2009 Mazda 6 Grand Touring: There's a Screw Loose Somewhere

That's coming out of your paycheck!

Yup, just like my first Mazda, which was missing fasteners from most of its interior trim, and 2 bolts from the engine mounts. I've heard of cost cutting, but that is ridiculous.

Make sure to let Mazda know to add "Driving across very large puddles at full speed like children" to their midsize sedan durability regiment. Love this post, but hardly can blame the car for the $2.49 in repair cost.

im not sure how cars last 2 years for your guys...

*for you guys....

we need edit buttons.

I'll repeat what I had said when you guys did this

http://blogs.edmunds.com/roadtests/2009/03/2009-mazda-6-childish-puddle-fun.html

You guys ABUSE your vehicles Pity the next schmuck who's unlucky to buy it from you guys.

And yep, I get cranky when I see people disrespect their vehicles. While you're trashing your Mazda, there are millions in China & India who have to drive a Brilliance BS or a Tata Nano

Oh, wait....

Wow! So far, the only issue I've had with my V6 Mazda 6 is that the lock button on my switch-blade key-fob started acting up a bit the last few days. Then the issue apparently fixed itself today.

You guys treat your Long-Termers worse than rental cars. :)

kurtamaxxxguy,

Not sure how this is cost cutting. Most vehicles have these screws that hold on plastic parts underneath the car. Plus, they flogged the thing through a pretty deep puddle. Cost cutting is inevitable throughout every car brand, but some is more glaring (pre-2008 GM) than others. Not the case here...the new 6 looks expensive.

Not really a surprising turn of events, given the water-crazyness. At least you owned up to it!

My friend's Mazda Tribute has some strongly worded warnings in the vehicle manual about not driving through standing water that is more then 2" deep, and thats an SUV! I'm definitely sure that the 6 manual says something along those lines too.

No one's blaming the car here -- although that thought did go through my mind at first. I had totally forgotten that this was the car that had been involved in "the great puddle incident".

The light finally went on when I was under the car and saw how barely re-attached it was. (No other damage under there, BTW). It was almost as if someone had been called away to take a phone call in the middle of the job and forgot to come back. Definitely not factory stuff.

Point is, a mechanic could easily charge something like $118.63 for a job that cost $2.49 as a DIY.

OMG. What a cheap piece of crap. This settles it. I will never buy a Mazda... and $2.49, thats just ridiculous. :}

Are you sure that the loose screw wasn't sitting in the driver's seat?

redliner-

Did you even read the post? The Edmunds hoons did this damage, it wasn't Mazda's fault. I've had the same piece fall off the bottom of a Passat...too much snow plowing, I think.

canadaphant

Sarcasm has been lost on you. :)

Let me get this straight: There is a glaring quality control issue on the Mazda (parts falling off the car), and Edmunds chooses to not only have it fixed, but to fix it themselves instead of bringing it into the dealership to have it fixed under warranty.

Contrast this to the Cadillac CTS, which had a creaking driver's seat and a passenger seat wiring harness that was slightly exposed - much less of a quality control issue than the Mazda, as nothing fell off the car and nothing was coming apart. Yet, instead of having the CTS fixed, Edmunds chooses to complain about it over and over again.

Am I missing something here???

Stingray, the Mazda wasn't a quality issue; it was due the shenanigans of driving through a puddle of water at high speed, several times.

canadaphant

Really?! Your kidding me right? Next time i'll label it "sarcastic content below" just for you.

"Stingray, the Mazda wasn't a quality issue; it was due the shenanigans of driving through a puddle of water at high speed, several times."

So this component isnt made to withstand impact from water at high speeds? Give me a break. How could water have loosened the screws? Its called subpar assembly.

Here's some perspective. I don't remember how fast they were going, but I'm guessing around 60 mph. Just by some rough physics calculations, and neglecting air resistance, the minimum height a person would need to fall to reach a speed of 60 mph is around 120 feet. An olympic high dive is 10 meters, or about 33 feet. In an olympic dive, if you don't hit the water correctly, you can break bones. So a person jumping from 120 feet does about 60 mph when they hit, and hits the water with about 4 times the kinetic energy of an olympic high dive. Enough to kill, if you're unlucky. It's definitely enough energy to break one stupid little plastic rivet, especially if you think about that entire flat plastic surface hitting at 60 mph. That's enough force to break bones.

Perhaps, you'd better just test Hummers. You don't expect something to fall off under the car when you go into a "No Wake" zone full blast? "I don't think so, Tim"

water can loosen screws? Never seen that happen before. I notice almost every time there is a quality issue with a car people like they decide to blame the IL editors. If this piece fell of the Caravan the responses would be drastically different.