Broken Seat Belt Buckle - Don't Do This!
03-12-2006, 09:52 PM
#53
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Originally Posted by Groo
I'm curious if the newer 8s still have this problem. But not curious enough to test it out! :P
And I have to agree, such a poor design on Mazda's part.
And I have to agree, such a poor design on Mazda's part.
03-12-2006, 10:10 PM
#54
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I realize this is an old thread, but did you check your warranty book? Our Acura's seat belts are covered for "the useful life of the car." Plus did you ask them if indeed the front and rear latches are different? If not it may have been a warranty repair.
03-13-2006, 12:41 AM
#55
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Originally Posted by MEGAREDS
I doubt that anything has been changed. When I posted this, I was sure it was going to be a common problem, but time has proven me wrong.
03-13-2006, 05:56 AM
#56
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Originally Posted by Groo
I'm curious if the newer 8s still have this problem. But not curious enough to test it out! :P
And I have to agree, such a poor design on Mazda's part.
And I have to agree, such a poor design on Mazda's part.
03-13-2006, 06:01 AM
#57
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Originally Posted by 911SC
I realize this is an old thread, but did you check your warranty book? Our Acura's seat belts are covered for "the useful life of the car." Plus did you ask them if indeed the front and rear latches are different? If not it may have been a warranty repair.
05-18-2006, 07:40 PM
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rear seatbelt 2005 RX-8
I just had the same thing happen I put my 4 yr old in the back and strapped him in for a quick ride to the store and used the front seat belt in the back and now it is jammed. I just go the car 3 days ago brand new.
Last edited by NJ RX-8; 05-18-2006 at 07:45 PM.
05-19-2006, 04:13 PM
#59
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Originally Posted by RedJade
I was riding with my Mom in the backseat (she loves getting in and out of there) when I discovered another seatbelt issue. When you are riding with someone in the backseat, don't open your front door without unbuckling your seatbelt first. Your seatbelt is attached to the back door, which, when opened quickly really does 'take your breath away'.
Originally Posted by G-ReX
I keep forgetting when I drop off the kids. It can squish you pretty tight! My middle daughter is smart enough to remind to unbuckle before she gets out.
I always marvel at how small the rear door is compare to the front. She can scoot around the rear door without stepping as far into the street as the front door and I stand. However, that rear door is also small enough to simply shut (again, without forcing anyone into traffic) before she scoots to the trunk to get her dance bag.
No Lethal Weapon 2 scene here.
My oldest daughter is the one who is leery of the front-seatbelt-choke. I have accidentally caught her by trying to open the front passenger door while she is buckled.
Back on the original topic - most of my first-time, rear-seat passengers go for the front seatbelt too (because they see it!) so I'm well accustomed to holding the rear door away from them, pointing at it and saying, "that's mine, yours is there," and pointing to their seatbelt (behind their shoulder where a seatbelt should be!).
10-10-2006, 09:01 PM
#60
Mazda's poor design strikes again. My 9 year old and his friend were is my back seat and his friend stick the front seat belt into the rear....stuck. Has anyone had any success with freeing this with out going to the dealer. I can't believe they would be so stupid as to design this thing like this. What is the point???? Make the front and the back the same or very different so they can't fit into each other this is not rocket science.
Well at least I get to enjoy some of Mazda's world renowned service at the dealer.
I hate Mazda!!!!!
Well at least I get to enjoy some of Mazda's world renowned service at the dealer.
I hate Mazda!!!!!
10-10-2006, 10:15 PM
#61
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don't feel bad. this happened to me over the weekend as well. someone suggested using a butter knife to free it but i couldn't figure it out. all i got for it was a few cuts and bruises. finally i took it to the dealer who charged $40 for half an hour of labor. if you have a screwdriver that's all they're going to do to jam it in there and break it out. the new part is another $40 plus any additional labor (my guy wanted to charge $80 for installation).
i had a not so pleasant conversation with mazda about it and they did nothing. i asked for a supervisor who called me today and gave him my story. he said this was an outside influence and not a design flaw. his mistake was that in our conversation he slipped and said it was a design flaw but quickly said he never said that. how can you do that, i don't know.
what finally came of it was that i said it was crazy that one person on the net could be charged $85 for parts and labor for this while i was being charged $160. his finally solution was to meet me halfway and give me two $40 gift certificates that i could use at mazda to have it only cost me $80.
of course this came after my question to him about what it would take to get mazda to wake up and take care of their people. i posed the very hypothetical question of whether it would have to hit their own pocketbooks instead of ours. i mean, what would happen if suddenly across the country people were test driving 8s and 'oops' there goes another seatbelt into the backseat. it would quickly add up to have to break all of those and replace. of course this was all very hypothetical but he offered the gift certificates as a gesture of goodwill. gee, how nice of him.
if you don't get anywhere with them i still have his extension at mazda and you can make sure you let him know i sent you. i'm sure that will just make his day.
https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...7&page=2&pp=15
i had a not so pleasant conversation with mazda about it and they did nothing. i asked for a supervisor who called me today and gave him my story. he said this was an outside influence and not a design flaw. his mistake was that in our conversation he slipped and said it was a design flaw but quickly said he never said that. how can you do that, i don't know.
what finally came of it was that i said it was crazy that one person on the net could be charged $85 for parts and labor for this while i was being charged $160. his finally solution was to meet me halfway and give me two $40 gift certificates that i could use at mazda to have it only cost me $80.
of course this came after my question to him about what it would take to get mazda to wake up and take care of their people. i posed the very hypothetical question of whether it would have to hit their own pocketbooks instead of ours. i mean, what would happen if suddenly across the country people were test driving 8s and 'oops' there goes another seatbelt into the backseat. it would quickly add up to have to break all of those and replace. of course this was all very hypothetical but he offered the gift certificates as a gesture of goodwill. gee, how nice of him.
if you don't get anywhere with them i still have his extension at mazda and you can make sure you let him know i sent you. i'm sure that will just make his day.
https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...7&page=2&pp=15
10-11-2006, 09:14 AM
#62
That's not a bad idea, maybe every time I'm at a Mazda dealer I should check if they have fixed the seat belt problem by plugging them in on the floor demo. May be the only way to get Mazda to do anything about it. God knows they wont do it to better service their customer base.
10-11-2006, 11:39 AM
#63
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Originally Posted by Raptor75
That's not a bad idea, maybe every time I'm at a Mazda dealer I should check if they have fixed the seat belt problem by plugging them in on the floor demo. May be the only way to get Mazda to do anything about it. God knows they wont do it to better service their customer base.
10-11-2006, 12:46 PM
#64
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as i said this was a hypothetical question and would never condone such behavior 
but it is food for thought, isn't it?
wasn't there a day when customer service actually serviced the customer? why would it take such a drastic suggestion for them to wake up and 'help' their customer base? i suppose this isn't the right thread for that question as it has been asked before but the above is just funny food for thought.
but it is food for thought, isn't it? wasn't there a day when customer service actually serviced the customer? why would it take such a drastic suggestion for them to wake up and 'help' their customer base? i suppose this isn't the right thread for that question as it has been asked before but the above is just funny food for thought.
10-11-2006, 04:29 PM
#66
Originally Posted by Raptor75
Mazda's poor design strikes again.
Don't get me wrong—people here make a good argument for redesigning the seat belt latch. Fair enough. But gimme a break… Mazda designs a bona fide sports car with "freestyle doors," no B-pillar, that seats four adults (and oh yeah, is powered by a rotary engine) and you come out with… "Mazda's poor design strikes again"?!?!!! Sheesh—I feel like I'm watching Fox News.
Pathetic.
10-11-2006, 04:43 PM
#67
Originally Posted by CTrx8
as i said this was a hypothetical question and would never condone such behavior but it is food for thought, isn't it?
wasn't there a day when customer service actually serviced the customer? why would it take such a drastic suggestion for them to wake up and 'help' their customer base? i suppose this isn't the right thread for that question as it has been asked before but the above is just funny food for thought.
but it is food for thought, isn't it? wasn't there a day when customer service actually serviced the customer? why would it take such a drastic suggestion for them to wake up and 'help' their customer base? i suppose this isn't the right thread for that question as it has been asked before but the above is just funny food for thought.
I think I am going to tackle this myself. I found out how to remove the seat and unbolt the seat belt. I'm hoping once I have this free I can unstuck it. More as it develops.
PS Don't forget lets keep testing those new RX-8s at the dealers.
Originally Posted by New Yorker
Sorry this happened to you, too, and yeah, the console cover could be designed better and it's hard to reach the dipstick and the spare tire blocks the trunk light, but jeez… saying "Mazda's poor design strikes again" strikes me as somewhat unfair—and very misleading. Your statement makes it sound like Mazda has a reputation for poor design. If anything, Mazda is associated with good design, as reflected in their engineering, product lineup and history.
Don't get me wrong—people here make a good argument for redesigning the seat belt latch. Fair enough. But gimme a break… Mazda designs a bona fide sports car with "freestyle doors," no B-pillar, that seats four adults (and oh yeah, is powered by a rotary engine) and you come out with… "Mazda's poor design strikes again"?!?!!! Sheesh—I feel like I'm watching Fox News.
Pathetic.
Don't get me wrong—people here make a good argument for redesigning the seat belt latch. Fair enough. But gimme a break… Mazda designs a bona fide sports car with "freestyle doors," no B-pillar, that seats four adults (and oh yeah, is powered by a rotary engine) and you come out with… "Mazda's poor design strikes again"?!?!!! Sheesh—I feel like I'm watching Fox News.
Pathetic.
Last edited by Raptor75; 10-11-2006 at 04:46 PM.
10-11-2006, 04:47 PM
#68
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Originally Posted by New Yorker
Sorry this happened to you, too, and yeah, the console cover could be designed better and it's hard to reach the dipstick and the spare tire blocks the trunk light, but jeez… saying "Mazda's poor design strikes again" strikes me as somewhat unfair—and very misleading. Your statement makes it sound like Mazda has a reputation for poor design. If anything, Mazda is associated with good design, as reflected in their engineering, product lineup and history.
Don't get me wrong—people here make a good argument for redesigning the seat belt latch. Fair enough. But gimme a break… Mazda designs a bona fide sports car with "freestyle doors," no B-pillar, that seats four adults (and oh yeah, is powered by a rotary engine) and you come out with… "Mazda's poor design strikes again"?!?!!! Sheesh—I feel like I'm watching Fox News.
Pathetic.
Don't get me wrong—people here make a good argument for redesigning the seat belt latch. Fair enough. But gimme a break… Mazda designs a bona fide sports car with "freestyle doors," no B-pillar, that seats four adults (and oh yeah, is powered by a rotary engine) and you come out with… "Mazda's poor design strikes again"?!?!!! Sheesh—I feel like I'm watching Fox News.
Pathetic.
i know, it would be more expensive to halt/change production at this point and change all belts b/c of a few of us that have had the problem but then that goes back to the customer service issue. either fix the issue so it doesn't happen or since you know there's an issue, help your people; don't try to make them out to be some sort of dopes.
Last edited by CTrx8; 10-11-2006 at 04:50 PM.
10-11-2006, 05:17 PM
#69
Agreed. They should redesign the rear latch. And agreed… that's poor customer service. I just take exception to the blanket statement "Mazda's poor design strikes again". "Mazda's poor customer service strikes again" or "Mazda keeps missing the little things" would've been more accurate—and less misleading—IMHO. But you're absolutely right—they should fix that little problem, no matter how unlikely it is to occur.
10-11-2006, 08:39 PM
#71
The problem exists, it was very stupid to design it like this and it serves no point. If you don't want people plugging the front belt into the rear you design it so it dose not fit not to become stuck.
So your Mazda and it was a design flaw what do you do. Redesign for the next model year is a good start, they've dropped the ball two years in a row on that one.
Existing cars have this issue do you recall. To expensive and most users will probably never experience this. Mazda actions are acceptable here.
If an existing car gets stuck you fit it for free knowing you incorrectly designed it in the 1st place, just like any good car manufacture would do. Not Mazda, sorry that would be treating your customers as if they had value. Mazda's view is get the cash and run. Once you have their car they are pretty much done with you, this also explains why Mazda has such poor customer loyalty.
Once again MAZDA STAND BEHIND YOUR CARS AND CORRECT YOUR MISTAKES DON"T MAKE IT THE OWNERS PROBLEM.
So your Mazda and it was a design flaw what do you do. Redesign for the next model year is a good start, they've dropped the ball two years in a row on that one.
Existing cars have this issue do you recall. To expensive and most users will probably never experience this. Mazda actions are acceptable here.
If an existing car gets stuck you fit it for free knowing you incorrectly designed it in the 1st place, just like any good car manufacture would do. Not Mazda, sorry that would be treating your customers as if they had value. Mazda's view is get the cash and run. Once you have their car they are pretty much done with you, this also explains why Mazda has such poor customer loyalty.
Once again MAZDA STAND BEHIND YOUR CARS AND CORRECT YOUR MISTAKES DON"T MAKE IT THE OWNERS PROBLEM.
10-12-2006, 02:25 AM
#72
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Originally Posted by Raptor75
The problem exists, it was very stupid to design it like this and it serves no point. If you don't want people plugging the front belt into the rear you design it so it dose not fit not to become stuck.
So your Mazda and it was a design flaw what do you do. Redesign for the next model year is a good start, they've dropped the ball two years in a row on that one.
Existing cars have this issue do you recall. To expensive and most users will probably never experience this. Mazda actions are acceptable here.
If an existing car gets stuck you fit it for free knowing you incorrectly designed it in the 1st place, just like any good car manufacture would do. Not Mazda, sorry that would be treating your customers as if they had value. Mazda's view is get the cash and run. Once you have their car they are pretty much done with you, this also explains why Mazda has such poor customer loyalty.
Once again MAZDA STAND BEHIND YOUR CARS AND CORRECT YOUR MISTAKES DON"T MAKE IT THE OWNERS PROBLEM.
So your Mazda and it was a design flaw what do you do. Redesign for the next model year is a good start, they've dropped the ball two years in a row on that one.
Existing cars have this issue do you recall. To expensive and most users will probably never experience this. Mazda actions are acceptable here.
If an existing car gets stuck you fit it for free knowing you incorrectly designed it in the 1st place, just like any good car manufacture would do. Not Mazda, sorry that would be treating your customers as if they had value. Mazda's view is get the cash and run. Once you have their car they are pretty much done with you, this also explains why Mazda has such poor customer loyalty.
Once again MAZDA STAND BEHIND YOUR CARS AND CORRECT YOUR MISTAKES DON"T MAKE IT THE OWNERS PROBLEM.
To me it directly says that Mazda doesn't give a lot of money in its budget to the RX-8 team.
10-26-2006, 05:57 PM
#73
Here is the latest and it just keeps getting better by the moment.
I tried to unstick the seat belt myself and just couldn't do it, stupid design on Mazda's behalf. So I figure I'll just bring it to the dealer and argue design flaw and see what happens. I bring the car in for that and other service work it needs. Later that day the service guy calls me and tells me I'll looking at $450 for the repair. I ask him to explain this and he informs me they plan to order a whole new front seat belt and rear assemblably....Time out. I explain to him that this is not a new occurrence for the RX-8 any many other have suffered from this design flaw. I explain to him that the general approach is to break the plastic cover of the rear seat belt receptacle and then free the stuck belt, as other have reported their dealers doing. He tells me they will look at it.
The next day I get a call and it is the service manager informing me that he will not break the rear seat belt receptor and that I will have to do it and then request the parts I need. I'm listing to this and just holding my head in my free hand.
Once I do this they will replace the parts and bill me for the work, naturally they said they don't have the authority to cover this repair and it would have to be kicked up to the regional service manger who won't be out for a few weeks.
Well this is going so well I figure lets call Mazda North American and see if they can show me some of that great customer support they claim they want to deliver. Well to make a long story short after about 1/2 an hour they tell me sorry it was damage inflected to the car. I asked how I damage it and they said by forcing the front seat belt into the rear receptor. I pointed out that the forcing they are taking about was administered by a 9 year old boy. Quite for a few seconds "sorry it is your issue have a nice day."
So it's looking like Mazda's commitment to improving service is just so much lip service. I'll be buying the part myself and installing it. Thanks for the help Mazda you guys are the best
Zoom - Zoom - Doomed!
I tried to unstick the seat belt myself and just couldn't do it, stupid design on Mazda's behalf. So I figure I'll just bring it to the dealer and argue design flaw and see what happens. I bring the car in for that and other service work it needs. Later that day the service guy calls me and tells me I'll looking at $450 for the repair. I ask him to explain this and he informs me they plan to order a whole new front seat belt and rear assemblably....Time out. I explain to him that this is not a new occurrence for the RX-8 any many other have suffered from this design flaw. I explain to him that the general approach is to break the plastic cover of the rear seat belt receptacle and then free the stuck belt, as other have reported their dealers doing. He tells me they will look at it.
The next day I get a call and it is the service manager informing me that he will not break the rear seat belt receptor and that I will have to do it and then request the parts I need. I'm listing to this and just holding my head in my free hand.
Once I do this they will replace the parts and bill me for the work, naturally they said they don't have the authority to cover this repair and it would have to be kicked up to the regional service manger who won't be out for a few weeks.
Well this is going so well I figure lets call Mazda North American and see if they can show me some of that great customer support they claim they want to deliver. Well to make a long story short after about 1/2 an hour they tell me sorry it was damage inflected to the car. I asked how I damage it and they said by forcing the front seat belt into the rear receptor. I pointed out that the forcing they are taking about was administered by a 9 year old boy. Quite for a few seconds "sorry it is your issue have a nice day."
So it's looking like Mazda's commitment to improving service is just so much lip service. I'll be buying the part myself and installing it. Thanks for the help Mazda you guys are the best
Zoom - Zoom - Doomed!
Last edited by Raptor75; 10-26-2006 at 06:05 PM.
10-26-2006, 07:55 PM
#74
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raptor--
sounds oddly familiar to the experience i had. if you want the number to that rep that helped me out i can PM you with it. i was just about to toss it out but have it on my still. let me know.
sounds oddly familiar to the experience i had. if you want the number to that rep that helped me out i can PM you with it. i was just about to toss it out but have it on my still. let me know.