Mazda stopped selling and delivering 2015 and 2016 Mazda3s built between May 21 and Aug. 24, the automaker announced Tuesday. A faulty fuel shut-off value may lead to fuel being pumped into the charcoal emissions canister, which could lead to leakage, engine stalls and possible fire.
The stop sale and recall affects 14,270 vehicles in the U.S. and 136 vehicles in Puerto Rico.
This isn’t the first gas-related recall for Mazda in recent years.
Last year, the Japanese automaker recalled the Mazda6 for the second time because of spiders being attracted to ventilation lines and making nests within them. In that case, fire was also a risk as negative pressure could crack the tank and cause leaks.
This time around, the recall looks to be a spider-free issue.
Owners of affected Mazda3s will receive mailed recall notices this month. Mazda will replace the gas tank and charcoal emissions canister on vehicles found with the defect. If a customer does not feel safe in driving their vehicle to the dealer for recall work, Mazda Roadside Assistance will be happy to pick you up. Also, a rental or loaner vehicle will be provided to customers while recall work is performed.
Mazdas always have something in them you wish wasn’t there.
Spiders
Wayward fuel
Rust
4-cylinder engine
Take your pick!
+1 for spiders
However, the PY VPS (2.5L) is a sweetheart of a four cylinder and honestly is only let down by the open diff up front in the 6.
I’m just disappointed they don’t have other options like a diesel, hybrid, or 6-cylinder.
As depressing as it is, you can probably go ahead and cross diesel off your Mazda wish list. Delay after delay and now the-gate-whom-shall-not-be-named.. Say night-night to the diesel dream. The 6 is a wonderfully balanced car as-is, and as curious as I would be to experience 6 cylinder thrust in that chassis, its probably better off (and far more likely) with a turbo 4 ala a new mazdaspeed6.
That being said, more than additional grunt or diesel, mazda more desperately needs to bring over the 6 AWD which isnt offered in the US for whatever reason.
Fully agree. Especially with the AWD options. It makes no sense not to sell it in AWD-happy America.
Even back in the early or mid 00’s, they were selling that AWD 6 which was the exact same as here, not like they had a different version for the EU.
In my humble opinion (I’m not an auto industry analyst, yet anyway) Mazdas best shot at long term survival would be to try and cannibalize some of subaru’s ever increasing marketspace- obviously AWD is the ticket. It’s no secret that this gen of vehicles is a bit do-or-die for them as these are largely the first gen in a long time that required mazda to engineer everything from the ground up and not simply fish around the ford parts bin and sprinkle it with their own flavor.
Mazda has the “alternative brand” appeal like Subaru, but they don’t have a tough or trail-ready appearance trim or reputation (which they need).
Mazda 3X (Xplore trim) or something.
JLR is experiencing similar fallout from the Ford divestiture of brands as well. They’re having to engineer their own stuff now (or Tata is), and it’s evident in the long-in-tooth nature of most stuff in the range.
Yep, I think we can safely conclude that with the new emissions regulations diesel is no longer the economical choice it was. The future is now Atkinson cycle and turbo gas powered cars with hybrid and fully electric options.
A co-worker and I joke that Ford tried to mimic our fatherland with its imperialistic conquests- and now, left to its own devices, we shall see of what steel those brands are made on alone.
JLR is headed the right way, especially with that mammoth 12k or so cut to the base F-Type, and a very competitive starting range for the F-Pace. I believe they are correct in trying to be an emotional alternative to the Teutonic Trio at a marginally lower base price.
I agree with your notion on Mazda- attempting to differentiate their brand based on “driving matters” in a pricing space where people seem to increasingly not give two shits does not bode well for their long term prospects, and a “soft roader” image such as Subaru has invented could be a sales hit.
I once looked at a Protege that was infested with ants! Though to be fair, they were probably the only thing holding the car together.
My friend washes his Protege so seldomly that it had a tiny paper wasp nest on the inner edge of the trunklid.
“Mazdas always have something in them you wish wasn’t there.
Spiders
Wayward fuel
Rust
4-cylinder engine
Take your pick!”
Thermowax oil bypass pellet in 13B rotary engines! That’s my favorite.
For the unwashed among you unfamiliar with Mazda rotary engines, this is a real gem. On the front of each eccentric shaft (analogous to the crankshaft) and right behind the eccentric shaft pulley (again, like the crank pulley) there is a thermowax oil bypass pellet. The thermowax expands when heated. When the engine is cold this pellet chokes the flow of oil to the eccentric shaft and main bearings thus allowing the engine to warm up faster. When the engine warms up the wax expands and allows oil to flow fully to the shaft and main bearings.
I know there a number of people here who have actual engineering experience in the auto industry and are already groaning. Yes, as the car gets older the thermowax gets stiff and doesn’t expand as well. Yes, the failure state is to STARVE THE MAIN BEARINGS OF OIL!
Mazdatrix, Racing Beat, Pineapple Racing, and really any rotary engine shop worth its salt will replace the pellet with an aluminum slug that holds open the oil passage permanently. Over the course of many racing seasons with rotary engines, nobody has ever noticed any problems whatsoever with removing this pellet and letting the engine warm up ever so slightly longer.
At least they can pinpoint the cars involved.
Two months’ worth of production isn’t great, but at least it’s manageable.
A recap of great Mazda ad campaigns and suggestions for a few new ones.
70’s: “The more you look, the more you like.”
80’s: “Experience Mazda.”
80’s: “An intense commitment to your total satisfaction, that’s The Mazda Way.”
80’s: “It Just Feels Right.”
90’s: “Passion for the road”.”
90’s: “Get in. Be moved.”
00’s: “Zoom-Zoom.”
10’s: “What Do You Drive?”
10’s: “Driving Matters.”
10’s: “Mazda 6: You really only need one headlight.”
10’s: “Mazda 6: The perfect Halloween car.”
10’s: “Mazda 3: Great Balls of Fire!”
90’s 626: “Transmission brought to you by Ford!”
All Protege: “What some call rust we call ‘shedding\'”
00’s RX-8: “Just wait for the inevitable V8 swap!”
ZOOM-ZOOM-BOOM!
’70s: “Piston engine goes boing, boing, boing/Mazda engine goes hmmmmmm”
Seems like they are being good and pro-active about this. A little painful to Mazda that they have to replace the gas tank and not just the valve and canister, but it does not seem to have affected that many cars.
That spider one sounds like pretty bad luck.
Let me guess… it’s the Mexican-built 3i models. In ’15, production of the 2-liter cars moved to Mexico. That’s why I won’t consider one.
I was going to ask the same thing. Are these the growing pains of learning to build cars in Mexico, or are the Japanese-built cars included as well?
As for the spiders, that’s previous Flint-built model. More of a Ford issue, than being Mazda’s fault.
According to Consumer Reports, recent Mazdas have been reliable even in their first year, regardless of which factory they came out of. So it hasn’t been that bad.
I put a deposit down on a Mazda3s GT MT, and it seems to have been held up by the stop sale order. It’s coming out of the Hofu, Japan plant.
I bought a 2015 Mazda3 sedan at the end of July (see my other post). I had watched all of the youTube vids about the 3, and it seemed that most were reviewing the same soul red, 6-speed manual, 2.5L Mazda3 S, writing enthusiastically about its relative sportiness, which is apparently not far from that of the MazdaSpeed3. However, when I asked the salesman who sold me my 2.0L 3 about the 3 S, he said he’d never seen one, and this dealership had a good-sized Mazda inventory. I guess my only point is that these pro and amateur car reviewers almost all reviewed a variant that almost no one will buy, or even see on the lot. But do enjoy yours: almost the same mpgs as the 2.0L and quicker.
The 2.3 and the 2.5 were pretty common in the previous editions of the car. I’d be surprised if the Skyactiv 2.5 is less common this generation.
All of those cars with the 2.5 are coming from Japan; the 2.0 cars are a mixed bag.
The 3i is partially sourced from Mexico. Some still come from Japan. Right now for ’16 models, it’s very regional. In the midwest and east coast, pretty much all the cars come from Mexico. On the west coast, they are mostly Japanese.
Curse you EPA and NTHSA! It is our God given right to die in a fireball and don’t you prevent it.
‘merica! F*** ya!
Why fight Darwin?
At28D:
This article just reminded me of your stance on Mazda, from rusting suspension towers, to sludging rotary engines, to burning 3s.
They must be fun in the same sense that an old Alfa Romeos fun, you just never know when something will go wrong!
Precisely although in both the cases of Mazda and old Alfa, they at least offered you something unique (MX-5 and Spider) so you would put up with the shenanigans with those.
True enough, and soon we might actually see real Alfa-Miata mish-mashes if their thing works out, so expect a Miata with Alfas goofy (0V0) front end on it.
Even then I expect people to still say that “155hp isnt enough” and yadda yadda.
I bought a 2015 Mazda3 at the end of July. A sticker inside the driver’s door dates its manufacture, in Mexico, to 05/15, so I guess mine may, or may not, get recalled. If there’s a more specific date, I don’t know where to find it. Guess I’ll wait for the dealer to contact me, or not.
I love the car. The only thing I can think of to complain about is the width of the A-pillar, which makes me have to crane my neck a little, at times, but that’s as minor a complaint as there is. It replaces a 2001 Taurus, so I’m loving the mpgs. Plenty of power vs. weight, good-looking, takes bumps okay (as opposed to a rental Chevy Spark I recently drove). It’s an automatic, though you can manual shift it, although I haven’t quite got the hang of that (and my other two vehicles are 5-speeds). I may garage it during the salt months in the Northeast, so rust won’t be an issue.
As far as I know the rust issues were mostly secluded to the first gen Mazda3 (about 2003-2008), when they started carving jack-o-lanterns in the front bumpers they seemed to have carved away the rust trouble too.
Just in case I’d garage it, and should you ever meet sale I’d hose it off once a week (if it isnt too cold), make sure to shoot the fender wells especially.