DOT officially investigating faulty clutch pedal brackets on 04-06 RX8s
08-12-2010, 10:23 AM
#1
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DOT officially investigating faulty clutch pedal brackets on 04-06 RX8s
Got an email today from a DOT federal investigator asking for more detail on my clutch pedal failure. Anyone else who has had clutch pedal problems should make sure to open a report with these guys. Email below:
My name is Derek Rinehardt. I am a federal investigator with the Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C. We are conducting a formal investigation of 2004 through 2006 model year Mazda RX8 vehicles for a potential safety related defect involving the clutch pedal mounting bracket.
Thank you for filing a complaint with us 5/26/2010 10:57:00 AM. It is helpful to our investigation. As we gather more details it is sometimes necessary to contact the complainants for additional information.
Your complaint suggests that your vehicle may have experienced the condition we are investigating. If you wouldn’t mind, please answer the questions below (even if you no longer the vehicle) to supplement the information you have already provided us. The questions may seem trivial and some may be redundant to your complaint but are very important to us.
1. If you did not provide the VIN of your vehicle with your complaint please do so.
2. Are you the original owner?
a) If so, when was the vehicle purchased?
3. What was the date of the incident?
4. Were you the driver of the vehicle when the incident occurred?
a) Were there other passengers in the vehicle at the time of the incident?
5. Please describe in detail the specific occurrence when you became aware that you had an issue with your vehicle.
6. Please also answer the following to supplement the prior information you have provided.
a) Approximately what time did the incident occur?
b) What were the weather conditions at the time of the incident?
c) Warning Signs:
i) Were there any warning signs alerting you to an impending issue with your vehicle?
ii) If there were warning signs please describe the warning signs. (i.e. noise, etc.)
iii) How long prior to the failure did you notice the warning signs?
d) How many miles were on your vehicle at the time of the failure?
e) How fast were you traveling when the failure occurred?
f) What type of road were you traveling on (i.e. two lane road, highway, residential street, etc)?
i) If you recall the exact location please provide that information (for example the intersection of ABC Street and XYZ lane)
g) What were the traffic conditions? (light, moderate, heavy)
h) Were you able to maneuver the vehicle to the side of the road?
i) Was your vehicle stranded in a lane of traffic?
i) If the vehicle was left inoperable did the vehicle require towing?
i) How long did it take for a tow truck to arrive? Where was the vehicle towed?
j) Did you loose control of your vehicle
7. Has the issue been corrected on your vehicle? If so how was it corrected?
8. Did you report the issue to Mazda? If so what did Mazda say in their response to you?
9. If you have pictures of the failed component in or out of the vehicle and have the ability to provide copies of the pictures please do so.
10. If you are willing to provide to NHTSA to actual failed component in support of the investigation please do so. If requested the component can be returned upon completion of the investigation.
Also, please feel free to add any additional relevant information (including pictures). Thank you again for filing your complaint and contributing to our investigation.
Best Regards,
Derek L. Rinehardt
Safety Defects Engineer / Federal Investigator
U.S Department of Transportation
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Office of Defects Investigation, Vehicle Controls Division
1200 New Jersey Ave, SE
W48-219, NVS-213
Washington, DC 20590
Office: (202) 366-3642, (877) 536-8368 x63642
Fax: (202) 366-1767
My name is Derek Rinehardt. I am a federal investigator with the Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C. We are conducting a formal investigation of 2004 through 2006 model year Mazda RX8 vehicles for a potential safety related defect involving the clutch pedal mounting bracket.
Thank you for filing a complaint with us 5/26/2010 10:57:00 AM. It is helpful to our investigation. As we gather more details it is sometimes necessary to contact the complainants for additional information.
Your complaint suggests that your vehicle may have experienced the condition we are investigating. If you wouldn’t mind, please answer the questions below (even if you no longer the vehicle) to supplement the information you have already provided us. The questions may seem trivial and some may be redundant to your complaint but are very important to us.
1. If you did not provide the VIN of your vehicle with your complaint please do so.
2. Are you the original owner?
a) If so, when was the vehicle purchased?
3. What was the date of the incident?
4. Were you the driver of the vehicle when the incident occurred?
a) Were there other passengers in the vehicle at the time of the incident?
5. Please describe in detail the specific occurrence when you became aware that you had an issue with your vehicle.
6. Please also answer the following to supplement the prior information you have provided.
a) Approximately what time did the incident occur?
b) What were the weather conditions at the time of the incident?
c) Warning Signs:
i) Were there any warning signs alerting you to an impending issue with your vehicle?
ii) If there were warning signs please describe the warning signs. (i.e. noise, etc.)
iii) How long prior to the failure did you notice the warning signs?
d) How many miles were on your vehicle at the time of the failure?
e) How fast were you traveling when the failure occurred?
f) What type of road were you traveling on (i.e. two lane road, highway, residential street, etc)?
i) If you recall the exact location please provide that information (for example the intersection of ABC Street and XYZ lane)
g) What were the traffic conditions? (light, moderate, heavy)
h) Were you able to maneuver the vehicle to the side of the road?
i) Was your vehicle stranded in a lane of traffic?
i) If the vehicle was left inoperable did the vehicle require towing?
i) How long did it take for a tow truck to arrive? Where was the vehicle towed?
j) Did you loose control of your vehicle
7. Has the issue been corrected on your vehicle? If so how was it corrected?
8. Did you report the issue to Mazda? If so what did Mazda say in their response to you?
9. If you have pictures of the failed component in or out of the vehicle and have the ability to provide copies of the pictures please do so.
10. If you are willing to provide to NHTSA to actual failed component in support of the investigation please do so. If requested the component can be returned upon completion of the investigation.
Also, please feel free to add any additional relevant information (including pictures). Thank you again for filing your complaint and contributing to our investigation.
Best Regards,
Derek L. Rinehardt
Safety Defects Engineer / Federal Investigator
U.S Department of Transportation
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Office of Defects Investigation, Vehicle Controls Division
1200 New Jersey Ave, SE
W48-219, NVS-213
Washington, DC 20590
Office: (202) 366-3642, (877) 536-8368 x63642
Fax: (202) 366-1767
08-12-2010, 12:12 PM
#2
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lol at Mazda for trying to hope this goes away. Explain the logic to me Mazda North America... I am just curious. This is a clear design and manufacture defect that effects a critical drivetrain component.
08-12-2010, 01:58 PM
#4
The same letter was sent out already starting last year to those who reported the issue. Since then, not much else happened. How far this is going to get is anybody's guess.
Hopefully something will come out of this since it is indeed a serious safety hazard.
Hopefully something will come out of this since it is indeed a serious safety hazard.
08-12-2010, 03:20 PM
#5
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mazda sent them all the components they had from failures, original parts and newer parts. NHTSA is doing tests on all of them. they had to send all the connecting components and fire wall etc etc so NHTSA could replicate the exact circumstances.
08-12-2010, 09:55 PM
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Has anyone here actually have clutch failure?
I'm not sure if mine incident counts as failure, but one day when I was parking my car my clutch pedal became very loose when I depressed it and once it was pushed all the way to the floor, it got stuck. I feel lucky that this happened while I was only trying to park and not at a time like on the freeway; or any road for that matter going over 50 mph.
I'm not sure if mine incident counts as failure, but one day when I was parking my car my clutch pedal became very loose when I depressed it and once it was pushed all the way to the floor, it got stuck. I feel lucky that this happened while I was only trying to park and not at a time like on the freeway; or any road for that matter going over 50 mph.
08-13-2010, 11:00 PM
#10
I heard this can fix it http://kalecoauto.com/index.php?main...products_id=13
???????????????????? a clutch belt ???????????? i need one of those !!!!!
Last edited by sebarx8; 08-13-2010 at 11:07 PM.
08-14-2010, 08:16 AM
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Since we have his name and address, let's all send him the info he asks about and everyone send the link to your thread(see above).
That should keep him busy for awhile!
I know you linked the site in your very first post in the thread, but he if starts getting letter showing up on his desk, maybe he'll take more notice rather than being spread amongst numerous government employees and buried in a database somewhere!
Last edited by Mazurfer; 08-14-2010 at 08:19 AM.
08-16-2010, 12:27 PM
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Same Problem
Hey I have the same problem, my 05 rx8 only has 53k miles on it but the clutch just went out as well as the drive belt and the ac belt. Does this mean there could be a recall on the 04-06 rx8 cluthces soon? if not I need to get my car fixed asap!
08-18-2010, 08:04 PM
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douchebag
Oh so I can't post my clutch problem on a thread about clutches now huh? What a douchebag, and I was just seeing if anyone had the same problem because it all happened at the same time. How about you get a life and quit being such a dumbass...
08-19-2010, 09:11 AM
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A damaged clutch bracket could cause the clutch itself to have problems due to not fully disengaging the clutch during shifts. But good luck arguing that with Mazda. I suspect if recall comes of this, it would be replacement of the bracket only. But you might get a sympathetic dealership. The first step at this point would be to inspect the clutch bracket to see if it's begun to crack and flex. If it's wonky then press the clutch issue with Mazda.
09-02-2010, 06:05 PM
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My clutch pedal broke today so I decided to hop on over to the NHTSA website and do some digging. When I found the investigation into the assembly I noticed it said the investigation was closed as of August 19th 2010. I requested more information and found this:
Looks like it's about to officially become a recall!
Make: MAZDA
Model: RX-8
Year: 2006
NHTSA Action Number: PE09045
Summary:
On September 23, 2009, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened a Preliminary Evaluation to investigate allegations of the clutch pedal bracket failures in MY 2004 - 2006 Mazda RX8 vehicles. In response to an information request letter sent by ODI, Mazda stated that the failure mechanism may be related to an improper fastener attachment sequence to the body. The improper sequence may create a distortion of the pedal bracket and create a stress amplitude during pedal usage that may go beyond the wear out limit of the bracket. Mazda stated that the percentages of vehicles experiencing the defect is low at approximately 1% of the vehicle population projected to 10 years in service based on analysis of warranty claim data that best represented the alleged defect. In terms of risk to motor vehicle safety, Mazda stated that the failure is progressive with warning manifested in noise and difficulty in shifting gears prior to complete failure of the bracket. Mazda also stated that when a bracket fracture occurs the clutch pedal may lean towards the brake pedal however gear shifting becomes impossible prior to any contact of the clutch pedal to the brake pedal. ODI is not aware of any crashes associated with a clutch pedal bracket failure in the subject vehicles. ODI's analysis of warranty claim data provided by Mazda yielded failure rates of approximately 3% projected over 10 years in service. ODI's analysis of Vehicle Owner Questionnaire (VOQ) data complaint indicates that approximately 5% of the VOQ complainants allege they were unable to get out of the roadway as a result of a clutch pedal bracket failure. None of these incidents occurred on a highway. Approximately 7% of the complainants alleged a contact condition after a clutch pedal bracket failure of the clutch pedal to the brake pedal. None of these complaints noted difficulty in getting the vehicle stopped. Mazda has informed ODI that it will conducted an Owner Notification of an extended warranty coverage program increasing the clutch pedal assembly warranty to 8 years and limited at 100K miles for model years 2004 through 2009 RX8 vehicles. A safety-related defect trend has not been identified at this time and further use of agency resources does not appear to be warranted. Accordingly, this investigation is closed. The closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that a safety-related defect does not exist. The agency will continue to monitor this issue and will take further action if warranted by the circumstances.
Model: RX-8
Year: 2006
NHTSA Action Number: PE09045
Summary:
On September 23, 2009, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened a Preliminary Evaluation to investigate allegations of the clutch pedal bracket failures in MY 2004 - 2006 Mazda RX8 vehicles. In response to an information request letter sent by ODI, Mazda stated that the failure mechanism may be related to an improper fastener attachment sequence to the body. The improper sequence may create a distortion of the pedal bracket and create a stress amplitude during pedal usage that may go beyond the wear out limit of the bracket. Mazda stated that the percentages of vehicles experiencing the defect is low at approximately 1% of the vehicle population projected to 10 years in service based on analysis of warranty claim data that best represented the alleged defect. In terms of risk to motor vehicle safety, Mazda stated that the failure is progressive with warning manifested in noise and difficulty in shifting gears prior to complete failure of the bracket. Mazda also stated that when a bracket fracture occurs the clutch pedal may lean towards the brake pedal however gear shifting becomes impossible prior to any contact of the clutch pedal to the brake pedal. ODI is not aware of any crashes associated with a clutch pedal bracket failure in the subject vehicles. ODI's analysis of warranty claim data provided by Mazda yielded failure rates of approximately 3% projected over 10 years in service. ODI's analysis of Vehicle Owner Questionnaire (VOQ) data complaint indicates that approximately 5% of the VOQ complainants allege they were unable to get out of the roadway as a result of a clutch pedal bracket failure. None of these incidents occurred on a highway. Approximately 7% of the complainants alleged a contact condition after a clutch pedal bracket failure of the clutch pedal to the brake pedal. None of these complaints noted difficulty in getting the vehicle stopped. Mazda has informed ODI that it will conducted an Owner Notification of an extended warranty coverage program increasing the clutch pedal assembly warranty to 8 years and limited at 100K miles for model years 2004 through 2009 RX8 vehicles. A safety-related defect trend has not been identified at this time and further use of agency resources does not appear to be warranted. Accordingly, this investigation is closed. The closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that a safety-related defect does not exist. The agency will continue to monitor this issue and will take further action if warranted by the circumstances.
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