My daughter's 2014 mazda3 transaxle was making a whining noise. upon doing an internet search, we discovered a technical service bulletin (tsb) that addressed this situation. the tsb #'s are 05-008/16, 05-005/15 and 05-004/14, and mentioned a bearing in the transaxle will be damaged due to an improper configuration of the transaxle case. in other words the transaxle case was manufactured incorrectly and the transmission cannot be rebuilt. we visited several mazda dealers whom verify the tsb addressed the situation. mazda would not cover the $5,000 cost to replace the transaxle even though they knew at the time the car was purchased of the impending problem, and that it was only a matter of time before the transaxle would eventually fail, most likely once outside of the warranty period, which is just what happened. the transaxle failed at 70,000 miles, 10,000 miles over the 60,000 mile warranty, but it was well within the 5 year warranty period. we discussed the issue with at least a dozen local transmission repair shops for alternatives available. additionally we also submitted an auto complaint form to the better business bureau (bbb), and spoke with the state of wisconsin consumer protector department, along with the lemon law auto area. we contacted mazda usa's 800# and the dealership where the car was purchased trying to obtain a more favorable resolution. with the assistance of the service manager and mazda zone representative, mazda usa presented us with a final offer of $2,500 for a re-manufactured trans-axle. with no other avenue available, we decided to have the repair done at a final cost of $2,572. we feel mazda should have issued a recall notice to fix this situation back in early 2014. they knew which cars manufactured would have the problem and at what point in time the trans-axles would fail. we are all very dissatisfied with mazda usa.
At appox 84000 miles the transmission suddenly failed with out warning. the car was being driven on a trip from alabama to north carolina. my wife was driving and had just turned off the highway to go to her friends house.
As i was turning into a parking spot to park my car, the car accelerated on its own and ran into a concrete wall. i have had issues with this car's programming, including when i took my car in to get fixed after the safety recall in january '16. as i realized the car was accelerating - and pushing on the brake would not stop it - i lifted the emergency brake. the crash ultimately stopped the car - not the brake or emergency brake, and the airbag deployed. less concerned about the damage to the outside of the car, and more concerned that i had zero control over the car and any ability to stop it.
I initially had issue getting into and out of the 3rd and 4th gear (manual transmission car). i could feel gears grinding during shifting (with the clutch fully depressed). the dealer replaced the third gear. after the fix, the car now has difficulty getting into and out of gear 2 and 3. this problem is intermittent but is more noticeable after the initial start-up of the car, especially if the weather is cold (50f or colder). with the clutch fully pressed, i can still feel the gear rotating and grinding during shifting. when the car is cold, a lot of force is needed to shift the car into 2nd and 3rd gear. the shifting issue is less noticeable when once the car has been operating for 20mins. *tr
Harsh vibration in cabin similar to an engine misfire occurs randomly near idle or immediately after ignition. the dealership and manufacturer have been made aware of this concern and were unsuccessful in reproducing or isolating source of the vibration. video documentation of the failure during its occurrence has been provided to both parties and has been forwarded to the senior regional engineer for analysis. current owner has an open vehicle repurchase claim under lemon law with the manufacturer pending investigation of fault. *tr