I would like to make you aware of a problem with Mazda protg's. I am not the only one with this problem, which is a safety issue. There are brackets on top of the strut tower that are not coated or coated properly to prevent rusting. The rust on my car and may others is seen covering the top of the strut tower. As you know there is a lot of pressure at this point on vehicles. If the rust advances enough ' the strut and wheel can and will come up through the hood. The result will be a vehicle losing control and crashing into whatever is around. Mazda is unresponsive to this issue. Could you please investigate this issue as many people can be hurt or killed by this. I have pictures of my car if you'd like to see them (unable to submit through this site) and a link to an automotive web site with additional pictures and comments. www.thetruthaboutcars.com/piston-slap-Mazda-protege5-in-god-we-rust/.

- Burlington, 00, USA

Mazdas peed Protege suffers from excess torque steer and very unstable steering at speeds over 30 mile per hour. If you excellerate hard the vehicle will jump left or right depending on speed. Also when travelling at highway speed vehicle will swerve left or right without warning or for any noticable reason also at highway speed the vehicle tends to drift in its lane. Dealer service states that this is normal for a high performance vehicle and nothing is wrong. I have owned many high performance automobiles and have never seen this before. This condition has almost resulted in accidents on many occasions and only radical steering has prevented an accident so far.

- Erie, CO, USA

The front suspension on the 2003.5 mazdaspeed Protege has a very bad noise which you can hear when passing over speed bumps or any small bump in the road. The noise sounds like a soda can being crushed. The noise is more pronouced in wet or cold conditions. Noise has been present in the vehicle since 2nd month of ownership. Dealer has vehicle in for this problem 2 times and indicates they cannot reproduce it. Various online forums indicate this is not a unkown issue and has affect many (if not all) owner of this model.

- Erie, CO, USA