NHTSA — Air Bags Problems

2004 Mazda RX-8 (Page 1 of 3)

10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
7 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
8 / 0
Average Mileage:
39,825 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2004 Mazda RX-8 seat belts / air bags problems

seat belts / air bags problem

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2004 Mazda RX-8 Owner Comments (Page 1 of 3)

problem #48

Dec 212020

RX-8

  • 62,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Front passenger airbag cracked dash and pushed out glove box.

- Dalzell, SC, USA

problem #47

Oct 192019

RX-8

  • 90,000 miles
On 10/19/19 the vehicle was involved in a crash when swerving to avoid a deer on the road. Two trees were hit and the vehicle was flipped on its side. No airbags deployed during this accident as I was expected. Pictures show the front damage and interior.

- Fishers, IN, USA

problem #46

Apr 152019

RX-8

  • 92,000 miles
The passenger air bag is affecting the dash causing it to crack. If the air bag is to deploy the dash could splinter from the cracks and cause serious bodily enjury.

- Fort Worth, TX, USA

problem #45

Feb 012019

RX-8

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Takata recall I received a call regarding an 'escalation' of my recall and when I called back the individual on the phone said they could not find my information. The last time I tried to get my RX8 repaired I was told I have to drive the car over an hour to the shop to get airbag fixed - this is after I received a very graphic postcard showing and telling me how I will be injured or killed if I don't get my car repaired. I am trying to get this car repaired, however I will not drive this car over an hour in heavy traffic in South Texas heat and humidity in order to make the required 100% compliance easy for takata there are multiple other recalls on this car, including on the engine that I have replaced 4 times. Dealers were told to install the old engines that were in their inventory and not install the new design. The old engines continued to loose compression over time and even though Mazda extended the warranty to 100K on the vehicle, eventually I exceeded 100K - and the 4th engine went bad @102K. Mazda never replaced the engine with an engine that did not have compression issues. The dealers used the same engine and Mazda waited for consumers to exceed the 100K mileage and then refused to provide any further assistance. I have a beautiful RX8 that is basically a rolling chasis because it will not run, overheats the fuel system (can explode or catch fire), and airbags that can injure or kill me at any moment. I cant even open the door on this car for fear of injury or death. If the airbags werent an issue, I cant drive the car because the engine looses compression and power and can put the driver in a very dangerous situation in traffic, and finally if all else were functioning, the exhaust can overheat the fuel tank cause explosion and/or fire. At one point the interior of my trunk melted. My car has zero value because of Mazda and takata.

- Hallettsville, TX, USA

problem #44

Jun 232018

RX-8

  • 112,000 miles
I bought a car that had a recall of the air bag the passenger seat air bag had been deployed was told by dealer it was under recall.after checking with the dealer the side seat air bag was not part of the recall was not replaced or even looked at.so we took the seat out to see ant obvious issues and we found all the wires that plug into seat all way to under carpet against frame all the wires were melted.witch is an obvious manafaturing problem.we have read mupltile forums where tons of people have had same problem but yet no recall we could find on this issue.my mother is on oxygen and if my car catches fire to do this and no one looking into this it can be far worse.thier is another recall on front end suspsion that they are not willing to replace at this time.they tell me they are waiting to see if they come up with a better solution to fix it.im going to Mazda dealer tomorrow morning to explain to them what I'm explain to you and since this is a major safety issue if they refuse to do anything I'm turning this over to lawyer.I feel when I mentioned it to them the first time and they did nothing to find out what the issue was they have no intention of figuring this out but I will try again.the air bag was deployed when I bought it and the person said they were driving down the road.thats how I knew about air bag recall.when I took car to be fixed the tech told me it didn't cover my seat. And never bothered checking it.

- Fordland, MO, USA

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problem #43

May 082018

RX-8

  • miles
Takata recall after responding to numerous notices regarding this recall and the deadly danger of the airbags, Mazda still insists that I drive the vehicle an hour away and in heavy city traffic to have the service done to correct the airbag issue. In addition, for years the engine had compression issues and I found out that after replacing the engine 4 times under warranty, Mazda was replacing the engine with the same engine that has compression issues after a time. I was told that I could buy a $7,000 gen II engine that did not have compression problems, or take the replacement with the potential for compression issues as a warranty repair. They were able to deplete their stock of bad engines by using them as replacements, and as soon as my warranty expired I still have a faulty engine which also keeps me from safely driving driving for service work. The engine will loose compression and power in traffic and cause a safety issue. I keep my vehicles well past the 100K mark because I take care of them and keep them on the road. However, that has not been the case with this car, due to a combination of Mazda's bad faith method of replacing faulty engines, and the potentially fatal airbag issue. Apparently the car also has issues with the exhaust overheating and causing a fire hazard, which I have never been notified of. Although a beautiful car that I would love to be able to drive, this vehicle is unsafe in more than one way and has a current value of $0. im even afraid to open the door of the vehicle because according to the notices I have received, there is no way to know when or what might cause the airbag to deploy. I really cannot put a specific date on when the issues occurred, other than the service records for engine replacements up until the 100K mark. At 102K Mazda refused to replace another engine that had gone out.

- Hallettsville, TX, USA

problem #42

Mar 022018

RX-8

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

"takata recall"-car starts when cold, then it dies in the traffic, got engerys pushing car out of traffic, like car but it has lots of recalls and needs to be fixed right away.won't drive madza 2004 after this happened. The consumer stated while attempting to push the car off of the highway, after it died, he lost his grip and was dragged behind the vehicle.

- Peach Orchard, AR, USA

problem #41

Jun 052014

RX-8

  • miles
Front passenger air bag cover cracked and exposed.

- Miami, FL, USA

problem #40

May 032017

RX-8

  • 140,000 miles
"takata recall" my power stering goes out all the time doesnt matter if im sitting still or im going down the high way. It does eventually come back on but does go back off. It also will cause my stering wheel to jurk left and right by itself cause me to swerve in an out of lanes. It got to the point now where I have the power stering unplugged so that it doesnt jerk my wheel while driving. I just need to know if there is a recall that will pay to fix this cause its getting dangerous. Please contact back with any info

- Irginia Beach, VA, USA

problem #39

Apr 192017

RX-8

  • Automatic transmission
  • miles
The contact owns a 2004 Mazda Rx-8. the contact received notification of NHTSA campaign numbers: 15V382000 (air bags) and 16V354000 (air bags). The parts to do the repairs were unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect. Updated 06/13/17 updated 10/11/2017

- Westfield, MA, USA

problem #38

Nov 092016

RX-8

  • 80,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The contact owns a 2004 Mazda Rx-8. the contact stated that the vehicle was repaired per NHTSA campaign number: 14V362000 (air bags). After the repair, the dashboard began to crack in the location where the passenger side air bags were replaced. The vehicle was taken to dealer where it was diagnosed that the dashboard failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 80,000.

- Richmond Hill, GA, USA

problem #37

Jul 222016

RX-8

  • miles
The contact owns a 2004 Mazda Rx-8. the contact received notification of NHTSA campaign numbers: 16V354000 (air bags) and 16V7963000 (fuel system). The parts to do the repair were unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not notified of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect and VIN tool confirms parts not available.

- Takoma, WA, USA

problem #36

Dec 132016

RX-8

  • 104,000 miles
Passenger side dash near airbag area (above glove box visually) is cracking horizontally and vertically. Very concerned about safety of the passenger, premature rupture of airbag, random deployment of airbag. Garage kept car. Crack horizontal has over time progressively gotten worse. Vertical crack began 12.13.16. In garage. Have appointment with Mazda dealership to repair 16V-354-but recall paperwork does not acknowledge the area(s) of dash included with repair that will resolve issue and potential hazards-including encasement of airbag. Recall notice does not articulate potential parts associated. "passenger frontal air bag inflator" is all described.

- Sapulpa, OK, USA

problem #35

Jun 062016

RX-8

  • miles
Takata recall. The contact owns a 2004 Mazda Rx-8. the contact received notification of NHTSA campaign numbers: 15V382000 (air bags) and 16V354000 (air bags); however, the parts to do the repair were unavailable. The manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not notified of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. The VIN was not provided.

- San Francisco, CA, USA

problem #34

Aug 062016

RX-8

  • miles
The contact owns a 2004 Mazda Rx-8. the contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 16V354000 (air bags); however, the part to do the repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The VIN was unknown. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.

- Forest Hill, TX, USA

problem #33

Jun 192014

RX-8

  • miles
The contact owns a 2004 Mazda Rx-8. the contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 15V345000 (air bags) however, the part to do the repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

- Louisville, KY, USA

problem #32

Jan 082016

RX-8

  • 56,000 miles
Takata recall. Traffic came to a halt on the freeway. I stopped and was subsequently rear ended at high speed causing the driver side and passenger side air bags to deploy. Either the air bag itself or a projectile injured my eye. The skin on my eyelid was torn requiring 7 stitches. This was extremely traumatic and I wanted to be sure this incident was included in the investigation.

- Vancouver, WA, USA

problem #31

May 012015

RX-8

  • miles
Cracks in the dash immediately above the passenger airbag which is currently a recall issue. It seems that a large number of RX8 experience cracking in the same spot on the dash, generally following an "H" shape. Reports are that the cracks follow the airbag module assembly underneath the dash, and the cracks follow the seam that would be created in an impact for the airbag to deploy. In my case it began with a 4" left to right crack. In 2015 a recall was performed involving a temporary airbag fix until a permanent fix could be designed. After this interim airbag recall was performed, the cracks intensified. Just received another recall notice that the "final" airbag fix is ready to be performed at the dealer which with all the removal and jostling of the dash to make the final airbag repair, will probably create more cracks. The recall was due to the possibility that airbag parts could become projectiles and cause injury. Would not a poorly designed dash simply break into pieces upon airbag deployment and become projectiles and injury? numerous RX8 owners are seeing nearly identical H shaped cracks.

- San Antonio, TX, USA

problem #30

Jul 222015

RX-8

  • miles
Takata recall. The contact owns a 2004 Mazda Rx-8. the contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 15V382000 (air bags) however, the part needed to perform the repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was notified of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

- Port Orchard, WA, USA

problem #29

Dec 282015

RX-8

  • miles
Recall 15V382: Received letter from Mazda Dec 2015 instructing to make appointment with dealer to replace defective airbag. Contacted dealer 12-28-15, told that parts were not available and dealer did not know when they will be received. Followed up by calling Mazda customer service 800 number and was told that parts began being shipped to dealers since Nov 2015; however, not yet to Illinois region. I asked the representative if they knew of other dealerships in the area which had the part or an estimated date of when the part would be available. Mazda representative said that they would have to call back in mid Jan to follow up with an estimated date of part availability. So why was I contacted to make an appointment with my local dealer to have this life threatening defect corrected if the parts are not available"! furthermore how can the company, or its dealerships, not even have information to give an estimate for when the recall can be administered"

- Arlington Heights, Il, IL, USA

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