Wear,scuffing and creasing of the driver seat back bolster. The fault was reported to my Mazda dealer within the warranty period and then passed onto Mazda Motors UK Ltd warranty claims department, it seems the dealerships have no autonomy regarding warranty claims. Images were taken with a pretty basic compact camera, e mailed to Mazda Warranty claims dept who rejected the claim within minutes citing "outside influences" as the cause of the wear.

I was not satisfied with this as no seat should degrade to this extent within three years and a mere 20.5k miles, I've owned three previous MX5s, two of the same model and spec and whilst they have had some light scuffing of the seats this did not manifest itself till around 40k miles. The scuffing/wear/creasing of the seat is such that I fear it may well split at some point in the near future, certainly within twelve months if left unaddressed. Mazda made a goodwill gesture saying they would cover 50% of the repair costs, that amounted to £360 or $560, this was of course rejected immediately by myself as I was asking for Mazda to honour their warranty, something that I believe is an entirely reasonable expectation.

I spoke with their customer relations people who then sent a letter stating that the wear was caused by getting in and out of the car!!! Are we not meant to use them then, perhaps just buy them as expensive ornaments?

I e mailed the Managing Director Of Mazda UK Ltd but did not receive the courtesy of a response, I e mailed him again and git a reply from their Head of Customer Relations a Mr Andrew Beale, who has repeated that the wear is due to getting in and out of the car. I have argued about quality and fitness for purpose and also noted their complete lack of interest in carrying out any kind of investigatory work to perhaps see if there is indeed a fault but Mazda Motors UK Ltd resolutely refuse to enter into any further discussions on the matter.

Were it not for my poor health I would be taking court action under the UKs consumer rights laws but I fear it would cause me more grief than it is worth. What it does mean though is that after ten years of being loyal to the brand and spending in the region of £70k ($109k) I shall never buy a new or indeed warranted Mazda again. Their warranty is not worth diddly squat, certainly not for issues such as this and their customer relation people do not project even the slightest hint of professionalism and perhaps even worse they displayed clear cut limited ambition in meeting a customer’s realistic expectation of warranty cover.

I can only hope that other customers in other parts of the world meet with more satisfactory dealings with Mazda.