2004 Mazda 3. purchased car used in March 2007. Per owner service records, motor mount #3 failed and in 11/2006, per service bulletin, and warranty, local dealer performed partial engine replacement, including rubber on mount #3. no problems with car leading up to incident, regular maintenance performed during ownership 2007 - current. Car used primarily to and from work, approx. 12K per year driven. On 8/29, car just stopped, motor and transmission fell out of casing, car crashed on hwy 9. towed to Mazda dealership. Initial estimate of repair $990 approx. Estimate revised to $3500 approx. Transmission bracket sheared/broken at metal. Motor mount #4 & transmission mount screw completely dislodged. Recommended repair includes completely new transmission case and mounts. Not sure if any damage done to transmission itself. Failure reported to dsm and Mazda corporate. Due to car out of warranty and mileage on car $100K, denied any recourse from Mazda for structural failure.

- Roswell, GA, USA

Power steering failure, engine mount failure.

- Liverpool, NY, USA

2004 Mazda 3 with 2.3 liter engine and manual transmission Mazda has a poor design engine oil filter housing. The end is made of plastic. These end caps tend to fatigue and crack with age. This part is exposed to high heat, vibrations, and torque. When it cracks and leaks it leads to catastrophic engine failure.

- Tacoma, WA, USA

I am very concerned about the safety of the car that I have had since 2004 Mazda 3. on Sunday, I was hit by a car at about a 20 to 30 degree angle and the impact hit my passenger door. Neither one of us was going at a speed that should have had a result in the damage that occurred. When he hit us and the car came to rest, the police and towing people discovered that the engine had snapped off its' mounting. My airbags did not deploy either. He told me that both he and the towing agent had ever seen this happen before to a car with as little damage to it. I went to the tow place where they were holding my car to take pictures and look at the car, and both of the people (different people than the original tow driver) said they had never seen anything like that. The one guy said only twice has he seen that happen and both had major damage to the car and that they were demolished up to half of the car. He also said the mounting piece of hardware looked like it was made of diecast not metal or aluminum, when we inspected it we noticed the part that was snapped and I must admit it looked like plastic. I had to have the struts replaced in 2008, but yet I had never hit the tires hard on anything. My question is this something that should be investigated and could it be dangerous to other drivers of this year. I know that they have made engines that are designed to drop in accident recently, but not for this year and not for that type of accident. I have written to Mazda requesting an investigation and I await their response.

- Fallbrook, CA, USA

The lights on the console keeps popping on. First it was the air bag light that took 4 unsuccessful visits to the dealer. That problem subsided? and now the engine light is popping on...

- South Plainfield, NJ, USA