I don't think it has to do with having a perfect car or anything like it. My car is a 2006 RX8 with only 23,000 miles, perfect condition and maintenance, and do to my job and were I live, it is always in closed garage. I started noticing the same problem about 2,000 miles ago.

I have to admit, that I live in Puerto Rico (Caribbean)...obviously hot!!! But I have had other cars and never something like this. I have a Toyota Highlander with 78,000 miles, had an RSX with 28,000 when I sold it, and so...never problem like this. For me, it's a defect and Mazda should respond.

I tried locally, but they just made a discount on the part.

Tks

 

There are service vendors and do-it-yourself kits that can repair cracked dashes and other padded vinyl interior pieces. I had this done to another car years ago, and the repair was undetectable. Just google "dash crack repair" or "mobile vinyl repair".

 

defects are only covered under warranty, take the discount and consider yourself lucky

 

Your car is six years old... How long do you expect Mazda to warranty cracks in the plastic?

 

Same problem bro, and many others.
You will see people on this board with the same old song and dance.The car is over such and such years old, you expect mazda to pay for it.Or put some silcone crap on it.My guess they are a dealer or on the Imaki's payroll.

Don't waste your time calling Mazda, i've been down that road. They will tell you to bring it into your local dealer. Your local dealer will tell you its just cosmetic. I'm sorry it the airbag is coming out its not safe. File a complaint with https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/online.cfm

If your crack is your only problem you are lucky. Best thing to due is no buy another Mazda product.

 

How do you figure a crack in the dash has a negative effect on the safety of the airbag?

 

And your "guess" would be WRONG.

 

This is not a crack.

A crack is not a straight line.

This "crack" is a straight line where the airbag is located.

If one "fixes" the crack, ie puts some type of crap on it, it might affect the
operation of the airbag, ie safety issue

Yes, it is a cosmetic issue, the airbag will still work.

Note that the "crack" is the outline of the airbag, straight line all around.
To me this is a design Mazda issue. Do all other car manufactures have the same issue?
I do not think so therefor a design issue.

I took mine to the local dealer and they tried to help but could not because of out of warranty. ie '06 with 45K miles
My new local dealer is very friendly and helpful.

Guess for now I have to live with it and decide
Next car not a Mazda or not?
So far Mazda has not been very helpful in most of my concerns.
There are so many other nice cars to own. (4 years with the '06 RX-8 so far) and yes, it still turns me on!--and turns heads everywhere I go.

State cop stopped me .....and all he did was ask me questions about the 8. ....ended giving me a warning for not have the front license plate in front.

 

Well...Mazda still has an 8 year powertrain warranty so it is not that far from it.

Obviously, this is a specific defect in craftmanship that doesn't have to do with sun or weather. This happens with really old cars with direct sun exposure. They should have responded with some kind of recall or more friendly option, specially if the car was still under basic warranty. I started noticing it about a year and a half, way before the warranty expired.

I had in the past, 2 Acura's, and they would change, sometimes without even me telling, "plastic" damage...wipper covers, rear view mirror covers and other parts. Obviously, I now realize that I have a Mazda and had to accept that service is not really good, specially if I compared with my experience with Honda/Acura. (But, nobody is perfect)

Tks

 

A) It's not an 8yr powertrain warranty. It's an 8yr 100,000 mile engine core warranty.

B) This is covered under the bumper to bumper warranty, which expires (for the US) at 3 years 36,000 miles


The whole point (legally) of a warranty is that the manufacturer is saying "I believe that this covered part will last this many years or this many miles. If it doesn't, I will pay for it." So Mazda was only sure that the bits only covered under the bumper to bumper warranty would only last for 3 years or 36,000 miles. Past that, they can't be sure anything would last. Obviously, they try to go longer, but the warranties aren't an arbitrary number they throw out. (Yes, this means Mazda was only sure that the engine would last 60,000 miles originally. They extended to 8yrs as a public relations move only)

Your dealer should have covered it entirely when you were under the bumper to bumper. If you have documentation of the original complaint and it's refusal, then you have some room to maneuver to get them to fix it even though you are outside the warranty. If you don't have that documentation, then you have no ground to stand on.



And don't think that this is "just a Mazda thing" when it comes to warranties and how they work. Other manufacturers are the same way. Only a few companies are extending bumper to bumper warranties past 3 years. Ferarri (you know, top notch quality and all?) only covers their cars for 1 or 2 years.

 

And you chose not to get it replaced then? Or not even in the next 18 months?

 

NO, no other brand has this happening.....Acura, Hyundai, LR, GM..

http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/f...boards-102821/

http://www.hyundaiforum.com/forum/hy...r-airbag-8555/

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gi...2298253&v=wall

http://www.landroverworld.org/forums...ad.php?t=19479

http://www.carcomplaints.com/Chrysle...ashboard.shtml

 

Glad ASH8 set that straight.

I smell a market opportunity for smart looking dash trim covers.

 

Kinda funny though that in three out of the five links ASH posted, they said the dealer replaced the dash panel free of charge despite being out of warranty (minus one where they had to pay for labor), which I think is what this whole discussion is about

 

The original bumper to bumper had ended about a year before and the 5 year extension doesn't cover any of this.

Sorry...don't have exact dates, months, times...

Anyhow, it would seem of no use because when I started to notice the lines, I went directly to the Mazda distributor with the complaint, including the discoloration of both muffler plastic wrap-arounds. They took the complaint, evaluated it and the decision was that this was a "maintenace problem".

I could not believe the answer. My car has been obssesively maintained, low mileage, in perfect condition and sleeps/work in closed garage. That was their final position.

That's when I started to look around to see if other RX8's had the problem.

Tks...

 

Tks!!! My point is that it's obvious there is a problem and they should haved offer some kind of option, discount, recall or goodwill solution. I would haved said the same if my car was an Acura, GM, Toyota...of which I had better experiences with similar situations.

 

-That's true but, as I explained before, my experience with service/warranty issues and goodwill solutions with other brands as Toyota and Acura, much better and more "user-friendly" as compared with Mazda.

Tks for taking the time...

 

too bad mazda won't sell you just the cover. they want to buy the whole air bag unit. My dashboard gets really bad during the cold months like now.

 

NO, the cover with backing minus the Air Bag module is sold by Mazda.

 

Hi!! Of what i know, at the beginnig, you had to buy the complete unit/cover, but now you can buy only the cover. The part number is posted in various threads here.

Tks

 

Hey mine has a line now just happened
to my 2004 in Stuart Florida.
what was the part number for the cover?

 

check this thread https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...65#post4148165

 

I have the same problem. At first I was ok with the H crack but within a month it now runs for all the way from the front cover to the clove box. And side to side almost splitting the cover in half. My airbag light now is on the fritz and I'm not sure if it's because of the airbag cover. My car has 78k and have been using a front shade since I got the car (53k) I asked local Mazda dealer and they told me cover is $485. And they could not help me. Any ideas?

 

lol thats ridiculous I have the same issue with my 07, i live in miami and i also have to go to ocean mazda and bitch about it to get it fixed. lets see what happens.

 

Member of crack dash club