Recall for freezing rear door latches? what about Canadians effected by this

[nvanvlymen]

Last winter (Dec 2010) I had to replace both sliding door actuators and latching mechanisms due to cold weather and water issues. I just learned this was a recall on US Mazda 5 cars back in 2006!!! but not the Canadian models? what gives? it was 1400 that i had to dish out for this and the dealership did nothing but jerk me around on the issue. Ever time the car warmed up, the sliding door latches would work fine. put it out in the cold for 5min and they could not be closed again.

Link to the US recall notice:
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=104701&d=1175729014

Is there something I can do about a reimbursement like they mentioned on the US recall?

thanks!
n

 

[food_yum]

I'm subscribing to this thread as I have the same problem and haven't had any support from Mazda about it. I haven't put new hardware in yet, though. I just avoided getting moisture around the doors and had a plug-in heater ready in case of emergency. Ridiculous, really.

Have the new latching mechanisms solved the problem? Did you do the work yourself (and if so, how tough / long a chore is that), or did the dealer do the install?

 

[was98strat]

I have a 2006 and can confirm that this happens occasionally with mine too. but I've found that pouring some of the -50 washer fluid over the sliding doors and letting it "drip in" displaces the water that causes the issue and unfreezes the doors for a few days! not a great fix but it works for me.

 

[nvanvlymen]

Well, as a follow up to you guys, I had the dealership do the work because it happened right before christmas in 2010. The issue really just happened in one day, but caused enough problems i just took it to the dealership.

I guess it was cold outside, i was on my way to take my son to daycare / wife to work, i went to open his door, and it would not open, neither would the other sliding door. I figured it was frozen and would work once the car warmed up.

After getting him to daycare, i went to open his door, but still no luck. so, being pissed at the issue i wrenched on the door and it finally opened then i found out that it would not close!!

i eventually tied a couple of bungie cords around the door frame (with the windows down a bit) and hit the highway right to the dealership.

Thats the start of the whole issue with the dealership jerking me around. took about a week for them to finally just replace the door latches. They started with the door lock actuators which were fine (admittedly the drivers side sliding door lock was acting up, this fixed it) but was not the source of the issue. The dealership told me that the problem was solved but when i got the car, it had gotten cold... then we start the circle jerk again.

anyhow, after 1400$ on parts and labour they got it fixed with new latches. I would suspect that anyone who is handy could fix this issue, the problem is the sliding doors are a PITA to work on.

I have since not had any issues with the doors. But refuse to go back to that dealership.

Heating the car up for 5 minutes solved the issue for me. But the car is parked outside all the time. silly design. I believe the parts are pretty cheep, its the labour that caused me the issues.

Good luck to you guys. I am going to call the mazda head office here in Canada and see about the American recall. Will post any findings.

 

[nvanvlymen]

I just posed a note on the mazda canada facebook wall...

http://www.facebook.com/mazdacanada?sk=wall

will keep at them via social. always looks bad when a manufacturer ignores safety related issues. I encourage anyone who has had issues also ping their FB wall. I will still call Mazda about the issues.