A year ago the shifter cable on my 2001 Mazda 626 broke (car under warranty at the time). I telephoned the local dealer and the cable was on backorder indicating many others were having the same problem a local mechanic put a bushing where the cable was attached to the shifter arm at transmission to replace the failed part. That worked fine until yesterday (8-6-04). I put the car in reverse to exit a parking lot and could not shift into drive. At present, a cable tie is on the cable to hold it in place. I telephoned the dealer again this morning, he said Mazda is aware of the problem and the dealer has also talked to Mazda but has not issued a recall. The cable is now available now that our warranty has expired. This is a safety issue. The first failure, we had our grandson in his safety seat, our car cranked, backed into the street, stopped and would not shift. Cars turning into the intersection could not see us because of buildings. We pushed the car out of the street. It appears the bushing that connects cable onto shifter is made out of nylon/plastic and forced onto pin. This apparently fails due to heat or being split when mounted.

- Florence, MS, USA