Problems with 2002 Mazda Tribute ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING

While driving up or down a hill at 40mph vehicle will stall,causing consumer to pull emergency brake in order to stop. dealer notified.*ak*the first incident happened in january as the vehicle was being test driven.* four incidents have occured with in six months of owning the vehicle. the vehicle stalls out and looses power to the braking and steering components. mazda cannot pinpoint the cause. the vehicle usually starts up with the exception of the last incident where consumer had to wait 10 min. *jg

While driving about any mph engine would stall. this could happen without prior warning. dealer was contacted, and could not indicate what was causing the problem. please provide more information.*ak

Believed to be related to nhtsa defect investigation action number pe01043. engine stalls totally unexpectedly. dealer contacted, thinks they have a resolution but will not give any assurance. manufacturer contacted, unaware of problem in 2002 mazda tribute, unable to give any assurrance of problem resolution steps and procedures. extreme safety hazard if engine stalls in traffic. *ak

While driving 65 mph consumer heard a noise, stopped vehicle to check and oil had leaked out of vehicle. took vehicle to dealer, and dealer indicated a new engine was needed.*ak *slc

Consumer states that the vehicle will intermittenly shut off with out any warning. contacted dealer and the dealer is not willing to do anything.*jb

While driving engine stalled, consumer has contacted dealer, and they were aware of problem, and waiting to hear from manufacturer. consumer feels unsafe driving vehicle.*ak *slc

Proceeding on a slight downhill at roughly 40 mph my new vehicle's engine stalled/died. i imediately slipped the transmission into neutral and re-started. this allowed me to continue. power brakes and steering were non-operable during this time. had i been proceeding at a faster speed or not reacted quickly this could have been a very dangerous situation. i have heard this has been an issue with these vehicles.

Vehicle shut down w/o warning. *ak

Vehicle stalled while backing up at slow speed. vehicle was towed to dealer. cause unknown at this time. please add further details. *ak

I was driving up hill with the speed around 35mph and the car stalled. i lost all power without warnning. the car just died. there were traffic coming from both directions (down hills and up hills) and it was very dangerous! apparently there are a lot of cases as such in the last year. please do something before someone get hurt. if this happened at the intersection by my house, i could be dead! please pass on any information that can help to resolve this problem to all tribute/escape owners. thanks. *ak

Vehicle has stalled 5 times at 30-40 mph at slight down grades. dealer could not find a problem with vehicle.*ak

Vehicle shut off without prior warning. dealership was aware of problem.*ak

On november 2 driving 40mph with no warning my engine shut off and i lost power to my steering and brakes. i was able to get the car to the side of the road after applying all my weight to the brakes and steering wheel. i missed an oncoming car and a tree by luck. i took the tribute to the dealership and was told by the service manager that this was an ongoing problem. they were going to put me back in the tribute until monday when they had an opening. i requested a rental car because i did not feel safe driving the car untill the problem was resolved. the manager also told me that the tributes that have been repaired for this same problem have been different porblems. i returned home and called the mazda customer service department and reported the problem. they assured me that they would look into it and get back with me, this never happened. on november 6th i received a call from the dealership that my car was ready. i asked to speak with the sevice manager who informed me they could not find anything wrong and i could pick up my car. i told him i would not pick up the car until there was a solution to correct the problem and the car was not safe to drive. he infomed me that his hands were tied and to contact mazda. i contacted mazda and they contacted the sevice manager who had already contacted the regional manager. i was told i would be contacted by him tomorrow november 7th. i have a 15 year old son who has his learners permit and who i strongly believe would not have been able to avoid what could have been a fatal accident. the car is still at the dealership. my tribute is the first 2002 that they have seen with the problem. obviously this serious safety problems continues.*ak

Tribute was purchased while "at sea." 48 hours after tribute was rolled off the delivery truck the engine shutoff without prior warning while traveling u-hill at 45mph. it shut off again six days later without warning. according to edmunds.com web site, many other tribute and ford escape owners are having the same stalling problem. hennessey mazda had 3 tributes returned to their dealership for same problem prior to my purchase date of 10/30/01. both hennessey and mazda corp have refused to give any type of certification or guarantee that the corrective repairs performed on my tribute on 11/8/01 are the permanent fix. *ak

Vehicle has completely stalled on two separate occasions within past month while driving between hills (coast down first hill and go to accelerate to take second hill, but vehicle has no power); mazda dealer in conjunction with mazda hotline were unable to locate problem after first occurrence on 10/25/01; mazda has had similar reports of problem in other areas of u.s., but has not been able to locate problem; problem occurs while driving 25-30 mph. *ak