Cool, look forward to the images. Try to get shots from different angles.

Here ya go . Cost me one tray of Waikato (beer)

Attachment 266614

Attachment 266615

Man, it's just been one thing after another with the 8's. My clutch has been squeaking for a year now. I didn't think anything of it until I saw this thread...

We'd have so much less talk about if the 8s weren't so high maintenance.

Thanks for add'l pics of a welded bracket.

Brettus, I like the your added support on the base. I also like supporting the upper section like on Charles R. Hills because it adds to the stiffness of the clutch bracket. When I added the support bracket to to mine (Masport), it really made my clutch peddle feel more stable. I'm confident that the welds on your bracket are more than adequate to solve the snapping issue. It looks really good.

thanks . I do have a stiiffer clutch than stock and it feels nice and stable . Fingers crossed :)

Have not seen what CRH does - sounds good .

Is the NHTSA still investigating this issue?

No idea

They send me a msg second time, Replied them with same information, and that was couple months ago.

We're on "C" revision as well.

FE05-41-300C

FE15-41-300C

Just not sure when did they make the change, cuz last I know we were still on "B" revision.

Is there a pic of what your fix is ...... or do I need to sift through 31 pages to find it ?

His is on page 10 with mine. I took both sets of photos. Charles, have you modified your's any differently since then?

Oh terrific, mine too... for about six months. I figured it just needed some silicone or something, not that the whole thing was about to snap off!

Great, I checked it this morning... I guess it's a bad sign if I can grab it by hand and wiggle the pedal like 1" left and right?

I feel so stupid for not noticing it before, but I mean come on... you don't really feel side-to-side "play" with your feet. And who expects a clutch pedal weld to come loose???

Sigh. And I guess I'm out of warranty at 65,000 miles... :(

Is the NHTSA still investigating this issue?
Maybe if our cars were a Toyota, they would make the investigation a priority now....

I bought a support bracket a couple of months ago for my '04 w/ 46k, but I've been too busy to install. Today, I noticed while driving, that half of the time that I depress the clutch, it makes a clunk sound halfway through the travel. Is this maybe related to the clutch assembly splitting, or is it maybe something else?

You better get in there and look at the areas known to rip. There are some pics in this thread and others to show you where it happens.

For what it's worth, even though I do have side-to-side play and it "creaks" during the last 1/2" before lifting off the clutch, I don't see the brackets flexing at all... so I'm thinking my creak is just the spring or the known clutch switch problem.

I just got my new reinforced pedal assembly, and I'll be sending the NHTSA my old one, so hopefully that helps us either get our money back for the new one's we bought, or the money we put into them to make them stronger, and help the people that haven't had to go through this BS.

My Clutch Pedal Assembly Bracket Broke Too!
 

About 30 days ago I heard a pop when I depressed the clutch on my 05 RX8. I looked but didn't see any damage and the clutch seemed to work ok. But, over next three weeks, it was harder & harder to get into reverse. At first I thought it was the result of blizzard weather here in the DC area, but last week when I took it to the dealer to check, they said it was a broken clutch pedal assembly and needed to be replaced for $550. I said I'd come back when I had the cash, but now the car would not shift out of 1st to 2nd or any other gear so I left the car, got a free 1-day rental, and picked up the car the next day and the clutch works fine, for now. It is stil the same cheap metal and spot welds as before. I sent in a defect report to NHTSA and offered to send them the broken pedal assembly that I got back from the dealer. The metal was torn on one side just like the others on this thread. I sure hope Mazda steps up to the plate and reimburses our costs and develops a better clutch pedal assembly. I have never had a clutch pedal assembly break in 30 years of driving.

550 bucks for that is equivalent to highway robbery.
Designing a crappy assembly by Mazda and the dealers capitalizing on this is just wrong. But it doesn't seem like the NHTSA is doing much with this issue... after contacting a bunch of owners months ago who reported the problem, there is still no action or any sign of a recall.

Now Im thinking should I move this up to Media's attention.

Since it seems that the Media love to bash Japanese companies these days (to aid US to sell more cars, thats how I see it) a call to Fox should be able to fix everything.

Yes, DO IT!

that should get the ball rolling.

I already sent the story to my local news, no bite.

you go girl.. ;):)


beers :beer:

The downside to this proposed adverse media attention would be potentially even more rapid depreciation (eroding resale) and further decline of RX-8 sales. Just look at Toyota. Nothing's easy.

Remain anonymous as Ninjas are known to be stealthy, sneaky, and somewhat deadly bastards. :uhh:

I broken peddle is a little less dramatic than a car suddenly going wide open throttle.

Evo X's had some form of snapping pedals, and no one cares still....but them...:cool:

down from few sales and no resale value? :lol:


love my car!

beers :beer:

To get any kind of media attention about that, you'd probably have to say the clutch pedal was the reason why you ran your car into that church sunday morning.

Yea, the problem is that nobody has reported an accident because of the clutch pedal. It's actually the opposite of the car surging to 100 mph uncontrollably. You are forced to slow down with our problem. Now if someone got rear ended on the interstate, that might be a different issue. Anyone care to volentear? :)

Im not selling my car. so that does not affect me.

:lol:

shhh ..... *heeeeeEYeeeeeeeeYYYAAAAA*

Well, not if the pedal snap off and stuck behind the brake pedal ... it might be rare. but someone did report that.

My question is, do we really need someone to get hurt or die from it before Mazda will face the problem ? Cuz obviously NHTSA used to be pretty lazy (they totally ignored Toyota's problem) Now Im thinking I can't really depend them.

if they want to go that way ... I will make sure I will never buy another Mazda. that's all.

That's pretty much the requirement for a safety recall. I'd be surprised if there were any that did not have deaths behind them.

A certain percentage of parts failures, some potentially dangerous, is always accepted. Think of tires. There's no generic recall of tires because they occasionally blow out, sometimes leading to deaths. But when the usual statistics are exceeded (Firestone's infamous incidents) then they do take action.

It's all risk management. And numbers of deaths is a trade parameter.

Ken

Ken is right (as always).

If the number of serious injuries/deaths multiplied by the likely court cost per case is likely to exceed the cost of a recall, that's when they do a recall.

Hey, I was having the clutch pedal issue with my '04 RX-8, but I traded it for an Evo X just over a month ago. Is there something I should know about, here?

installed a new OE clutch recently, amazing how soft the pedal pressure is with a new clutch, thought the line was full of air at first :dunno:

Actually- if the now loose pedal lodges behind the brake pedal and thus hinders braking, it is MUCH worse than a simple stuck throttle since you can just shift into neutral to address that.

I swear- the more I hear about unintended acceleration related crashes, the more I think it may just be a modern form a Darwinism... since it is quite easy to address if both hands are free and you are actually paying attention to driving. Maybe all vehicles should have a random unintended acceleration episode weekly just to keep drivers' hands on the steering wheel.

^.................So I guess you missed the woman from Tennessee who testified before Congress that her Lexus sped up to 120mph. Both feet on the brakes, tried to shut it off....no go, threw it in neutral....no go(again no shut off), threw it in park....no go, threw it into reverse.......no go and no shut off still. Just kept on increasing speed. Called her husband to say "goodbye". Finally after something like 6 miles on the Interstate it decided to somewhat give it up, she was able to get it down to 35mph while was supposedly in reverse and both feet on the brake and mashed to the floor..............at that point she was then able to turn off the ignition.
I thought the off duty cop in California was an idiot until I heard about this story above. So just going to neutral and shutting off the car wasn't doing it. I guess he was on a windy road at 120mph and eventually had a horrific crash and killed his whole family.

These are not your typical "Well, granny got confused and hit the accelerator instead of the brake and took out the front window at the 7-Eleven."

i lawled.

couple weeks ago, put foot into clutch and was rewarded with a loud *pop*. spot welds failed.

$330 later and it's all better. will have the broken pedal tig'd up at work. definitely not fun!

Make sure you report it please! The link is above.

lube on the input shaft cover is an amazing thing. i think with this car it gets cooked pretty fast.. :)

beers :beer:

Do you think anyone has sent in an assembly?

Just seen this on the news, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540...5200&#35825200. So now I don't know about sending my pedal in.

oh hell no, i do NOT want a fucking black box in my car.

We probably already have a something that acts like a black box.
Temporary data logging is very common on modern vehicles.

well, i do know when it throws a CEL, it will record that data, but a real black box will keep an actual history of the car's performance, period! can you imagine going to the dealer and they pull out the data and ask what were you doing reving like this, or a cop pulling out your black box to prove that you were definitely speeding.

worse yet, airplane blackbox records in-cabin audio! =(

My owner's manual says that there's a data recorder. So they're doing it already.

Voice recorder is important for aircraft, because there are two people up front and what they say to each other is an integral part of how the aircraft is being flown. It just records the final half hour, and if they make a safe landing the crew erases it as part of shut-down.

Those OnStar commercials where it seems like they're listening all the time are scary.

Ken

That video is about cancer patients?:confused: