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Vans & Minivans Mazda Mazda5 Mazda5 Suspension
220 messages, Last post on Oct 22, 2009 at 8:41 AM
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Replying to: yury (Jun 19, 2009 9:38 am) The web of dealership/manufacturer excuses and put-offs, even with their most sincere tones are very frustrating to deal with over and over and over again. Not many people have the time available to continue to take their car to the dealership over and over again to hear these putt-offs, half-truths and best excuses. However, empower yourself. Post car issues on these forums, post them on the Mazda forums, contact the Attorney General's office and Better Business Bureau in your State and simply let them know of your frustrations - even if you don't have a long history of problems. Understand you will be met with form letter responses and directions to an even longer arbitration process but your letter will be on file and when enough letters are on file, people take notice. Visit the following sites:http://www.free-lemon-law-guide.com/magnuson-moss-warranty-act.php and http://www.lemonlaw.com. read all of the information all over the sites. On the first site, read about the complaint process and learn why manufacturers and dealerships respond with, "we can't duplicate the noise or problem" or "we test drove your car and everything was fine" and many of the other lines we hear. Read about why you can go beyond manufacturer's that insist on arbitration and why it may be more profitable for you to do so - the second site, lemon law.com is offered by a group of lawyers in a small grouping of States and if they take on your case, you don't pay a dime. According to the first site, manufacturers are well aware of many recurrent problems from year to year and do nothing about it. In the long run, if someone chooses to obtain a lawyer and file a case, it is cheaper for them to settle the case before it goes to court. It is even cheaper for them to wait it out knowing that most people grow tired of 800# customer disservice help, being transferred from one service person to the next only to be lost in the miscommunication of the many "helpful" people and repeated visits to dealerships. They know that most people will not choose to find a lawyer and will usually give up and either keep their car and shoulder the burden of problems or sell their "lemon" and buy a new vehicle. Is this not what put the auto industry in the precarious position it is now finding itself? People spoke loud and clear with the cars for clunkers - Oops!, I mean clunkers for cars program (mistake intended). Was the message not obvious from the public to the manufacturers? Sell cars at reasonable prices and the public will buy them. The next loud message needs to be about selling quality cars to begin with so that these frustrating, time consuming and expensive car problems can give way to higher quality maintenance. I know I would spend more money on preventive maintenance to keep my car running in tip top shape if I didn't have to be concerned with being nickled and dimed ($50's and $100's) by manufacturer defect problems that ultimately cost me in many ways. Yes, please keep posting car issues. It is so helpful to many of us that use these forums to empower ourselves. I am finding issues with my '09 sport manual - car pulls to the right (even after many attempts by the dealership to correct), there are strange noises from the right front passenger's side engine area that have been diagnosed as: water from a/c condenser splashing on exhaust, condenser switch, condenser thermomister, water not draining properly from condenser. Nothing has been done to correct the problem as each time, with each new diagnosis I am told everything is normal and fine. I only hear the noise while the condenser is engaged and the car is moving (best heard between 15-40mph. The noise is not heard in idle. If it were a switch or thermomister, should it not happen all of the time while in idle or at high speeds? I also experienced a high vibration at highway speeds in my '09 sport manual. The left rear side and passenger's seat shook violently. Even though I was told it was "normal" vibration, the dealership did replace two tires. There still is an abnormal vibration at highway speeds although the vibration is less than before the tires were replaced. Even though the dealership insists everthing is within manufacturers specifications and everything is fine, no one will guarantee the alignment and vibration issues will not cause excessive and abnormal tire wear such as has been huge problems with the 2006 models that ended up in Canada and the UK. After one alignment done by the dealership (to correct the pulling to the right problem), when I started my car, the car violently rocked side to side and I heard a high pitch whine like a weed whacker noise or a forced air noise. The side to side rocking was during ignition and the high pitched noise lasted for about a minute or two. The car did this two more times that same day (only drove it a total of about 20 miles that day). Dealership told me I must have tried to start the car while it was already running - 3 times?! 
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Replying to: empowered (Sep 05, 2009 10:30 am) I know how that feels. It seems to me that less and less atention is given to the expertise of the service departments. I think there is a general feeling that cars need ess and less maintenance. A few scripts are good enough to guide anybody through fixing problems. Obviously wrong. In the last years I've visited 3 Ford and 3 Mazda dealerships and found the same lack of smart mechanics. I have a friend who had Toyota religion all his life. He is stunned to see the same going down hill with his new Sequoia. I intend to to buy a new 2010 MZ5 because it is simple enough for me to maintain and fix myself. I have a MZ CX-7 now (lease) that has 20k miles on it. I am disapointed to hear and feel all kinds of vibration and steering noises. ALL apeared after service visits. It's a shame! |
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I have been absent for several months due to serious illness of a family member. To my friends who shared info with me (Petesmazda5, Raceymom, Sofienyc, & Trishr1) I promised an update on success (or lack thereof) in getting my 2007 Mazda 5 repaired. So, pull up a chair, pop in a Joe Nichols CD ("My Old Friend The Blues"), speakers turned up, and read on... Inner tire treadwear: my problems started with this issue. At 5K miles, after the tires were rotated, I noticed inner tread wear on all 4 tires. After the rotation, could hear tire noise because they were cupped out. At 8K miles, one of the service writers finally responded to my insistence to get this checked. She made a call, at 11K , my Toyos tires were replaced with Kumhos' (warranty). Next, enter the crunch/pop noise in the front suspension. It was cold weather as some of you mentioned when it happened on your vehicles. After several "not duplicated this visit" comments, a Master Tech observed loose play in the tie rod ends. They replaced the rack unit and the strut bushings. Problem solved for now. Also experienced popping noise in the rear suspension. A beefed up Ford(?) part was ordered and installed with new bushings. On the way home, every little bump and dip in the road produced a loud clanging in the rear.Returned car to dealer (you'll love this) the tech had installed the parts incorrectly. Parts reinstalled, noise now gone. The tire wear issue is still evident. 2 more tires were put on (warranty), refused to put on 4, even though all were worn inner tread. By the way, between 8K and 11K, the car alignment was checked, slightly high on camber (positive). For whatever reason, the alignment was outsourced to an independent garage. I spoke with the tech who explained to me that the Mazda 3's , 5's & 6's had no camber adustment, and that they ran a positive camber that made them very responsive in steering, but produced INNER tread wear. He said that adjusting the toe-in could "tweak it" a little. (Just passing on what an independent said, I'm sure a Mazda tech will argue that one). So, at this point, how many of you have had your Mazda 5 issues satisfactorily resolved? Maybe I will see some of you if there is another "Cash for Clunkers" promotion. Until then, report every issue-call your state attorney general's office if nothing is resolved, and please keep me posted. Thanks ... Letzallwin |
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My wife and I own a Mazda 5 that has been serviced several times for suspension issues. The dealership has tried to repair the problem, but it comes back every Winter and sometimes in the Summer. We've been so unhappy with the vehicle that we were trying to trade-in for an 09, but after reading entries here- I'm not so sure. We tried sending a letter to Mazda USA corporate offices, but got some young guy in Customer Service that took his orders from the regional technician. The guy even went so far as to say we either accept one of two solutions or Mazda would drop our review- which we took as a threat. So now we're sending a registered letter to his boss, the head of Customer Service & Quality Assurance (Mr. Yasuo Kunita). You can google for the corporate address. We like the vehicle, but I'll be damned if I'll accept that Mazda won't do anything to address the problem and fix it right (if they can). I'm doubtful that we'll ever buy another Mazda, but frankly, Toyota is having quality issues too (now that their number 1). Left to either buy a Ford Fusion or a Honda I guess. We've spoken to a lawyer friend, but he takes 33% of any settlement, which is only a little less than our present costs with our trade-in. Speaking of trade-in, I've never been given a lower trade-in value before. Mazda will only offer the least amount on the trade-in, even though the value of the vehicle has certainly been affected by this defect in design. Go figure!
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Replying to: mazda_5_ugh (Sep 24, 2009 4:35 am) I saw that TSB with detailed instructions on how to fix it. I'm waiting to buy a new MZ5, so I thought I may have the same problem. If I will, I will probably not go to the dealer the second time, since they applied the Mazda fix and did not work. I would find an independent mechanic and fix it for good with 3rd party parts. I may end up having a better vehicle. Better shocks the least. Mazda fix may be good, but execution often lacks at these dealerships, especially for warranty repairs. They get paid no matter what. The rubber bushings can be adapted from another vehicle and thus you can experiment. I will assume the problem is with the lithium grease and the way it is applied and also if it is retained or pushed out over time. Some kind of wrapping may help (not pretty). And this is all speculation. I'm wondering if any of the mechanics identified what is actually making the noise. I suspect that they just apply the prescribed fix without diagnosing much. Sorry for your troubles.
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Replying to: vicenac (Sep 24, 2009 9:29 am)
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Replying to: riproy (Sep 28, 2009 12:26 pm)
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Replying to: mazda_5_ugh (Sep 29, 2009 1:18 am) Mazda USA, Inc. 7755 Irvine Center Dr. Irvine, CA 92618 We've directed the letters to two people: Mr. Yasuo Kunita, Vice President, Customer Service Operations & Quality Assurance, Mazda USA and Jim O'Sullivan, President, Mazda USA Our thinking is to skip the low level employees who are hired to drag out the process and discourage people, and go for the people who have the power and authority to address the issue. If enough people send letters, they'll get tired of dealing with the issue and may be do something about it. They probably have thick skins, but a single drop of water applied hundreds if not thousands of times might work. Even if they don't act, they'll know that their decision not to act is affecting a lot of decent people. Word of mouth advertising works both ways, and Mazda will never reach the level of Honda and Toyota if they don't get serious about quality. Too bad, considering they have everything else right. Nice design, good handling etc. We like the vehicle concept, but the quality issues are out weighing everything else. Mazda's trade-in on the vehicle is really low, so even the company is bailing.
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Replying to: mazda_5_ugh (Sep 29, 2009 1:18 am) It did have an alignment the same with somebody that complained here. After a few days we saw the car was pulling left and it was hard to keep straight at high speeds. All the adjustments were on the spot. The dealer asked Mazda and was told to play with the strut tower adjustments. The car did not drive straight for long long time. It's a 2 year lease so, I didn't care much, but after about a year or so, the problem went away by itself. Go figure. I'm thinking they actually have a problem putting the frames together properly consistently. That leads to all kinds of alignment issues. I'm starting to get shy of getting a 5 (after waiting for so long). I can put up with issues, but my wife will get really frustrated....
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Replying to: vicenac (Sep 29, 2009 7:37 am) As per Toyota and Honda, just take a look of their latest recalls, good quality? I have my doubts. I actually traded a Honda for my 08, much better experience so far. But anyway, I understand many people's frustrations, no doubt.
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