This complain concerns the powertrain - automatic transmission. The car, was parked during the day in a standard parking spot. When I later tried to back up, it would not go into reverse. It had worked perfectly that morning! the car was brought to a local mechanic. They stated that reverse, drive and second did not function. This is the second transmission which had been installed by this mechanic in this Tribute! it had only 39,000 miles. It was installed in 2007. The first transmission failed at 110,000 miles. The Mazda corporation would not admit to a problem with their transmissions at the time the second one (a Mazda transmission bought directly from a Mazda dealer)was installed). The mechanic, in good consciousness, will not replace this a third time. So we are left with a perfectly good body, new tires, and a car that is junk. The mechanic said this transmission is poorly designed. All we can do not is donate it or part it out. We bought the car, used, from carmax in roseville, ca, in 2006.

- Oroville, CA, USA

On July 9, 2007, I paid to have my transmission rebuilt after a transmission failure in our 2001 Mazda Tribute, (ES-V6 4WD), resulted in stranding my wife and young daughter on a busy roadside, 45 miles from home, in san leandro. At the time of the transmission failure the car had 93,782 miles on it. I purchased the Mazda new in 2001 from the almaden Mazda dealership in san jose. (now capitol Mazda). The transmission repair involved towing the car to a shop and rebuilding the automatic transmission. The rebuild included replacing the torque converter, solenoids, direct drum, shell, pistons, and a valve body upgrade among other parts. The repair cost was $3085 plus towing charges. The incident also resulted in the loss of use of the car for 1 week. At the time of the failure the car was out of warranty, and I considered myself an unfortunate victim of unusual circumstances. However, since that time I've learned that transmission failures in the 2001 Mazda Tribute and the cd4E automatic transmission are an all too common occurrence and that my experience is not rare at all. In fact, reports on the internet suggest that the occurrence of similar transmission failures at relatively low mileage, between 50,000 and 100,000 miles, is alarmingly common in the Mazda Tribute.

- San Jose, CA, USA

I have had a problem with my transmission shifting hard and sometimes jerking when on going up hill. I have had many auto services check into it but they can not find a reason for it because it doesn't do it all the time. And Mazda usa refuses to look up or fix recalls on my Mazda because it was made in Canada but I bought it in Kentucky new. I bought it in the usa and it is a Mazda and I feel Mazda should fix it. My battle with Mazda to fix my Tribute started in 2002. I know I have a recall on the computer system. Canada told me that it needed to be reprogrammed. This could be related to why my problems with my Tribute come and go. I do not trust it anymore.

- Big Clifty, KY, USA

The contact owns a 2001 Mazda Tribute. In June of 2009, the overdrive light illuminated automatically followed by the engine light. The transmission began to overheat as well. The failure occurred without warning. A diagnostic was performed and the contact was informed that the solenoid kit for the transmission needed to be replaced. The contact paid for the repair, but would like the issue investigated because she feels it was due to a safety related defect. The failure mileage was 115,000.

- Royal Palm Beach, FL, USA

There is something very wrong here with this vehicle, I have had 2 transmissions counting the first one installed by Mazda. I found this site today and read what I have been looking for. Consumers who are at high risk driving an unsafe vehicle. The fact that it completely stalls while driving is unacceptable. This is a harmful and expensive vehicle to operate. I also found that Mazda and or any dealership involved with this vehicle is not going to support the consumer at all. I had to pay for 2 transmissions of 9500 total. No help at all from Mazda, or Ford for the bad transmission I got on the 2nd time it failed. It is now dead again in the driveway, less than a year after the 3rd transmission was installed. I hope someone gets madza or our government to step in and take care of this matter as it is huge safety problem. If it was a toy for a child it would of been recalled, if it was a building product it would be recalled. What is wrong here Mazda-Ford. Why don't you take care of this?

- Kingston, WA, USA

I drive a 2001 Mazda Tribute that has about 75,000 miles on it. The transmission fluid has always been a rust-colored and we thought it might just have to do with the dealerships work. I was driving it one day and noticed that while I was driving at 30 mph, the rpms were in the "red zone" so I brought it in for repairs to learn that the entire transmission had to be replaced.

- Roseville, MN, USA

2001 Mazda Tribute ES-4WD. At 39K miles the cd4E transmission had catastrophic failure while driving in town. The cost is expected to be around $3.5K to replace with a rebuilt unit. When we did our research no mention of this problem was raised by consumer reports etc... yet after the failure I conduced research and found this failure is not only common it has been occuring post warrantee at low miles for years and Mazda and Ford have done nothing to effectively remidy or compensate their customers. Their only consequence is they are at the bottom of the auto industry and appear to have earned it. Don't get ripped of like we did buy buying a Ford or Mazda that will fail. Buy a better car product with better warrantee and reliability.

- San Jose, CA, USA

I have a 2001 Mazda Tribute. Had been faithful in doing regular maintenance of the vehicle. The car had 84,000 currently and had the transmission fluid flushed at 60,000 miles. The transmission fluid was filled every 5,000 miles whenever I had a oil change. All of a sudden on April 30, 2007, the car could not be shifted into rear gear and the dealer indicated I need to replace the transmission.

- Roseville, MN, USA

Mazda 2001 Tribute suddenly stopped making a strange noise. Then gear box did not work at all. So, I had to call a towing company to tow the car to a Mazda dealer shop. Oak tree Mazda dealer inspected the car and asked about five thousand dollars to replace whole transmission. At the time, Mazda Tribute recorded only 45K mile. I asked another machine shop to inspect this car. He has never seen this problem before. It seems to be a design problem of Mazda Tribute.

- San Jose, CA, USA

Mazda Tribute 2001. While stopped in drive (automatic transmission; cruise control off) with foot on brake, engine suddenly revved to 4000 RPM. Had to use hard, full braking plus emergency brake to keep SUV from moving forward and hitting car in front of me. In neutral, engine revved at 4000 RPM. Turned engine off and restated -- situation has not repeated yet.

- San Diego, CA, USA

Automatic transmission failure.

- Dedham, MA, USA

I drive a 2001 Mazda Tribute 4X4 with 67,000 miles on it, and a few weeks ago, during takeoff the vehicle seemed to hesitate. Over the course of about a week, it got worse. We took the vehicle to jim ellis Mazda of marietta and they informed us that the transmission was going on the vehicle, and that Mazda would possibly pay for half. They contacted Mazda, but Mazda would only pay 1/3 because they said there were no maintenance records on my transmission. There aren't any records because the vehicle hasn't needed any. After keeping my car for over a week, they phoned me to inform us that the transmission Mazda corporation sent them was bad as well. Considering the low mileage and the second transmission had defects, I'm now concerned that there is a defect in all the 2001 transmission, and makes me wonder how many other 2001 Mazda Tributes have had to be repaired.

- Douglasville, GA, USA

Mazda Tribute left my family sitting in traffic. Complete and total failure of transmission with no warning. Vehicle has less than 20K miles. Clearly a factory defect.Mazda only gave $1000 off repair.

- York, PA, USA

Transmission stopped working in reverse gear.

- Plainville, CT, USA

Tribute would make slipping noise when on a hill. It would also shutter when I first took off. I called the dealership about the problem. They thought it was the transmission, but couldn't look at the car until after the first of the year. About 2 weeks later, I took off and the car surged. I pulled off the road and when I put the car back into drive, it wouldn't move. It was towed to the Mazda dealership where it still sits. I was told it needed a new transmission that would cost $2900+. the district manager was notified. They took $1000 off the price. Which leave me paying only $1900+ the other $900. I've put in this car since July 04. I had a full circle service inspection done on Oct.25,2004. The transmission condition was good at that time, just 2 months earlier.

- Newburgh, IN, USA

Dealership replaced the automatic transmission on October 14, 2003. An independent shop on March 2004 replaced the engine. Currently, consumer indicated that vehicle was at an independent shop to replace the catalytic converter for a third time. July 2005 the vehicle was taken back to the dealer because the check engine light illuminated.

- Antioch, TN, USA

Complete failure of transmission. No warning symptoms of any problem. Mileage at failure was 71,000. Mileage at last transmission flush was 48,000. After failure was inspected by service techs at the dealership, they noted that the transmission fluid was very clean, which was described as non-typical of such a failure. Further investigation is pending to determine whether Mazda will participate or contribute to a remedy.

- Wetumpka, AL, USA

2001 Mazda Tribute transmission failure. This has occurred twice. Last winter on an los angeles freeway in the middle of the night, and last week on a mountain road. This is the second transmission failure. Both times it was replaced under warranty, but I am afraid it will occur again.

- Foresthill, CA, USA

2001 Mazda Tribute transmission failure. This has occ'd twice. Last winter on an los angeles freeway in the middle of the night and last week on a mountain road. This is the second transmission failure. Both times it was replaced under warranty but I am afraid it will occur again.

- Foresthill, CA, USA

Mazda tirbute esv6 has lost all power under normal driving conditions; no power steering or brakes and all indicator lights came on. Which is very difficult to steer out of oncoming traffic to get out to safety. The mechanic from jim ellis Mazda at marietta, ga told that this case already happened twice (one from a different car). In addition, it was reported that the valve gets "carbed up." This occurs when a driver is coasting between accelerating and braking. Also, the transmission and electrical systems are already going haywire on this vehicle with no wipers, airbag light constantly on or blinking, transmission slipping and grinding.

- Decatur, GA, USA