My daughter and I were on the way to O'Reilly when we turned at a short curve going under 20 miles and the steering wheel got loose and the brakes wouldn't stop us. The car just kept swerving all over the road and we ended up in a ditch the day after my husband purchased the car.

- Savannah, GA, USA

After a hard brake event to avoid a crash, brake pedal is soft and loses pressure. Identical to many, many Ford and Mitsubishi reports on models that use the same ABS equipment. ABS valves probably leaking internally. Dealer refuses to remedy and insists brakes are fine - they are not, significantly worse since hard brake incident. OEM ABS part no longer available (I wonder why?) so the only repair option is a used part that is probably also defective in manufacture.

- Albuquerque , NM, USA

The car idles very high which prevents it from shifting into gear most of the time. The idle and rpms will also accelerate when no one is touching the gas while driving making the car speed up when you are not speeding up. When these issues are happening the car also shuts off while driving it (while it is still on and being driven down the road) or sometimes will rev up when you push on the break causing it to launch forward. My car has almost caused several accidents because it died while driving it on the freeway and the starring wheel locked and could not be turned to drive me off to the side of the road. It has also launched forward while braking causing me to almost hit cars in front of me.

- Boise, ID, USA

I believe this issue may be the same as investigation PE 16-017. That mentions only Ford/Mercury cars, but I think they share some components with Mazda3's of the same years. After an incident where ABS engaged while braking on a slippery city street, the brake pedal became very "mushy" and now the brakes take a worryingly large amount of travel (almost to the floor) to slow the car in regular driving.

- Brooklyn, NY, USA

While driving, I slowed down and when turning, my wheel locked up and I had no control over my turn. My ABS light flashed, along with the traction light. The radio turned off and then came back on. The wheel unlocked and luckily I was not turning where someone was stopped.

- Troy, IL, USA

A few months after we bought our Mazda 3 we noticed the bulbs blew out well come to find out our lenses were melting and it got so hot the socket and bulb burst so we took it to the place we bought it and they warrantied them out well guess what the tail lenses we got replaced melted again and blew out the bulbs. We took our car to Mazda and the technicians found nothing wrong, no ground problem. Well we took it back to the place we bought it thinking they'd be able to warranty them out since they're less than a year well the lady wouldn't do it. Now I am stuck with my spoiler brake light and the passenger. So we decided to replace the brake switch and so far our passenger side hasn't blown out. I suggest replacing it and seeing what happens. It is a $30 part. Tonight I am buying new lenses and praying. I went through 4 bulbs in the driver and 3 bulbs in passenger. I need help figuring this out because $8 for a pack of bulbs every week is ridiculous.

- Las Vegas, NV, USA

The ABS system is broken.

- Boca Raton, FL, USA

The brake light housing (amber lens) was heated by the bulb to such a degree that the lens itself melted onto the bulb. We are not entirely sure when this happened and may have been ongoing for quite some time. Upon inspection by an experienced automotive technician, it was confirmed that the bulbs were the correct model and had been installed correctly. Some of the plastic had melted down onto the bulb itself and could potentially become a fire hazard. This problem impacted both driver and passenger sides, with the driver side appearing more significantly melted. After a quick search on Mazda forums, this appears to be an issue experienced by many owners of 2007 Mazda 3 models, but only those in the hatchback configuration.

- Edmonds, WA, USA