There are two safety issues with this mini van. The first one is for the door handles/latches on the back sliding doors on drivers and passenger side. There was a recall for it and apparently it was fixed in 2009 but has been a problem again that is getting worse. When I try to open the door to get my child out the door handle does not engage, I have to try to open from inside and sometimes that does nto engage, so then I have to slide the lock back and forth and continue to try to open the door until it finally opens. This obviously is a big safety problem if we were ever to be in an accident etc. I called Mazda and they said recall is closed and they can not help me unless I want to pay diagnostic fee of 140 and then whatever the repair is on top of that. The second problem is the brakes. They do not work well under ideal conditions, but when it rains sometimes they stop working all together. I've almost been in an accident several times when they suddnely go soft and just stop working. I have to continuously pump the brakes to try to get any traction and then stop driving until they dry out. We've had the entire brake system replaced and mechanics say nothing is wrong, but obviously this is just a bad design and something is definitely wrong. We can't afford a new car but don't' feel safe in this car, not sure what to do about it.

- Henderson, NV, USA

Handbrake on Mazda 5 failed to engage when stopped, the handbrake pulled up but with no tension whatsoever, a child could have lifted it. I had pulled up to a carpark and put the gear to neutral, but the handbrake would not engage when I lifted it, it was in cold conditions, ( cold for rep of ireland ) -4 'C, I use this car to ferry my children around, through one search I found this site which has a lot of complaints about the Mazda 5 handbrake mazdaforum.com/forum/archive/index.php/T-7528.html. please please do something!

- Dublin, 00, USA