I'm back, sorry for lack of updates, but i've been out of town.... here's the latest on my situation with mazda and the warranty...

i talked to the eastern service manager for mazda, he said to take the car back to the dealer and he will have them take out the radio/ a/c unit and send it in to get diagnosed... if the results are inconclusive, he'll repair it under warranty... if they determine it the damage came from the install of my new head unit, then it won't be under warranty.... i question if they'll be able to, with 100% certainty, know what caused the malfunction... we'll see, i take the car back in friday