Mazda may have just launched its 2010 Mazda3 sedan and hatchback last month in North America, but the automaker has already been forced to recall all 25,400 of its small cars over the possibility of a wiring harness design that can lead to system short circuits.
Clearance between the engine wiring harness and the starter motor housing is insufficient, meaning a vibrating wiring harness could rub up against the starter motor and cause a short circuit that could stall the vehicle and make it unable to be restarted.
Mazda will repair damaged wiring harnesses and add a protector clip designed to keep the wiring harness away from the starter motor housing.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that the recall, Mazda Recall 5409D, will begin on May 6. Concerned owners can also call Mazda’s North American operations at 1-800-222-5500.
04/20, 10:51 AM
posted by:
kansei
Aw, so sad! Glad to see they came clean, acknowledged it, and already have a fix though!
Also glad it isn’t a “the car may catch on fire” recall
04/20, 10:51 AM
posted by:
tripleonefive
Wasnt too impressed with the interior of this car It copied the Honda Civic split dash design which Im not too fond of anyway
I blame FOMOCO Mazda will be succesful if they get rid of the platform sharing with Ford Get the FOMOCO DNA out of your brand Mazda !
04/20, 10:54 AM
posted by:
HoosierHero
I thought for sure the recall was over the front grill. Too bad…
04/20, 10:55 AM
posted by:
Borat
I thought that Mazda gonna send their cars to a dentist to improve that grin.
04/20, 11:25 AM
posted by:
strongbad
I did see a new 3 pulling out the dealer lot, and wow that car was absolutely ecstatic to be on the road! I never saw a car so happy to be alive!
04/20, 1:24 PM
posted by:
l.sanchez
1115 – Are you kidding??? Mazda was better before Ford? With the 323 and 626 and the Millenia?? Sure bud. Sure they were. FoMoCo is what turned them around. Mazda 3, 6, CX7 and CX9 have all been winners for them thanks to Ford. Miata always had its own following. The Mazda 5 too. RX8 lacks power, but handles awesome and is well put together. So you can go back to the old mazda if you want. Only good car that came from them was the RX7 and original Miata. i’m not fan of the front either but it still a great car. And the dash is nowhere like a Civic. I’m around both on a daily basis. I think you actually need to see the cars before you make statements like that.
04/20, 1:31 PM
posted by:
Bubs Solo
that 1115 for you. Even issues with Jap cars are domestics fault.
04/20, 1:35 PM
posted by:
Bubs Solo
The Mazda 5 is an across the pond Ford C-max
04/20, 1:36 PM
posted by:
mayer_ray_nagin
So now that grille is chomping on a wiring harness?
04/20, 2:14 PM
posted by:
leftwingagenda
i had a ford probe (1st gen) back in the day…it was a fine ford/mazda fusion product…styled kinda weird, decent mileage, no balls, but it had solid reliability and i was pretty much uninjured after being rear-ended at a stoplight by a guy doing about 35 mph (aside from the obvious brain damage…hah!)…
there isn’t a new car introduced where this piddly stuff doesn’t happen, though…
04/20, 3:09 PM
posted by:
Ed103
The “RX8 lacks power”? 210 hp out of a naturally aspirated 1.3 liter engine isn’t enough for you? Damn Sanchez, do you want your engine to crap gold dust out of the exhaust too?
04/20, 3:57 PM
posted by:
TomF
I like the little bugger. I’m going to test-drive one this week.
04/20, 7:22 PM
posted by:
andy
haha HoosierHero you and me both… why anyone would by a car with such an ass ugly front end is beyond me
04/21, 1:35 AM
posted by:
sprockkets
Already saw two of them on the road. Kinda like the new Acura; they look better in person.
But as a Mazda3 owner, there were sever TSB and other stuff they didn’t get right in the first year. Such as the rear brakes making all the dust while the fronts didn’t (it was their choice of brake pads, just a superficial flaw), the a/c wasn’t as cold as it could be, fixed by a air diffuser, and others.
Mazda didn’t copy the civic interior at all. They put a digital speedometer at the top with a tach at the bottom. All Mazda did was put the information cluster for the radio and such to the right; the usual speedo and tach are right where they should be.
04/21, 11:16 AM
posted by:
tripleonefive
m lopez
Ford did NOT turn around Mazda! Its the other way around. I think you actually need to look up who came up with the idea for the Ford Explorer and what platform the Ford Fusion Milan MKZ are on. Once you do that write back
04/21, 5:45 PM
posted by:
sprockkets
They kinda help each other, really. Ford gives them V6s and they give them V4s. Ford gave them an infusion of cash and also gave them the money to develop the RX-8.
At least when you look at the Mazda3 and Euro Ford Focus and the Volvo S40, when put all together side by side, you couldn’t tell each one shared the same chassis and same parts, unlike GM, where you could put an Opel and Holden anything and see immediately the GM counterpart.
04/23, 3:32 PM
posted by:
jackjimturkey
bad luck. good car