My Frustrations Must Be Voiced

[carter1551]

So Im going to tell you all a story about my protege5 that I bought about 4 months back. My parent bought me an 03 protege5 near the end of july so id have some reliable transportation to get me to and from college etc. Well I fell in love with the car, its looks its handling I loved everything about it aside from its lack of power and I baby it.

A few weeks after I bought it I noticed that there what looked like water droplets on my passenger side headlight. Soon enough that headlight went out. I still had a year left on my warranty and I thought, "ok no big issue, take it in and have it fixed for free." Well I took my car in to my local dealer and they did everything for free. The dealer told me that the tech could not figure out what was causing the problem so he replaced the entire headlight assembly. I was pleased and just happy to have my baby back. Soon enough the same headlight goes out again so now Im wondering what is going on. I look the headlight over and notice that there are black rubber gaskets or seals that cover the back of the headlight, presumably to keep moisture out. I look on the passenger side and there arent any. So I call my dealer and tell them what the problem is and how I think its a pretty easy fix but I was disapointed by the fact that the tech didnt put gaskets on when he replaced the entire headlight. I took my p5 back in again, they put gaskets on it and changed the connectors etc. So now im thinking this is finally gonna work and I wont have to worry about the problem. Earlier this evening I turn my headlights on and notice that once again there is not passenger side headlight. Wow now im pretty mad because Im starting to think that this dealers techs are complete idiots considering they obviously havent figured out the problem with 2 attempts to get it right. Tomorrow Im gonna call and have a big complaint fest. Its not like im losing money on this or anything because it is all still covered under the warranty but it is frustrating having to being my car in every few weeks for the same issue that should have been diagnosed and corrected a long time ago. I just wanted to voice my frustration at the moment because Im kinda upset. I like this car so much and Im happy and grateful that I got such a nice car for only being 18. Hopefully they will correct the issue this time. I dont suppose the california lemon law would apply to this would it?

[randyscycle]

Breaking out the lemon law this soon seems a bit hasty.....

I think I'd just be patient and see what the dealer can do. Not all problems are easily solved, and getting upset and complaining madly won't do any good at all.

There is also the option of trying another dealer to fix the problem if you are unhappy with this dealers' service department.

[carter1551]

[QUOTE=randyscycle]Breaking out the lemon law this soon seems a bit hasty.....

yeah i know what your saying and I really dont wanna get another car all that much anyways unless they offered me a ms3 which they wont, lol. I really like the p5. But both times I took it in the techs were clueless at what the problem could be.

[StealthWyvern]

Doesn't the lemon law also have to have 3 attempts to fix it before that is even an option?

[randyscycle]

I think it is 3 attempts at repair before a claim.

If the techs truly seem clueless about this, I'd be looking at another dealer. There isn't anything that says you have to return to the purchasing dealer for repairs. Besides, if its confined to one headlight, a good, thorough tech should have no problem bringing a solution to this problem.

Being a 20 year ASE certified tech, I can say you may have one of two problems: either there is still a water intrusion problem in the headlamp in question, or there is a ground/voltage problem causing the untimely demise of your headlamp bulbs.

[carter1551]

yes i will probably bring it to a different dealer this time and I am aware that it has to be at least 3 tries in order to even consider the lemon law but i was just wondering just in case the problem persists

[StealthWyvern]

yes i will probably bring it to a different dealer this time and I am aware that it has to be at least 3 tries in order to even consider the lemon law but i was just wondering just in case the problem persists
I personally think its a Id10T error with the mec.

[carter1551]

well to add to it i started my car leaving work just about 10 minutes ago and noticed that the drivers side headlight had gone out also so i had to drive home with no headlights and just fogs, wasnt too fun, lol. Ive never had problems with the drivers side headlight. Im going to call a mazda dealer in the morning to get this looked at asap.

[redpr5]

^ooo that sucks especially since the fogs dont light up ANYTHING in front of the car.

[altspace]

We are talking about just a headlight here, correct?

[altspace]

Heh...my fogs light up alot. (slightly angled just right)

[carter1551]

yeah i didnt come too close to hitting anything but i did come a whole lot closer than i should have to a median. and altspace we are now talking about both headlights. fogs seem to work fine as well as parking and turn signals.

[redpr5]

my left fog lights up about 2 feet in front of my car but not very bright, and my right fog lights up like 2 inches in front of my car lol and again not very bright

stock fogs FTL
im lookin at some aftermarket ones

sorry to threadjack

[carter1551]

nah its cool dont worry about it

[carter1551]

Just to update:

I called the same dealer and I decided to give them once more chance. I have an appointment on friday to bring her in, i hope everything gets resolved and properly fixed this time

[iLisa]

*subscribed to hear outcome*
GL.. :)

[Kansei]

Contact Mazda North America if they aren't repairing your car satisfactorily.

Lemon Law? I doubt it applies. Last I checked it had to be for major repairs, not a bulb going out.

[carter1551]

Contact Mazda North America if they aren't repairing your car satisfactorily.

Lemon Law? I doubt it applies. Last I checked it had to be for major repairs, not a bulb going out.

I intend to call them tomorrow morning to let them know what is going on. As far as the lemon law, from what i read it would still be covered. It doesnt mention the type of repair for california at least. All it says is that it basically has to be the same issue or you have to have a lot of issues in a short amount of time, i dont know but as of now im not prepared nor do i intend to use the lemon law. If they dont get it right this time then I may begin to look a little more into it.

[Salmon_Rob]

give them another chance. and for those whose fogs dont light up anything, get them properly aligned. mine light up out to about 8 ft in front of the car. i really dont need headlights until its super dark, or there are no street lights

[Brian MP5T]

Probably just touched the bulb when it was installed or creap bulbs.

[DeanSweet]

thats what I was thinking... whoever installed the bulbs before and with the techs prolly got some oil on the bulbs leading to premature failure. The lack of rubber gasket could have shortened the life on the replacement.

with all they are trying to do to make you happy there is no way I would call MazdaNoA anytime soon. That will just make the dealer want to blackball you... they will find a reason and once they do, it goes on the cars records so no dealer will help you out?!

[carter1551]

Update:
I took my car in at 8 this morning. I made the representative aware that this would be the third time that Ive brought it in with the same problem and Id appreciate it if they would go through everything that might cause the problem. I wasnt upset nor did I call mazdausa to tell them about my situation. If they dont fix it or it goes out again then I will definitely be in contact with mazda. Ill update my status again when the dealership calls me. By the way, for now ive got a ram1500 rental sitting in my driveway, it looks so out of place where my p5 would normally be

[Kansei]

Update:
I took my car in at 8 this morning. I made the representative aware that this would be the third time that Ive brought it in with the same problem and Id appreciate it if they would go through everything that might cause the problem. I wasnt upset nor did I call mazdausa to tell them about my situation. If they dont fix it or it goes out again then I will definitely be in contact with mazda. Ill update my status again when the dealership calls me. By the way, for now ive got a ram1500 rental sitting in my driveway, it looks so out of place where my p5 would normally be

Ram 1500? yikes I hope you don't have a lot of driving to do while they have the P5.

[carter1551]

Ram 1500? yikes I hope you don't have a lot of driving to do while they have the P5.

well i talk like its mine but its really my mom that will be driving it. Im only 18 so they wouldnt rent to me so my mom had a hell of a time driving home. Shell be driving the ram if she has to go somewhere and ill ber driving her accord.

[mazpro]

as far as I know the lemon law only works up until a certain amount of miles, like 15,000 and only to the original owner.

anyways, good luck with whatever happens.

[carter1551]

update:
Mazda called me and told me that I had aftermarket bulbs in my protege5 and that they refused to cover it under warranty. They said i have blue bulbs in my protege which arent what they use. Ive taken it into the dealership twice for this problem already. The first time nothing was mentioned about aftermarket bulbs and after the entire headlight assembly was replaced my car still had the blueish looking bulbs. The second time the service rep told me about the bulbs and I said that id never touched them so i dont know how they could be that way. And again my car comes out with the blueish bulbs even though both times the bulbs were replaced BY MAZDA. Ive never messed with the bulbs and i keep getting the same blue bulbs from mazda that mazda claims they dont carry. Im pretty pissed at this point considering I brought my car in at 8 this morning and just now call me and tell me that I have to return the rental today by 6pst. What are appointments for again? They must not remember. Im about to call the service manager and go down there in person with my parents to talk to them about this.

[randyscycle]

update:
Mazda called me and told me that I had aftermarket bulbs in my protege5 and that they refused to cover it under warranty. They said i have blue bulbs in my protege which arent what they use. Ive taken it into the dealership twice for this problem already. The first time nothing was mentioned about aftermarket bulbs and after the entire headlight assembly was replaced my car still had the blueish looking bulbs. The second time the service rep told me about the bulbs and I said that id never touched them so i dont know how they could be that way. And again my car comes out with the blueish bulbs even though both times the bulbs were replaced BY MAZDA. Ive never messed with the bulbs and i keep getting the same blue bulbs from mazda that mazda claims they dont carry. Im pretty pissed at this point considering I brought my car in at 8 this morning and just now call me and tell me that I have to return the rental today by 6pst. What are appointments for again? They must not remember. Im about to call the service manager and go down there in person with my parents to talk to them about this.



Run from this dealer.....just run......

[carter1551]

anyone elses p5 have sort of blueish looking lights because i have never let anyone touch them except for mazda

[Kansei]

anyone elses p5 have sort of blueish looking lights because i have never let anyone touch them except for mazda

Nope. The OEM bulbs are either Sylvania or Stanley, but definitely not blue at all. :P

[carter1551]

update:
I talked to the highest guy in line that was there and he told me that i must have switched them after they did the install. Then i asked him if he was calling me a liar and he actually said yes. wow i was so suprised about that. well i went and got my car as pissed as i was i kept my cool because i intend to write a letter to mazda usa. Ive never touched my bulbs and Ive taken the car into that dealer 2 other times for headlight problems and they did it under warranty. Would that magnussen moss act protect me in this situation at all? i think thats what it called.

[redpr5]

RUN AWAY!!!!!!! find another dealer or a regular garage. best bet is to find a regular garage, like a tuner shop or somethin.

[carter1551]

RUN AWAY!!!!!!! find another dealer or a regular garage. best bet is to find a regular garage, like a tuner shop or somethin.

a regular garage is out of the question because I dont want to be having to pay for this stuff when theres still warranty left.

[terbow]

well how can he say they are aftermarket. are they oem bulbs are not. the part numbers would be vastly different if they are not oem. blue or not, if u really havent touched them you should have made him prove they are not aftemarket. now that u took the car back theres nothing u can do cause they will say you switched them. see if u can get a pic of the light assembly here and then match it to yours.

[carter1551]

well how can he say they are aftermarket. are they oem bulbs are not. the part numbers would be vastly different if they are not oem. blue or not, if u really havent touched them you should have made him prove they are not aftemarket. now that u took the car back theres nothing u can do cause they will say you switched them. see if u can get a pic of the light assembly here and then match it to yours.

i dont know, i looked at the bulbs and they do seem to be aftermarket or something they do have a blue tint. it must have been from the previous owner but they covered it under warranty with no issue the first 2 times and never mentioned that they wouldnt cover it, they claim they replaced my bulbs but if they really did then they A: put aftermarket bulbs back in or B: they just told me they changed them and didnt do anything, I also thought about the magnuson moss act or whatever its called. In it, it says that a dealer cannot deny your warranty claim unless they prove that the aftermarket part was the cause of the problem. They refused to touch the car once they saw the bulbs this time so they havent proved anything and I think if i brought a copy of it in they would be pretty stuck and would have a hard time turning me down with at least inspecting the car. at this point i will not go back to that specific dealer and plan on writing mazda usa about their treatment of this issue.

[gimpo2]

they claim they replaced my bulbs but if they really did then they A: put aftermarket bulbs back in or B: they just told me they changed them and didnt do anything.

you know they most likely did this. If you do have aftermarket bulbs with a higher wattage than stock (55w) you can burn the harness, adapter, or wiring. I burned out my black adapter on my passenger side and the light would always go out. Have you taken the bulbs out and checked it out? I fixed the problem by taking the adapter and filing off all of the crap that was on the connector and makin sure it was all making contact with the bulb. That dealer could have screwed you and not changed anything. The mech might have just jiggled your wiring a bit to see if the light came back on.

[terbow]

So when the bulbs 'go out' , are they burning out or breaking? if not u might have a wiring issue from the bulbs like gimpo said. next time it goes out id take a bulb out and see if the filament is broken. if not u might want to check ur harness.

the problem is , if u do have aftermarket bulbs, the dealer didnt even have to touch the car at all even with the act. they know you wont take them to court over a light bulb, and even if u do, and u have aftermarket bulbs, youd never win. the act is on ur side but its still up to a judge and they dont like modifying cars like we do, its and act not a law.

your best bet is to check it out urself, see if they are stock bulbs or not, check he harneses and proceed from there. or put in stock bulbs and if it happens again bring it to a new dealer with the stock bulbs in there.


i dont know, i looked at the bulbs and they do seem to be aftermarket or something they do have a blue tint. it must have been from the previous owner but they covered it under warranty with no issue the first 2 times and never mentioned that they wouldnt cover it, they claim they replaced my bulbs but if they really did then they A: put aftermarket bulbs back in or B: they just told me they changed them and didnt do anything, I also thought about the magnuson moss act or whatever its called. In it, it says that a dealer cannot deny your warranty claim unless they prove that the aftermarket part was the cause of the problem. They refused to touch the car once they saw the bulbs this time so they havent proved anything and I think if i brought a copy of it in they would be pretty stuck and would have a hard time turning me down with at least inspecting the car. at this point i will not go back to that specific dealer and plan on writing mazda usa about their treatment of this issue.

[carter1551]

Today I had my brother in law whos a mechanic take a look at the car. He said that it fried the connector to the bulbs because whoever owned the car before me put 70 watt bulbs in when the p5 low beams are only supposed to be 55. So I bought some proper bulbs and it works for now but he says that I should probably get the connectors so he can replace them just in case. All in all im still disapointed because mazda dealer never mentioned this to me although i know they had to have seen the bulb the other 2 times i took it in because they replaced the headlight assembly and other things around it.

[terbow]

yea it sucks, they think of it as, you put them in there and want THEM to fix ur mistakes. when in ur case it was innocent. but there are people who mod things and cause issues and expect the dealer to fix it so thats prolly y they take that kinda stance. sucks for sure but im glad u got it figured out.