RSS RSS Twitter Twitter
Leftlane - news, reviews, and info for the auto-industry
 
 

Mazda begins destroying 4,703 vehicles from Cougar Ace accident

04/30/2008, 11:57 AM

By Drew Johnson

Just about two years ago, the Cougar Ace — a cargo ship containing 4,703 Mazda — capsized while in route from Japan to Vancouver, British Columbia, Tacoma, Washington, and Port Hueneme, California. Although the majority of these vehicles were strapped down and therefore undamaged, Mazda announced in late 2006 that all vehicles onboard would be destroyed and is now fulfilling that promise.

Mazda has officially begun the arduous task of destroying 4,703 Mazda3 and CX-7 vehicles. The Japanese automaker has been bombarded with suggestions of what to do with the vehicles — from vocational school use to stunt cars — but Mazda ultimately decided that destroying the cars was best.

Although nothing appeared to be wrong with the vehicles, Mazda didn’t want the cars to reach the retail market only to find out later that the cars had been damaged in the accident — a nightmare not only for Mazda’s warranty department but also the brand’s image.

In order to ensure not a single part of the vehicle ever finds its way to the market, Mazda will first deploy the cars’ airbags, send them to the crusher and then onto the shredder.

The Cougar Ace also contained about 100 Isuzu vehicles, but there is no word on the fate of those vehicles. As Isuzu will be exiting the U.S. market soon enough, we don’t suspect anyone will make too big a fuss about a few crushed Isuzu vehicles.

    Print This Post

New car price quote

Zero obligation price quote from a trusted local dealer.
 
 

04/30, 12:04 PM

posted by:

F451

What an incredible waste of resources, so what if your Mazda crabs sideways as you drive down the road!

04/30, 12:10 PM

posted by:

HemiRoadRunner

Sounds like toyota needs to do the same to ALL of their vehicles.

04/30, 12:13 PM

posted by:

LaCaLover

^^^^Change the record YAWN

04/30, 12:22 PM

posted by:

rsg

How ridiculous. Here’s an idea. “These cars were involved in an incident at sea. Although we don’t believe there is any damage, sign this waiver and we’ll include a $2500 rebate.” Or something along those lines. People would snap them up. Or donate them to underfunded organizations. Why destroy perfectly good cars?

04/30, 12:28 PM

posted by:

HemiRoadRunner

Because they’re greeeeeeeedy

04/30, 12:29 PM

posted by:

shaver

Insurance at its best. Paying for undamaged cars to protect image.
This is really a travesty, in terms of waste. Despicable.

04/30, 12:52 PM

posted by:

FordTaurusForever

No actually if any of the cars suffered from incident whether visible or not-it may be pretty hard to tell.

And in some cases not show up. for a year,six months of never. But If Mazda name is on the line why ruin your repuatation.

Owners would be PO’ed at Mazada for ever selling them a car in the first place that was involved in a sea accident.
They would be a huge outcry at Mazda if they sold these cars and then people associate poor quality issues with a Mazda when in fact they we damaged and that is what the owners would be dealing with. But they would call it a Quality issue or worse sue Mazda for selling them Faulty cars. So Mazda is doing the right thing.
So while it may look like an Insurance issue at first it really boils down to a saying your brand name from being tarished and losing sales.

I am sure all the Automakers who face recall would like to have fixed it the first time. Because its expensive when a recall needs to be done.

04/30, 12:55 PM

posted by:

HemiRoadRunner

Man over board!!!

04/30, 1:06 PM

posted by:

tripleonefive

Why couldnt that happen to GM If it did GM would just sell the vehicles anyway

04/30, 1:10 PM

posted by:

HemiRoadRunner

Hmmmmmmmm, maybe it’s called “statistics”. Meaning, GM sells the majority of their cars here in the U.S. so the odds of a ship going down and destroying a cargo hold of cars isn’t as likely as, hmmmm, let’s say mazfa that exports cars over the high seas of the mighty Pacific Ocean daily. Arggghhhh matey.

04/30, 1:22 PM

posted by:

Fletch

Ambulance chasers would be the first in line to buy one of these and then file suit and wait for a settlement. Plus, Mazda can’t sell them at discount because it will cannabilize sales.

Seems like they could have sold them at a heavy discount to India or an African nation or something.

Such a waste, what a shame.

04/30, 1:54 PM

posted by:

xyunya

HemiRetardRUnner has problems with reading comprehension: GM is making money everywhere, but in US. Meaning cars and trucks made by GM don’t sell all that well here. And those that sell are made somewhere else: Europe and Korea. They are shipped here. Furthermore, US made cars are often shipped by water: the most inexpensive mode of transportation. The good news he learned the word “statistics” albeit with absolutely no idea what it means. Next step – dictionary.

04/30, 2:43 PM

posted by:

eliteski2

They should’ve just donated all of the cars to be blown up and crashed in movies. The sequels for Transformers will need plenty more cars to destroy. Nothing beats a good movie with lots of explosions and car chases.

04/30, 3:45 PM

posted by:

johnnycanuck

It is sad that in the lawsuit driven world we live in there was not another solution. Everything today revolves around CYA.

04/30, 4:10 PM

posted by:

bigp

damn i wish i could just get one i wont tell a soul zoomzoom

04/30, 5:11 PM

posted by:

nowei

My brother’s high school teacher lost a Boxster when the ship carrying it sank. Not really relevant, but slightly related and amusing.

04/30, 5:41 PM

posted by:

1c3d0g

HemiRoadRunner: fully agreed! Now that is an EGGcellent idea!

04/30, 6:04 PM

posted by:

stick2clutch

Thats crazy. There are still many parts that can be used such as tires and wheels. If they don’t send them to the U.S. I can think of a **** load of countries that would snatch up the parts at a discount.

04/30, 8:43 PM

posted by:

56oval

“The Cougar Ace also contained about 100 Isuzu vehicles, but no one really noticed.”

04/30, 10:44 PM

posted by:

olds307

“Sounds like toyota needs to do the same to ALL of their vehicles.”

Well said HEMI.

04/30, 10:53 PM

posted by:

Jordan

i’ll take one off your hands for free, mazda, and save you the cost of destroying it. i won’t complain if problems come up. i’ll even pay the shipping costs for you to send it to me.

05/01, 1:32 AM

posted by:

sharpie

You can sign whatever, but some types of product liability always come with selling the cars. Mazda is waste to crush them to avoid expensive litigation down the road. Even if you sign a waiver, you can always try to argue that whatever injury you suffer is not because the car was damaged on Cougar Ace, but that it was manufactured with poor quality. I can think of a dozen more legal theories that anyone can assert. These are are nothing less than 4,703 ticking time bombs.

Certainly it is a waste, but blame it on you suing happy culture in the USA, don’t blame Mazda for it.

05/01, 12:20 PM

posted by:

Get Real

A faster death the junkyard Mazda’s belong in.

05/02, 3:35 AM

posted by:

Veda

Might as well claim the insurance rather than getting headaches from unknown future problems.

05/03, 12:00 PM

posted by:

AMGoff

All Mazda would have had to do was shuffle the titles around, sell them as an “as-is,” used car and be completely up front with why they are selling them at hugely discounted prices… if such a waiver were worded properly and legally binding, then there could be no possible recourse against Mazda… Now, if someone bought one of the damaged goods at a huge mark-down and then turned around and tried to sell the car to an unsuspecting person near retail – there could be some legal ramifications… but again, not on Mazda.

Even still… I can’t understand why they would completely destroy the vehicles… Mazda must be doing really well to be so blatantly wasteful, because there’s no reason why they couldn’t try to salvage as many parts and components as possible- even if it was nothing more than a sun-visor, or a doorhandle, or a radio button.. there are hundreds of thousands of components there that could have been easily rescued and reused.

Either way… just like Jordan said, I’d be more than happy to take one of each off of Mazda’s hands… it will cost money to scrap them, so they’d come out ahead by doing so… I’d even drive out to the left coast to pick one up so they wouldn’t even worry about having to ship it.

 
 
You need to log in with your user name and password before you can leave comments.

    

Forgot your Password?

Don't have a user name yet? Simply fill in the form below and click the link provided in the
confirmation email. You must supply a valid email address to complete the registration process.

  
 
 
 
 
  • Login
  • About
  • Contact
Please note that you need to log in with your user name and password before you can leave comments.
  

login
cancel
Forgot your Password?
Don't have a user name yet? Click here to register now.

Simply fill in the form below and click the link provided in the confirmation email. You must supply a valid email address to complete the registration process.

  
submit
cancel
Leftlane is the leading source for automotive industry and vehicle news, new car research, future vehicle information, and reviews. Read by car shoppers, driving enthusiasts, autoworkers, executives, and investors, the website is updated throughout the day with the very latest auto news - as it happens.

Leftlane also provides consumers with accurate and media-rich information on every car currently on the market. In-market shoppers can review specs, read overviews, view high-resolution images, watch videos, and estimate pricing. No other automotive publication brings together the same degree of timeliness, thoroughness and accuracy as Leftlane.
 
submit
cancel