Safety Issue: RX-8 Clutch Pedal
 

A friend forwarded this over to me...have a read and let me know what your thoughts are (i.e..from the dealers & mechanics on this forum)..

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/10/06/r...da-rx-8-clutc/
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Halfbaked

this is one topic i dont mind seeing reposted again and again, just to make sure the people who have this problem or have had a broken clutch actually report it!

It's an old story on here, but new investigation as the date states in the article Oct 6th 2009 at 10:29AM. This should be..hope for a safety recall boyz and girlz!! It is for sure not safe! And when it does break more freakin money out of 8 owners pocket :icon_no2:

Which was posted at least 3 times yesterday:boring:

didn't see it yesterday!

Interesting reading lol. We have only seem maybe 3-4 broken clutch pedals here, obviously from owner abuse!!!!!!! hahahaha If a recall is issued, I am assuming that you would all bring your cars to Scarboro Mazda to get repaired

^don't know if you know, but Pros broke as well.

Hell no..I'm taking my to Ajax Mazda so they can FUK it up, then I will take it to you so you can get even more money ;) :lol2: but of course mine will be there first thing.

Haven't you ever driven with Pros??? OWNER ABUSE OWNER ABUSE! hahahahaha

Pro had the stock clutch pedal with an aftermarket clutch plate which had significantly more tension than it was designed for.. no wonder his snapped.

Thanks for the input....useful or not...good to know on the Canadian Forum...
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Amateur xxx tube

If there is a recall, it will take a year for the recall to trickle up here! U.S. usually first. One except I can think of is the oil cooler hose. (Special Service Program 76)

we've only seen two at guelph city mazda. and both times the clutch was really really heavy. both of them were appearantly OE clutches (both cars were around 60 000km if memory serves) and not the type of owner you would expect to have an aftermarket clutch in, or lie about it if they did.

anyways, sometimes what can happen is the pressure plate becomes fatigued over time/abuse. im guessing mostly from stop and go traffic in combination with someone who cant drive manual very well. anyways, the diaphram spring on the pressure plate becomes brittle and it makes the clutch very stiff/heavy.

also, the small amount of grease around the input shaft where the release bearing slides on can get gummed up with clutch material as it wears and that will also cause a heavy pedal as the release bearing wont want to move from the "at rest" position.

then we come to the real problem. the paper thin bracket that the pedal assembly uses. sure it works fine under normal loads. but increase that load with either an aftermarket clutch or one or both of the possibilties i've listed above and you are driving a ticking time bomb essentially.

mine has lasted 100 000km and no signs of bending or deforming yet. but my pedal is also still light as a new car (without the fatigued Pplate or gummed up release bearing) so i dont see it being a problem any time soon.

i wouldnt think this should be a safety issue. there are plenty of crappy neons on the road with clutch cables that snap with no warning. and thats one example. i know geo metro/suzuki swifts have this as a cronic issue as well. the thing is, if your clutch fails you have the option to turn the key off and you still have brakes. also, you can coax it out of gear. but if mazda wants to design and pay for a beefed up pedal braket then i will gladly accept. still, i wont be trying to force them to do so. i think its not an issue they should be concenred with in these tough times if its going to cost them alot of money.

your bitching about a repost in the canadian forums...and your from IL..

sure its a repost. but im sure there are lots of people who still dont know about this problem. it needs to be reported and force mazda to issue a recall to have these fixed. if it saves someones life it can be posted 500 times.