mazda 3. Since then, it has been reported thousands of times by the owners of all Mazda models with the majority of complaints from the 2014-2016 model years. But the 2017-2020 years are also affected.

According to technicians, mechanics, and owners who had encountered the "ghost touch" issue in Mazda as well as reports and recalls pertaining to it, here are the most common causes of the problem:

1. Glitch in the monitor

This is the primary reason that Mazda owners should be aware of. Mazda issued a service bulletin for the 2014-2016 Mazda 3 and repaired the “ghost touch” problem for free. It means you could just go to the Mazda dealership and get a new screen.

But there is one problem – the bulletin states that the warranty is extended to 7 years. It means that if your Mazda is older than 7 years, the bulleting will not be applied and you won’t get free repairs.

Given all 2014-2016 Mazda vehicles are older than 7 years now, there is no chance for you to get it repaired for free.

Although other model years also suffer from the ghost touch problem, and the Mazda 3 is not the only model affected, Mazda hasn’t issued any other recalls or bulletins and hasn’t provided the owners with any free repairs. It means you will need to invest in dealing with this problem from your own pocket.

2. Moisture in the display

Several Mazda mechanics said that one of the problems that cause this touchscreen issue is moisture. There is a theory that the AC gathers a lot of condensate and when you turn it off and the temperature changes rapidly, some of the moisture gets directly into the poorly sealed infotainment system. The process happens under the plastic panel, so you don’t see anything.

Unfortunately, knowing this possible issue doesn’t change anything – you will still need to cope with the problem when it appears because there is no way to prevent it by sealing the infotainment system or setting the AC to not produce so much condensate.

Also, this is just a theory, so we wouldn’t recommend taking apart the entire interior of your Mazda to just see that it’s everything dry there and nothing to worry about.

Also, the screen may malfunction if you pour some water or coffee onto it. In this case, the water may actually corrode some connections or lead to issues like local short circuits. The infotainment will just be broken sooner or later, but at first, it can show several glitches.

3. Software issues

Another theory is that there is a certain software update that will help you deal with the ghost touch on the touchscreen of your infotainment system in the Mazda. Unfortunately, we’ve only heard bad reviews after people paid $300 for complete infotainment software updates and then nothing changed in the behavior of the screen.

You should understand that the touchscreen issues shouldn’t be triggered by the software. Actually, the touchscreen consists of a special screen and a sensor. They are operated by some software but it’s as easy as detecting when the person touches the screen and what area they touch.

So, paying $300 for a software update in the dealership is the last thing you will want to do. Also, if the dealer offers you to do so, ask them to get a full refund if this does not work. You will see how fast they will change their opinion.

Another thing that you may not want to do is to pay $100 for a full inspection of the vehicle. The dealer will use a dozen of scanners but this will not help them find actual problems. The touchscreen problem is local and should be inspected exclusively in the infotainment system, not in the entire car.

4. Heat damage to the screen

A lot of experts insist that the common reason for the Mazda infotainment touchscreen problems is the sun heat that destroys the connections in the system and makes it glitchy. The screen is not perfectly positioned in the recent generations of Mazda cars and the sun beams get right onto its back part heating up everything that’s located inside.

Naturally, overheating will destroy electronic elements and this is why your Mazda touchscreen may just stop working properly. But guess what – there is nothing you can do unless you come up with a way to protect the back part of the infotainment with some heat shield.

5. Connection problems

One good thing some Mazda owners advise if you experience the ghost touch problem with the infotainment is to check all the connections.

The idea is that the infotainment system has several electrical clips and connections that can get loose, especially if you drive a lot on bad roads and the car shakes heavily.

You will need to take the infotainment unit out and reconnect all the clips and clamps to make sure they are OK. Check the touchscreen work before you install the unit back into its place.

How to solve the problem with the ghost touch in your Mazda?

So, the warranty solutions are not there anymore because the bulletin for the 2014-2016 model years lost its power. What should you do? There are several things you can try doing to avoid driving with a glitchy infotainment.

1) Turn off the touchscreen

This is the optimal way to bypass this problem and spend zero dollars. Go to Settings in your infotainment screen, then choose “Display”, then just choose OFF near the Touchscreen Display line and you will not have this problem anymore.

Fortunately, the touchscreen problem known as ghost touch usually happens when the car is parked or at a red light. Because Mazda automatically disables the touchscreen when you drive. But you can disable it at all just in the settings!

2) Buy another infotainment screen used

You can buy a used infotainment screen from your generation and model of the Mazda vehicle. There are scrapyards you can attend and also you can search for it on eBay. Used screens may also have this problem, so you better buy the screen with the option to get a full refund if something goes wrong.

3) Buy the new display

While the price of the used Mazda infotainment system is about $300, the new display will cost you $1,000. But there is another option to go for – you can buy an aftermarket infotainment that will be even better in terms of functions and quality than the original Mazda display with initially lots of problems in it.

The aftermarket infotainment ready to be installed in the Mazda 3 will cost you $200-$500 depending on the chosen model. You can find plenty of them online and you can go to basically any shop to have it installed.

Conclusion

Even though the ghost touch problem in the Mazda car is extremely common, it’s not fatal. You can just turn off the touchscreen which you barely use and control the display using the control buttons on the steering wheel and on the front panel. Alternatively, you can buy another infotainment system and the aftermarket one will not cost you a fortune.

So, there are several ways you can solve the problem and some of them are really cheap. But we have to admit that Mazda didn’t do what it had to do to resolve this problem. And, for many Mazda owners, this became the reason to not buy Mazda anymore.