Mazda's Response

Yes, Mazda did respond eventually. And No, it was not the answer I expected. In fact, you can read the comrade between the Mazda technical support team between the lines. I will not be surprised to learn that Johnny, who declined my request the first time, had a hand in writing this response.

I especially liked the last sentence in their response "Any further correspondence to this department regarding this matter will be for documentation purposes only". So, this closes the door on any further communication with Mazda Customer Assistance department. I guess all further communications will have to go to another department at Mazda. I'm wondering if they have a "Pissed Off Customer Department" or maybe a "Fuck-Up Cleanup Department". I'll have to look into this.

But, actually, I really don't think talking with anybody in Mazda will solve the problem. Mazda has obviously set up these warranty rules to begin with, and though it makes absolutely no sense, why would they go back on that? I think my next step will be to go to other places. I will start with Ford (who owns Mazda) and with the BBB.

This is not the end of this fight. Just the beginning...

And a final reminder - NEVER EVER BUY A MAZDA AGAIN.

No reply yet...

It's been a week now since my last post, and about 10 days since I sent my letter to Mazda, so here is a short update. Mazda is MIA and my car is smelling more than ever. So starting next week, I am going to take it to the next level. I am planning to use the weekend to decide on my next steps and I will post an update early next week on what I plan to do. Stay tuned!

Introduction

It’s only been a week since I started this BLOG, but I’ve already written a lot in it. So maybe an introduction is in order. In fact, I think I'll try to keep this posting at the top of my BLOG at all times as a reference and introduction.

So what is this BLOG all about? The BLOG is a chronological depiction of my fight against Mazda to recognize my leaky car as a problem under warranty. As BLOGs go, read it from the bottom up to get the whole story. But following you can find a short summary of the BLOG.

My 2004 Mazda 6 is leaking water. A lot of water. My entire carpet (especially be back seat area and the driver area) is soaking wet. Now it started to grow some mold, too, as evident by the smell. In addition, since there is a lot of water in the car, I get a lot of condensation on the inside of my windows and even frost on cold days. And there is a high level of humidity in the car, so everything in the car is getting moist after seating in the car for a few hours.

My car is still under normal warranty, so I figured a leaking car should obviously be covered by warranty. But Mazda’s warranty conditions are tricky. It is not based on the problem, as one might expect, but rather on the solution. In my case, since the leaking part had to be repositioned and sealed (and not replaced), it is only covered by a limited 12 months warranty instead of the normal 48 months warranty. Of course, if the part was bad and had to be replaced, it would have been covered under warranty. My contention is that the problem, and not the solution, should be the driver for warranty claims! I believe that having a car that leaks water is definitely a warranty issue regardless of how it is being fixed!!!

Now, you may think that Mazda is saying that the root cause of the problem is something that I’ve done to the vehicle and this is why they would not cover it under warranty. But this is not the case at all. In fact, both the dealership and the Mazda customer care rep that I talked with agree that the issue is likely caused by a manufacturing problem. Nevertheless, since no parts need to be replaced, it is not considered a regular warranty problem. Don’t you think it is crazy?

For the rest of the story, please read this BLOG from the bottom to the top. I’ve also included some pictures of the problem so you can get a first hand impression of Mazda (lack of) quality.

Pictures

So yesterday I promised to post some pictures of the damage. I had a great opportunity to take some pictures this morning before going to work. Since water (and especially ice) is not very photogenic (:-)), I will include an explanation next to each image.

The point of these pictures is to show how much water is coming into the vehicle. Believe me when I tell you that there is a LOT of water. But I'll include the pictures so you can judge for yourself. What I don't understand is how Mazda can manufacture a car like that? It is simply amazing. I have never had a car with such low quality of workmanship.


This is the front windshield of the vehicle. As you can see, the entire windshield is covered with frost. If you look at the bottom of the windshield you will see the area that started defrosting so you can contrast it with the rest of the windshield (the car was on when I took the pictures). On the left side of the windshield is an area that I started scraping.


I've pulled out the mat from the rear left seat to show the water on the carpet. I stood it on the wheel and I was about to take a picture inside when I realized that the mat is standing up on its own! How does it do that? It is simply completely frozen. But we will get back to it later.

So this is a look inside the vehicle in the back seat. You have to realize that it is 34 degrees outside when the picture was taken, so most of the water is frozen. Still, you can see plenty of water on the left bottom corner of the carpet. You can also see that the rest of the carpet is wet.

By now, the mat has been standing on the wheel for about 2 minutes. And even though it is almost freezing outside, it immediately started to drop water. I have included this picture to show how much water is in these mats! Maybe I'll try it again when I have more time to wait for it to drain.


I have plenty more pictures, but I think you get the point. The car is full of water. And plenty more makes its way inside every time it rains. I would think that just from the shame Mazda would want to cover it under warranty. But they insist that if this happens after the first year of ownership, you are on your own. Does that make sense to anybody?!?

Picked up my car today

So today I went to pick up the car from the dealership. After paying for the diagnostics (but making sure that the dealership did not fix the problem), I went to pick up the car. Usually in this dealership, car pickups are done outside. So I went outside and waited for the car. Five minutes later the car was still not there, but I thought I saw my car inside the dealership, so I went in to see what was going on.

The car was waiting for me inside, but it was not ready for pickup yet. It seems that with all the moisture in the car, the inside of all the windows has built a layer of frost and it was not possible to drive the car. One of the workers at the dealership was trying to dry up the inside of the windows so I can actually see where I'm driving. Also, some of the paper documents that the dealership has placed on the front passenger seat, and that were in the car during the weekend, were so damp that it was not possible to unfold them.

The guy that released my car was shaking his head in disbelief.

I will post some pictures of the internal frost in the next few days. Stay tuned!

By the way, the letter to Mazda was put in the mail today. We'll see how quickly I get a response.

The Letter

After some debate I have decided to write a letter to Mazda and give them another chance to solve the problem. Following is the letter I wrote Mazda. I am looking forward to hearing from them on this issue. I will keep everybody posted on any developments!

January 1, 2007

To: Mazda North American Operations

P.O. Box 19734

Irvine, CA 92623-9734

Attn: Customer Assistance Center

CC: Suburban Mazda of Farmington Hills
37911 Grand River Avenue
Farmington Hills, MI 48335
Attn: Service Manager

Dear Sir or Madam:

I have a warranty problem with my 2004 Mazda 6 that I wanted to bring to your attention. In fact, I have already spoke with one of your representatives (Johnny, extension 1154) on the phone last week, but he was not able to solve my problem.

I have had my Mazda 6 for more than 2 ½ years now, and for most of this time I parked it indoors. Recently, however, we were doing some renovation at the house, and I had to park the car outside. This is when I started to have water in the car. And when I say that I have water in the car, I don’t mean a few drops. At times, I had enough water on the carpet to actually make a whooshing sound when I turned or accelerated/decelerated. In addition, due to the condensation inside the cabin of the vehicle, I have frost and/or water droplets on the inside of all the windows every morning.

Finally, I took the car to the dealership (Suburban Mazda of Farmington Hills, MI – CC) on Thursday of last week. After some investigation, the dealership identified the problem to be with a grommet in the dashboard that is out of place. They also said that it was not likely that the grommet has just popped out on its own. However, since the solution did not involve replacing any parts, the fix is considered an “Adjustment” that is subject to a much reduced 12 months warranty instead of the standard warranty. Therefore, Mazda will not cover the costs of repairs that included:

• $105 for diagnostics
• $105 to put the grommet back in place
• ~$450 to replace the carpets

The technician at the dealership agreed with me that this is likely a manufacturing issue and that I should contact Mazda Customer Care. He was also nice enough to provide me with the number to call.

I was completely amazed by this. How can something like that not be covered by warranty? I was sure that I will be able to fix it with a short call to Mazda. I finally was able to get Johnny (no last name, extension 1145) on the line on Friday morning. Despite the fact that Johnny agreed with me that the problem is likely caused by a manufacturing problem, he concluded, like the dealership, that since no new parts are involved that this should be considered an Adjustment and is therefore subject to the much reduced warranty. As a gesture of “good will” Johnny suggested covering about half the cost of repairs which was completely rejected by me. Johnny would not let me speak to anyone else at Mazda.

I understand that Johnny is not necessarily representing Mazda’s final decision on this issue and I am using this letter to appeal his decision. I hope you will agree with me that having a little pond in the car due to a problem that, everybody agrees, is likely caused by a manufacturing problem, should be covered by the normal warranty on the vehicle.

At this point, I have decided not to fix my car unless Mazda completely covers it under warranty. In the unlikely event that you decide not to cover it under warranty, I intend to use this vehicle to show the world how Mazda is treating its customers.

Looking forward to hearing from you on this matter quickly.

P.S., I have also published this letter on a new blog I opened following the events of last week. I will be happy to close this blog down if and when you agree that the initial assessment was a mistake and Mazda will fully cover the problem under warranty. You can access the blog at http://mazdasucks.blogspot.com/

You call that warranty?!?

I hate my 2004 Mazda 6. There are a lot of reasons to hate it, but the latest one was really unexpected.

I am actually just coming back from the dealership. For a couple of months now I've had to park my car outside overnight due to renovations we are doing in the house. Since then, I've been driving with a pool of water inside the vehicle. Initially I thought that maybe one of the kids spilled something in the car, but after cleaning it up the water returned. Finally I had some time to put the car for service yesterday.

It took the guys a couple of hours to figure out what the problem was - a grommet in the firewall "popped out" and was leaking water into the cabin. Unfortunately, the grommet itself was fine and just needed to be popped back in. Why "Unfortunately"? Because it appears that if the grommet had to be replaced, the whole thing would be covered by warranty. But since the grommet just "popped out", it was considered an "Adjustment" that is only subject to 12 months warranty instead of the normal 48 months warranty.

The dealership gave me the following repair cost breakdown:

• Diagnostics $105
• Repair $105
• Carpet replacement $450

The service person at the dealership was also kind enough to inform me that even though he cannot cover it under warranty, he thought that this kind of thing should never happen and that I should contact Mazda customer care about it. According to him, this grommet cannot possibly just pop out on its own. And since the car never had any major repairs done to it, he thought it likely to be a manufacturing issue.

Of course, I did contact Mazda. I was able to get Johnny (he wouldn't give me his last name, only his extension number - 1154) on the line. He was very nice, took all my information, and promised to call the dealership and then call me back. A few hours later, I talked with the dealership and they told me that Johnny talked with them a couple of hours before that. Apparently he didn't find the time to call me back yet. I called and left him a message. Half an hour later I finally got the call back.

Johnny informed me what I already knew - since the part did not need to be replaced, Mazda is considering it an adjustment and will not cover the repairs under warranty. Johnny agreed with me that this was likely a manufacturing problem, and it is likely that the problem existed all along, but this did not seem to change the outcome of the decision. As a "good will", Johnny was willing to send me a coupon for about half the repair costs.

I told Johnny that I couldn't see how this decision was reasonable and that I didn't agree with this decision. So he receded the offer. I demanded to talk with his manager. Johnny said no. I explained to him that I wasn't going to get off the line until I spoke with his manager. Eventually, Johnny hung up on me.

The bottom line is that the car is still in the dealership and I'm pondering what to do. I don't necessarily disagree with Mazda's position that adjustments should not be covered for the full length of the warranty, but I think that there should definitely be an exception for what is obviously a manufacturing issue from the beginning!

As I said, I hate my Mazda.