For the first 3700 miles on my new (bought April 2006) 2005 Mazda, I don't ever remember seeing the TSC light (skidding car symbol) come on, even though I've taken some corners where I could feel the brakes applied at the back.

About a month ago I got hit by a truck going 30 mph; broad-sided me running a stops sign: hit me in the driver's side rear door (side-curtain bags worked!) and, besides gobs of body damage, the left rear tire was knocked in about 15 degrees from vertical.

Last week I got it back from the body shop. Beautiful job on body work, with other work contracted to local Mazda dealer (like air bags, TPMS, and adjusting their sensors); alignment and I assume suspension work done at Firestone. (Repairs totaled over $9000) After driving it a little I noticed a tire/wheel noise. Firestone diagnosed it as wheel bearing, and "removes & replaced wheel hub, rear, one side FW51 wheel bearing (OSP Mazda), spindle (OSP Mazda), and aligned rear only"

Picked it up today: tire noise gone. Yeah! ;-) I drove it a bit, doing some swerving and hard cornering. TSC light came on, and stayed on until I turned engine off and back on. Later took a sweeper curve sort of fast (hardly anything radical), and TSC light on.

So, finally, my question: was my TSC light too insensitive all along (before Firestone did this last repair work) or is it too sensitive now, or is it doing what it should be doing? Or none of the above. :-)

I really appreciate your insight. Not many people have RX-8s out here (Norman, OK), and I'm not sure mechanics are all that familiar with the trick suspension stuff. I want to make REAL SURE my car is "as good as new" before I tell State Farm (truck driver's insurance company) it is fixed.

Thanks,

Jud

 

I don't like it. Take it to the dealer. Maybe sensor is broke.

 

Sounds like they broke or didn't re-connect the sensor in the back. Pretty easy to do. The solid on light means something is up with the syste,

There isn't any adjustment of the sensitivity of the system. It just reads wheel speeds with a pulse sensor.

I've felt the DSC kick in without getting a blinking light too, so that's not totally abnormal. Once your sensor is fixed, throw it into a slow 90 degree corner and just stand on the gas. Then you'll see it blink

 

2 things I think it could be...

1. Bad sensor/system somewhere
2. Alignment is way off (Yes, it can cause the light to stay on).