What Is Mazda's i-Activ AWD?

This all-wheel-drive system is available on many Mazda models.

Andrew Ganz | 

May 20, 2025 | 3 min read

Mazda

Mazda

Mazda's AWD System Debuted in 2013

The CX-5 represented a pivotal moment for Mazda when it debuted for the 2013 model year. It was the automaker's first SUV to use the Skyactiv suite of high-efficiency engines, and more than a decade later, echoes of its styling remain in current Mazdas. In the 2013 CX-5 models with AWD, Mazda used a torque-sensing system called "active torque split AWD." This system eventually became known as i-Activ AWD.

AWD wasn't new to the Mazda lineup — the CX-5 replaced the automaker's CX-7, which had offered AWD since its introduction in 2007. Even before that, Mazda offered optional four-wheel drive in the Tribute, a vehicle that was co-developed with Ford.

Mazda

i-Activ AWD Is a Predictive System

Mazda models with i-Activ AWD have dozens of sensors scattered about the vehicle, constantly gathering data to help the system determine how much power to distribute between the front and rear axles. While other AWD systems react when the wheels begin to slip, i-Activ AWD is unusual in that it uses information from the brakes, steering system, and windshield wipers to adjust for changing road conditions before the wheels even lose traction.

According to Mazda, the system can do this by anticipating conditions on the road ahead based on real-time data. While i-Activ doesn't actually know whether the pavement in front of the vehicle is covered in ice or snow, it can make certain assumptions based on the data collected.

For instance, if the ambient temperature is below freezing and the driver has turned on the windshield wipers, the AWD system is likely to operate under the assumption that it's snowing outside. The sensors can collect data more than 200 times per second, Mazda said, which makes the system quick to adjust torque between the axles.

Each Mazda with i-Activ AWD has a slightly different system to account for variables such as the vehicle's size and weight. Some versions can even decouple — that is, temporarily disconnect — the rear axle in an effort to improve efficiency.

Mazda

Mazda's AWD Is Standard in Many Models

You'll find i-Activ AWD as standard equipment on the CX-30, the CX-5, the non-hybrid CX-50, the CX-90, and the CX-90, including the plug-in hybrid version of the CX-90. The system is optional on the Mazda 3 compact car.

The new-for-2025 Mazda CX-50 Hybrid, however, does not offer i-Activ AWD. It has instead what Mazda calls Electric AWD, or eAWD, which uses electric motors to power the rear wheels when needed.

Andrew Ganz

Andrew has been hooked on cars since his mother coaxed him into naps by driving him around in her rattly old diesel Mercedes-Benz. Perhaps it was the diesel fumes that lulled him to sleep. Either way, he has since parlayed his automotive enthusiasm into a decades-long career as a journalist writing for such well-known sites as Auto Express, Autoblog, Car and Driver, Leftlane News, Motor1, Motor Authority, and The Car Connection, not to mention numerous classic-car publications. When he's not researching cars, he's probably working on one — though he has yet to own a diesel Mercedes. Off to the classifieds he goes.