2016 CX-9 Wheel well trim became detached

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2016 CX-9
About a week ago while driving at freeway speed, with no obstruction in the road, nor collision with any type of debris, structure or other vehicle, my passenger side - rear wheel well trim became detached. It just, simply came off without warning!!!

I brought it to a local dealer (Munday Mazda), and they were gracious enough to replace it under warranty.

They alleged that they had never heard of anything like this happening before. However, my friend's neighbor reported an identical scenario. Apparently, she found it more difficult to convince her dealership (Clear Lake). Eventually, though, I was told they conceded, and fixed her vehicle too.

Has anything like this happened to anyone else? What was your experience?
 
I know you are not near me, but I have now seen 1 CX-5 on the highway this summer with a flapping rear wheel well trim piece, so you are not alone.
My own 2014 CX-5 and 2008 CX-9 have never had this happen.

Given the effort it takes to remove those pieces, (the trim has slots that slide over snapped in fasteners in the body that break when you try to remove them) I was surprised to see this myself and figured that car had been in an accident and the body shop just messed up.

I can only imagine that something was amiss during assembly on your vehicle or that there is a systemic problem at work here.
Were the fasteners still hanging on the piece, attached to the vehicle, or some combination?
 
That's what I was thinking. Faulty fasteners, or not assembled/fastened properly. Neither I, nor anyone else I know of, at any time, had tampered with, or any reason to tamper with the trim. So, again, the only logical conclusion I can come up with is the aforementioned scenario.

The whole trim piece, including all but one fastener were completely gone. So, I'm not sure if that was the sole fastener holding/trying to hold the trim, or if that was simply the last one attached.
 
So now I am thinking that trim may have been worked on as ripping those fasteners out accidentally is nearly impossible and you would have noticed the piece was loose. OTOH, if many were broken and it was being held on by one or two, then your result is likely.

It's not uncommon for damage to happen in transit and be fixed before sale. It's possible the trim was just replaced poorly. Hopefully it wont happen again.
 
Just happend the same to my 2016 CX-9.
I went to the local dealer and they said that it never happend to anybody else so it must be because i hit something (i know i didt). So they didnt replace anything. I cant tell you how mad i am now.
 
That's what I was thinking. Faulty fasteners, or not assembled/fastened properly. Neither I, nor anyone else I know of, at any time, had tampered with, or any reason to tamper with the trim. So, again, the only logical conclusion I can come up with is the aforementioned scenario.

The whole trim piece, including all but one fastener were completely gone. So, I'm not sure if that was the sole fastener holding/trying to hold the trim, or if that was simply the last one attached.

Japanese vehicles are built to rather high standards... there is a very small chance that it fell off due to poor assembly from the factory. take a look at the plastic piece... were there any plastic fasteners missing? I have never experienced, or even heard of such a thing.
 
Just happend the same to my 2016 CX-9.
I went to the local dealer and they said that it never happend to anybody else so it must be because i hit something (i know i didt). So they didnt replace anything. I cant tell you how mad i am now.

Dealers like this frustrate the heck out of me. They could at least inspect the area to give their theory some weight, but instead they just make an assumption and tell you that it was your fault without trying to assist you in any capacity.
 
A few days ago, I noticed that my front two fender liner/guards started to either deform or begin to come loose. There are visible gaps that most would not notice, but when comparing to a brand new CX-9 on the dealer lot, the issue is clear. Immediately up front, the dealer agreed that this wasn't normal and ordered the parts to replace it.

There are only a couple of things I can think of. Either the dealership that did my first oil change somehow messed with the fender guards (unlikely since you don't need to touch those to do the oil change), or the guards somehow warped or came loose due to the change in weather. Anyway, parts have been ordered and will be installed as soon as they come in.

Here are pics of the gaps (same on both sides). The rears do not have this issue.

attachment.php

fender trim.jpg
 
Digging up this old thread to add my experiences. My 2016 CX-9 body fasteners are coming off all over the place. Front under body, rear trim. Even the door seals are coming off and chrome trim by the window. Maybe its the winter weather, but i've never had this happen to any car.

Otherwise the car is a great drive, but poorly put together.
 
Digging this up yet again... Same exact issue. No collisions, debris in the road, not even bumps, going highway speed, and my rear passenger side wheel well trim came loose a couple of months ago. It didn't break completely off, just one part of the plastic seems to have just snapped and left it flapping in the wind. I only noticed because it was making a noise against the tire occasionally. The dealer was going to charge $500 to fix it, so I just super glued the plastic back together (not ideal, I know). Fast forward to Monday - I was driving back from vacation, again at highway speeds, no obstructions, never been in a collision or had work done on the body of my 2016 CX9 for any reason... and the DRIVER'S side rear wheel well trim flew off! This time it did rip the whole thing away except at the very back and broke SEVERAL of the connector bits, so I had to take it off completely and stick it in the back. Dreading going to the dealer over it. Might just live without it, to be quite frank.
 
Digging this up yet again... Same exact issue. No collisions, debris in the road, not even bumps, going highway speed, and my rear passenger side wheel well trim came loose a couple of months ago. It didn't break completely off, just one part of the plastic seems to have just snapped and left it flapping in the wind. I only noticed because it was making a noise against the tire occasionally. The dealer was going to charge $500 to fix it, so I just super glued the plastic back together (not ideal, I know). Fast forward to Monday - I was driving back from vacation, again at highway speeds, no obstructions, never been in a collision or had work done on the body of my 2016 CX9 for any reason... and the DRIVER'S side rear wheel well trim flew off! This time it did rip the whole thing away except at the very back and broke SEVERAL of the connector bits, so I had to take it off completely and stick it in the back. Dreading going to the dealer over it. Might just live without it, to be quite frank.

What does it look like without the trim?
 
yeah, and the dealer was going to charge @pmerle00 $500 to fix.

Yeah, that's why I posted a link to the part, so he could buy it himself and DIY or take it to an independent shop to install it for him at a much lower price (again, if he doesn't want to pay the dealer to do it).
 
Wife just purchased a 2022 CX-9 Carbon edition. Only a week of driving and while on the highway, 90mph, out of nowhere the driver rear fender flew off. Nothing in the road, didn’t hit anything, just bam. Wasn’t sure what happened at first until I pulled over to find the fender missing. Here is the thing. See the photos. It looks like only three fasteners we’re holding it in place. One fastener staid and only two of the holes have circle markings where fasteners were.

Stealership said they will take care of it but blamed me for hitting something. Say they see it all the time and it’s always someone hit something. That tells me this is a common issue but they don’t want to accept responsibility.
 

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Wife just purchased a 2022 CX-9 Carbon edition. Only a week of driving and while on the highway, 90mph, out of nowhere the driver rear fender flew off. Nothing in the road, didn’t hit anything, just bam. Wasn’t sure what happened at first until I pulled over to find the fender missing. Here is the thing. See the photos. It looks like only three fasteners we’re holding it in place. One fastener staid and only two of the holes have circle markings where fasteners were.

Stealership said they will take care of it but blamed me for hitting something. Say they see it all the time and it’s always someone hit something. That tells me this is a common issue but they don’t want to accept responsibility.
Yeah. Amazing they use that line. Looks pretty clean to me. If hitting something at highway speed, as it slid along the car as it was a being pressed against the car, it would have left some damage to the paint. That thing plumb just fell off.
 
Yeah. Amazing they use that line. Looks pretty clean to me. If hitting something at highway speed, as it slid along the car as it was a being pressed against the car, it would have left some damage to the paint. That thing plumb just fell off.
Trust me, I know I didn’t hit anything. I drive slammed modified cars so it’s habit to watch the road ahead of me. Waze had tire debris in the other lane I passed miles prior. Service guy said, without even looking, you hit something, I see this all the time in my 20 years of working. I got so heated. You can see most of the holes never had retainers.
 
Yeah. Amazing they use that line. Looks pretty clean to me. If hitting something at highway speed, as it slid along the car as it was a being pressed against the car, it would have left some damage to the paint. That thing plumb just fell off.
Check this video out from the dealership service department. https://tvidnow.com/73v5dqw This is crazy as you can clearly see the holes that have markings that had retainers which is only 3 out of the 12 holes! Yes, it would have held in place just fine had it NOT been missing the majority of its retainer clips.
 
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