Mazda's CX-6e is built to warn cyclists and pedestrians when its electric motor is too quiet to notice. It does that through a front-mounted speaker Mazda calls the External Announcement system, which Mazda introduced globally with the CX-6e in January 2026 as part of the SUV's human-machine interface.

The function also lets the driver type a custom message, or broadcast their own live voice. Testers in Australia found almost nothing stopping the words from turning foul.

The CX-6e is a China-built electric vehicle that, as of October 2026, is sold in markets including Europe and Australia but not in the United States. Its External Announcement system was designed as a safety feature first. Drivers can trigger prerecorded, digitized-voice warnings meant to alert people crossing in front of a nearly silent electric car.

Beyond the canned warnings, the system lets a driver type a phrase on the vehicle's 26.45-inch touchscreen and save it as a shortcut for later playback. The same speaker also doubles as a live microphone, turning the car into a rolling PA system aimed at whoever is standing in front of the bumper.

That dual function sets it apart from the backup-warning chimes already required on hybrids and electric vehicles sold in the US, which play a fixed, regulator-approved sound rather than anything the driver creates. Mazda has used other unconventional cabin choices before, including its move to ditch a control knob for a touchscreen on other models.

Reviewers testing the feature found it would read back nearly anything typed into the shortcut field, profanity included.

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