No events leading up to failure. Was driving home from work tonight and when I depressed the clutch pedal to shift I heard a loud snap. Car was still drivable but the clutch pedal felt loose and there was play from side to side. When home discovered that the clutch pedal bracket had broken on one side and was not holding the pedal securely in place. No repair done yet to fix the problem. Car is not in use at this point due to safety concerns.

- Colorado Springs, CO, USA

2004 Mazda Rx-8 clutch bracket snapped off while driving on 3rd gear not letting me to change gears at all. Car was unable to operate. Thank god I was in a residential area because if I was on a freeway, that would have been a lot more dangerous. A clutch pedal should not break under any circumstance and it clearly shows a defect on the manufacturer of the certain parts.

- Orange, CA, USA

The clutch pedal of the vehicle had started squeaking while being used and started moving laterally left and right. While driving home on the freeway the vehicle was locked into 2nd gear and would not allow me to change gears. I was forced to drive home in 2nd gear. The vehicle was taken to romero Mazda and they determined that the clutch pedal assembly had snapped. This is why the vehicle would not change gears and was locked into 2nd gear. After speaking with the service rep he told me that my warranty had expired and that I would have to pay for it out of pocket.

- Rancho Cucamonga, CA, USA

Very common problem. Clutch pedal bracket snapped making clutch all but inoperable. Car was undriveable and it was a huge safety concern. Should be a recall to fix a poorly designed bracket.

- Bowie, MD, USA

I was driving my 2004 Mazda RX8 to work, everything was fine until suddenly my clutch pedal made a *snap* noise as I pressed to get it out of gear. The clutch pedal went loose inback of the brake pedal. Luckily I was able to free the clutch pedal back up, but I wasn't able to put it into any gear. I pulled off the road and visually inspected the clutch pedal. Soon after I had my car towed. I found out it was a faulty clutch pedal bracket. It is made of weak metal and has single spot welds holding it together. I am having the clutch bracket taken out, re-welded to make it much stronger then originally, then replaced in the car. I came across an aftermarket replacement part online, but it is out of my budget.

- Holbrook, NY, USA

The contact owns a 2004 Mazda RX8. The contact stated that while driving 35 mph, approaching a turn and shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear, the clutch pedal fractured. The contact had to maneuver the clutch so that it would not interfere with the brake pedal. The vehicle was shifted into neutral gear in order to drive onto the emergency lane. The manufacturer was contacted and offered to have the vehicle towed to his residence. The contact confirmed that there were several complaints related to the identical failure. The vehicle had not been taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing. The failure mileage was 60,000.

- New York, NY, USA

For the past 3 years, the clutch pedal on my car has squeaked and groaned when depressed. This would not be consistent, and very hard to diagnose. Today, while driving a short distance towards work (I live and work on a military base), a metallic "pop" came from my clutch pedal while being depressed and no longer disengaged the clutch. This almost caused an accident as it was "rush hour." I quickly noticed while driving that my clutch pedal was almost touching my brake as I attempted to slow down! also, if I had stopped moving at any point, I and my car would have been stranded as I would not have been able to get my car back into gear. Upon inspection at home, it appears a weld on the right side that holds the clutch pedal mount to the frame of the car has come completely loose making the pedal lean left. There also appears to possibly be another issue with the clutch pedal spring as it no longer returns the pedal to the fully depressed position, and instead defaults to 3 inches depressed or full upright depressed. This failure has not been corrected.

- Fort Meade, MD, USA

Clutch bracket broke in traffic while driving on local italian roads. Nearly caused traffic accident. Car rendered unusable.

- Apo, AE, USA

Clutch pedal bracket broke on the right side while driving. Restricts vehicle from being able to go into gear. Pedal will not compress all the way.

- Lakeland, FL, USA

The clutch pedal assembly on 2004 Mazda Rx-8 has spot welds that hold the assembly together. One of the spot welds failed on my car, causing lateral movement in the pedal, and metal fatigue (ripping) around one of the mounting bolts. The clutch movement was also affected. Pushing the pedal down, it was loose about half of the normal movement of the pedal. Only the second half of pedal movement operated the clutch separation. It appeared that over time the mounting bracket of the clutch pedal assembly would have completely failed causing the clutch pedal to come off of the firewall. Doing a internet search on "RX8 clutch pedal" revealed many other times of this happening and Mazda not doing anything about it. I have reported my instance to Mazda's customer support.

- Valrico, FL, USA

Clutch pedal broke when shifting to 4th gear and disengaging clutch. Traveling at approximately 40 mph, there was a loud snap when I released the clutch. When I attempted to re-engage the clutch, there was significant lateral movement and little to no pressure. Had to pull over and coast to a grinding halt in gear. If this had happened at freeway speeds, coming to a stop while in gear on the side of the freeway would have been dangerous.

- Seattle, WA, USA

2004 Mazda Rx-8. the clutch assembly broke while the car was in motion. The clutch will not engage the reverse gear and barely engages in the forward gears. The entire assembly has to be replaced in order for the vehicle to be driven. The dealer is claiming that it is not a warranty issue even this is a common occurance for the model. The old defective part is available.

- Miamisburg, OH, USA

2004 Mazda RX8 manual transmission clutch bracket snapped off while coming to a stop at a stop light, resulting in failure to shift gear.

- Beaverton, OR, USA

2004 Mazda RX8 manual transmission with 64500 miles. Car was being driven normally on the way to work when during a shift from 2nd to 3rd gear the clutch bracket broke in half on the outside portion of the car, which caused the pedal to shift over towards the brake making it almost impossible to use the brake pedal. The car is now is unable to move because it cannot be put into gear or driven safely. This is a permanent failure until it is fixed. The clutch braket must be removed and welded or a entire piece ordered and reassembled with the existing components for an estimated price of almost $500.

- Herriman, UT, USA

I have a 2004 Mazda RX8 manual with 59,000 miles. The clutch pedal assembly bracket attached to the firewall snapped while I was trying to change gear in the middle of driving. I ended up with almost no clutch at all. I had to take the car to the dealership and discovered that the bracket broken into pieces. A new clutch pedal assembly had to be installed to replace the broken one.

- Gainesville, FL, USA

I was driving my 2004 Mazda Rx-8 and without symptom, my clutch pedal bracket broke. Subsequently, I was not able to put my vehicle into gear. I was stranded in the middle of the road, unable to pull over to clear traffic. I had to have my car towed to westcott Mazda and they replaced the bracket for me. The old part is not available, but I do have the receipts for the towing and the replacement bracket from westcott Mazda.

- Chula Vista , CA, USA

Clutch pedal bracket broke while shifting gears in 2004 Mazda rx 8. clutch pedal moves side to side now, and seems likely to interfere with braking. Also makes shifting gears more difficult.

- Hialeah, FL, USA

1. about 2 hours of city driving. 2. while driving our Mazda Rx-8, the clutch pedal suddenly developed excessive free play and the clutch was hard to disengage. After parking the car and letting it cool for several hours, the clutch pedal returned to normal. The symptoms were exactly as described in Mazda tsb # 05-004/06 'manual transmission - clutch hard to disengage'. this tsb describes a manufacturing defect where ethanol used in the clutch release cylinder boot can vaporize and increase pressure within the boot, which then causes the piston to be pushed back into the release cylinder body. As a result, a gap appears between the piston and the push rod, resulting in excessive free play and the clutch hard to disengage. The tsb says that the ethanol can vaporize 'at hot ambient temperatures or approx. 85 F.' this is surprising, because, 85 degrees Fahrenheit is a very normal temperature. Additionally, the tsb says that a mass production change was made since we bought our car and that ethanol is no longer used during the manufacture of the clutch release cylinder assembly. The tsb recommends replacement of the affected part. This situation is obviously very dangerous. When the clutch becomes hard to disengage, the car can't be driven safely. We live in a crowded, urban environment and must be able to change gears or put the transmission in neutral very quickly. 3. Mazda refused to replace the defective clutch release cylinder because our car was out of warranty.

- San Francisco, CA, USA

Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6) June 4 2009 the clutch pedal begin hard to push. Weeks later almost impossible to drive. Mazda dealer said is just the pump. They put some oil. Just 2 days after the problem started again. Worse and worse everyday. Then I just parked my car. Mazda dealer didn't find an solution. Finally after several calls I got tired of it and I decided to see for myself under the dash. I discovered that the clutch pedal metallic base was completely cracked/broken. They said no guarantee will cover that. They said that was my responsibility and asked me about my driving. So, finally in September 26 / 2009 alexandria Mazda dealer replaced the whole piece and I paid for that. They charged me: $520.78. ( FE05-41-300C ) clutch pedal assembly broken. I have the invoice. They kept the broken piece with them. Months after this incident I found in internet that other people had the same problem with the same piece with the same car model. What is going on ? I feel that is not fair to pay for something that is not my fault. VIN [xxx] Mazda RX8 - 2004 part: FE05-41-300C - $263.28 labor : $257.50 total: $520.78

- Fairfax, VA, USA

Driving on the freeway doing posted 55 mph, go do downshift from 6th to 5th gear because I was exiting and when I depressed my clutch pedal it snapped off causing my to not be able to get out of gear. I had to veer off the road kill the engine and wait for aaa to come tow me to a local repair. This is very very dangerous because if I were in town or residential area could of been trouble.

- Sebastopol, CA, USA