Mazda says U.S. recalls over Takata air bags to be expanded nationwide | Reuters

Figured this would be a welcome sign for all of you that have been waiting for a nationwide recall.

 

Cool - and Mazda wasn't under legal pressure, the way Honda was when they went along with NHTSA's request.

Hope Takata doesn't try charging Mazda for replacements that are not in humid states like Arizona. Or, if they do, maybe Mazda can buy replacements from a different vendor. The Takata guy who's been testifying at the hearings does not give me a warm fuzzy feeling.

Ken

 

My recall was completed yesterday morning. They gave me a new Mazda3 to drive while they performed the work which turned out to only take them about an hour. They did not replace my cracked dash cover.

 

Update ...

Edit: Link Removed as it is not up to date see first post...

Honda owns a 2.5% stake in Takata..
Takata are not running away from this issue...
THE issue for them is supply, they have already said it will take a year as they have to make/install a brand new production line.
Their competitors are willing to help, but design specs are not identical, testing has to be done and they (2 companies) can only supply in limited numbers, about 600,000 units of the 20 million required.
Some of the dopes in congress expect Takata to stop supplying car makers for production and use these stocks for recalls....so what do these car makers do, shut down their production lines, stand down workers??.

 

If Takata has been saying that in the congressional hearings, US news media are ignoring it. Would not surprise me.

Ken

 

Can the first post be updated to reflect that there are recalls in Australia to ?
see my post on page 2 post #47 for the link.

 

While it has been reported by Reuters that MMC is expanding this to all effected cars across all states in USA it has yet to be 'officially' stated.

I think MMC are taking this worldwide..

Dare I say it is going to be easier for Mazda to just renew all of the inflators rather just in high humidity regions.

This would mean all Series I RX-8's (and other Mazda models listed).

Next issue will be the supply of new inflator units.

AFAIK, Series II RX-8's has a different brand of inflator (I am trying to confirm this as the inflators are not retailed separately from the Air Bag assembly which is a different Mazda Part Number(s) from the Series I RX-8).

As soon as I find/hear more information from Mazda Europe, Mazda Australia, Mazda NAO, I will update.

Please post other related information here if your hear/read more news

 

Mazda officially extends airbag recall nationwide.

Edit: Link Removed as it is not up to date see first post...

 

Honda, Nissan and Chrysler extend airbag recall nationwide

Chrysler to expand air bag inflator recall on estimated 208,783 vehicles.

 

Now it is Official From Mazda NAO.


Mazda USA Media - News

UPDATED MAZDA STATEMENT REGARDING TAKATA AIRBAGS

Dec 11, 2014

WASHINGTON, DC (December 11, 2014) – In addition to the actions announced on December 4, 2014, as discussed in a separate document, Mazda today announced the following steps in the Takata recall:


■Mazda will institute a nationwide Safety Improvement Campaign of 2004-2008 model-year Mazda6 and RX-8 models equipped with certain Takata airbag inflators.
■The nationwide Safety Improvement Campaign will cover the driver’s-side airbag inflator, as Mazda has not made a safety defect determination at this time. This action will support us to gather additional parts for examination and to promote customer satisfaction and safety.
■There are approximately 330,000 vehicles included in this Safety Improvement Campaign in the United States
■So far, Takata has tested a large number of inflators removed from Mazda vehicles, and NONE have been found to be non-compliant at this time
■One vehicle – a 2005 Mazda6 located in Florida – has been identified as having experienced an abnormal driver’s-side airbag deployment. Mazda has worked closely with NHTSA on this situation
■Mazda will participate in the independent, industry-wide joint testing program for Takata airbag inflators



For history, on December 4, 2014, Mazda announced:


■It would expand the area of the high-temperature, high-humidity region recall to include the Gulf Coast states. This campaign included both driver’s- and passenger-side airbag inflators
■The following states and territories comprise the High Absolute Humidity Region - Florida; Puerto Rico; Hawaii; Saipan; Guam; American Samoa; US Virgin Islands; Georgia; Alabama; Louisiana; Mississippi; Texas.
■As of December 4th, the estimated vehicles in all Mazda-Takata campaigns is 86,773. (Pending Polk Data confirmation).



Mazda is working closely with Takata to move forward the supply timing for replacement airbags. We continue to encourage customers to respond to our campaigns, and are making direct-to-customer phone calls and re-sending notification letters.



With safety as our first priority, we are cooperating with Takata to work toward finding a solution to this problem as early as possible



This situation is fluid, and updates will be provided regularly.

 

So basically the Recall is for ALL Series I RX-8's...

All Series I RX-8's for Drivers side Air Bag INFLATOR ONLY in all States (including High-Humidity States).

Series I RX-8's for Passenger side Air Bag INFLATOR ONLY in the High-Humidity States ONLY.

 

I am a Series I Rx-8 owner, but I'm probably the 4th owner of this car.

My question is:
Do you guys get the Re-call letter from Mazda sent to your house about the recall?

or

Should I just bring it into the dealership directly w/o the letter?

and if anyone can post a letter (if there's one), greatly appreciate.

And cause, I'm out of the country right now.

 

I checked yesterday with my dealer ( one of the biggest East Coast Mazda franchises) and they were still waiting on the vin list from Mazda. They said Mazda would notify the listed owners directly, but also in a few days you should be able to check with your dealer and they can look up your vin to see when you are officially due for recall.

RIWWP I hate to say I told you so this would be the result as time went by, but yes I told you so. Lets hope that no one is injured before their airbag inflator is replaced.

 

I've been not replying out of the interest of forum peace. However, if you are interested in carrying on the debate elsewhere, send me a PM.

 

What's the point in carrying on a debate over who figured how it would come out? I have a much bigger problem with this.

When it was the passenger side at risk, I was planning on offering Ralph Nader a ride whenever he wanted. Now that it's the driver's side, I'd have to let him drive.

Ken

 

Ken, that was never my point. Mazda press release backs up what I was saying, it does not disprove it.

 

But now I'm in the position that I'll have to let Ralph Nader drive Zoomy if he wants. My life is over.

Ken

 

Ok, I'm a little confused.
The initial problem was with the passenger side inflator, wasn't it?
Now the latest recall is for driver's side only, unless your 8 is from a high humidity area, then both?
Do they know if this is because only driver's sides are suspect, or is this just a shotgun (><) approach to pacify congress?

 

It's a shotgun approach to pacify the public and to ensure that they keep a good public image. I doubt congress has anything to do with it. Injuries and death certainly doesn't, since that hasn't happened and they have found zero evidence of any defect on any they have replaced so far.

 

I thought Takata had pulled airbags out of cars in junkyards, and did find defects in some of them. That's what supposedly led to the "hot and humid" determination. Only one of the four US deaths was in a hot, humid state.

If it was up to Congress (or at least one congressional grandstander) all cars with Takata airbags would be parked and the owners provided with loaner cars until the bags were replaced.

Ken

 

Public outcry = Congressional action.
It seems to me this issue came up over 2 years ago, & very little was being done until Congress started holding hearings a few week's ago.
Big corporations seldom do anything that will cost them money unless punitive measures are involved.
Public outcry alone will usually do nothing to resolve problems that are a result of negligence by Big Business unless their bottom line is threatened, through either class action lawsuits, or the negative publicity involved from Congressional hearings that may affect sales or stock prices falling.
The Ford Explorer rollover crashes, Toyota's stuck accelerators, G.M.'s faulty ignition switches, and now this latest airbag issue were all swept under the rug until pressure was brought to bear by external sources.
It's a shame innocent people are injured or even killed when corporations are more worried about Quarterly Profit statements than people's well being.

 

"Congressional action" - what a strange concept. But the hearings did seem to kick NHTSA into getting off their butts and escalating their activity.

Did Congress kick up the publicity, or did they react to the news media? This issue has been around a lot longer than two years, ripe for someone to pick it up and raise attention.

Ken

 

"Toyota's stuck accelerators"

To be clear, there never was an issue with Toyota's accelerators. Numerous studies were conducted, to include by NASA for Pete's sake, and no flaw could be found to exist in Toyota accelerators. It was basically people stomping on the wrong pedal, or installing improper aftermarket floor mats. Period. I challenge anyone to cite an independent peer-reviewed study that identified a defect in Toyota's electronic acceleration system.

Now, it should be noted that the government was successful in shaking the company down for a billion dollars. This took place by charging Toyota with "withholding information" when a couple of irrelevant pieces of paper were missing from the thousands of volumes that the government demanded from Toyota. So the government offered to make the charges "go away" if Toyota agreed to make a big protection payment to the government. Nice company you have there ... it would be a shame if something were to happen to it.

I have no problem with "big corporations", as I voluntarily purchase their products and can vote with my wallet in a free market. But it is unchecked government that NEVER cedes power, and always grows in its desire to promulgate ever more regulations on the free market. And when big government's appetite grows beyond the limits of how much it can tax, it will 'never let a crisis go to waste' in exploiting a situation to shake down deep pockets. And that is what happened to Toyota.

 

A letter would normally be sent to the last known address held by your Mazda Distributor, obviously IF your car has changed hands and the "Distributor" has never been informed then they are not going to know, the onus is on you to contact a Mazda Dealer in your area (or MNAO) with your full VIN Number, but give it a few weeks.
I suggest you contact by phone first, don't just rock up with car to a Dealer as initially you could be disappointed, none will have full stocks for awhile yet..

 

Your "stuck accelerator" issue is semantics.
I used that as a generic term that everyone knows of and identified the basic issue of the problem.
It's the same old story, the cover-up is what made it criminal, not an actual "stuck accelerator".
Toyota knew they had a problem.
Even though they weren't sure what caused it, it was happening, people died because of it, and they admitted in the settlement they misled regulatory agencies and tried to cover it up.
You can blame 'Big Government', but without government regulation, many businesses would have no problem engaging in unethical and unsafe practices if it meant making more money.
Arguing otherwise is naive at best.