I heard a brief audible alarm and noticed that the tire pressure warning symbol on the dash was lit. After adding air to on off the tires with a hand pump, in removing air pump nozzle from tire valve, the valve broke and all air lost from the tire. This was the second such occurrence this year. A repair shop person said that the tire pressure sensor on the valves tend to rust and can break after a few years. As this was the second time this occurred to me in recent months, I thought that I would report it. Beyond my experience with this car, I can't recall ever having a valve stem break off when filling a tire with air and I have been driving and adding air to tires for a long time. Otherwise, my experience with the car has been fine.

- Buffalo Grove, IL, USA

The tire sensors valve stems cracked and the tires wouldn't hold air in the tires. Mazda did replace 2 but said it was done as a one time offer. Now the other stems won't hold air pressure the tires are always leaking air. I am afraid that the stems might break off as driving on the highway. These are defective stems.

- Holcombe, WI, USA

I constantly have issues with my tire pressure being low. I went to fill my tires up for the 3rd time in 4 months and as I put the compressor to the tire valve, the valve snapped off. All the air poured out of my tire. Luckily I wasn't driving at the time. I changed the tire to my donut and drove immediately to my tire center. They looked at the broken valve and told me it had corroded and that the whole tpm system would have to be replaced. He also went on to tell me that this is common. I asked him "so, should I be worried about this happening again with a different tire?" and he said that he would be lying to me if he told me that I shouldn't be concerned. $150 and 4 hours later, I had a new tpm system in that tire. Keeping my fingers crossed every day that it doesn't happen again.

- West Chester, PA, USA

On August 16th 2013 I was on the highway and the tire pressure warning came on and a few miles later felt the car pulling towards the left and realized I had a flat tired and pulled over. I changed the front drivers side tire and continued on my way. The next day I took it to a local mechanic shop and requested they look at the tire. They informed me the tire was perfectly fine and what caused the tire to go flat was the TPMS sensor. The sensor threads had corroded and released all of the air from the tire. They then informed me all of the remaining sensors were in just as bad shape and could fail at literally any moment. I then took the vehicle back to the dealership. The dealership looked the vehicle and confirmed that TPMS sensor was what caused the tire to go flat and the other sensors are bad and ready to fail as well. I had three sensors replaced and I went home and decided to call Mazda directly and speak with a representative and see what could be worked out. I spoke to a representative by the name of [xxx] and I asked if there was any recall on the vehicles TPMS sensor. She informed me that there was not a recall on the item I specified and that it was going to be documented. That was it. Basically I was told good luck with my problem. I went back to the dealership and had them replace the final TPMS sensor since it was going to fail soon and I didn't want another flat tire or worse, an accident. I've looked around the internet and found other people complaining of the same issue on Mazda vehicles in a very close year range as mine. I feel this is a huge safety issue. It is not normal for an item of a vehicle to fail and release all of the air from the tire if the item wasn't damaged by some sort of external force. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Lebanon, OH, USA

I have had three oem valve stems rot out and completely fall into the tire causing a rapid deflation and risk of control loss of the vehicle. The first valve stem rotted out in 2012 and was replaced. I assumed it was an isolated incident (stuff happens). In the last 2 months the second and 3rd valve stem rotted out and have been replaced by belletire (2nd in July, 3rd today). Luckily I was driving on side roads when these occurred. It might have been much worse if I was on the freeway. I looked up and saw this is a common occurrence with the 2009 Mazda 3 so I called to file a complaint and was told corrosion is never covered in warranty. This is not about corrosion, this is a safety hazard that needs to be addressed.

- Pinckney, MI, USA

12/26/12, tire pressure light came on, pulled off highway immediately, tire flat, nut holding pressure stem had disintegrated and stem went inside tire. 1/2/13, another tire went flat in parking area, neighbor came over to put air in tire, nut holding pressure stem had disintegrated and stem went inside tire. Mazda dealership made repair and said the other two tire stem nuts would go in about two weeks. All four tire stem nuts were replaced. Research on internet shows that this same problem has occured to many people owning different make/model/year vehicles. Apparently a defective nut and stem system with one of three serial numbers were on all the vehicles experiencing this dangerous situation. I believe these nut and stem systems with these serial numbers should be recalled as soon as possible as to avoid anyone experiencing a dangerous blowout. A nut on the wheel should not be made of a material that disintegrates in less than 4 years even if it is in contact with road salt. This is very dangerous. The fact that two nuts disintegrated in 8 days and probability of next two in two weeks should raise red flags immediately. This should not happen to anyone! I am submitting this information for my daughter as she is still very upset over this having happened and having incurred great expense on her part.

- East Aurora, NY, USA

Tire pressure light came on I pulled over and valve stem blew a pin out. Road side assistance called to help me and verified it was a pressure valve stem fault. Seems to be a long reported issue with this make and year. Was informed to check all other tire stems for defects.

- Newton, NC, USA

Driving on the highway at highway speed, there was a sudden loss of air pressure in the right rear tire. The TPMS warning came on. On inspection the tire valve was missing, it looked sheered off. Took the car into a tire repair/replacement center and had a new TPMS valve installed. I've since discovered that this is a very common failure in Mazda 3's, and likely many Mazda's. at the time, I contacted a Mazda dealer who offered no explanation as to how a valve stem can sheer clean off while driving on a flat, clean highway. All they offered was a replacement part, not warranty, even though the car was under the basic warranty at the time. Since then we've had another tire air valve sheer off on a second Mazda 3 (2009) we have. We bought 2 - 2009 Mazda 3's at the same time. The second Mazda 3 had low tire pressure. On inspection, the valve cap was removed and the valve broke off. It broke was the cap was being removed. This is a verydangerous condition as these things can sheer off any time while the car is in motion, and you have a sudden loss of tire pressure at highway speed, which is extremely dangerous. We've now experienced 2 failures on 2 cars, and one failure occurred at highway speed that resulted in a very scary experience for a younger lady of college age. This is dangerous. Mazda needs to properly address this problem and manufacture a proper valve that can be used in a very common use scenario, namely, driving during the winter months when salt is being used for safety reasons. That should not be used as an excuse as to why that part fails. Here are at least a couple of websites where you can see this problem is common. www.aboutautomobile.com/complaint/2009/Mazda/Mazda3/tire+pressure+monitoring+system.

- Crown Point, IN, USA

Had my Mazda 3 oil changed today and found out that it needed new tires - at just under 15,600 miles. I had these tires rotated at just under 6,000 miles and just under 12,000 miles. The defect is due to the alignment set at the factory, that causes the rear tires to "tilt in at the top" to improve handling. I am having to pay for (4) new tires and paying an extra charge to get the alignment set correctly. I will never buy another Mazda product. If this defect at not been found today, the way the rear tires looked, I possibly could have had a blowout over the next 3,000 to 5,000 miles.

- Jackson, MO, USA

Goodyear tire Eagle rs tire in light snow / wet weather conditions, new 2009 Mazda 3 hatchback. Tires are totally inadequate in light snow conditions. I was unable to make a right turn while I attempted to slow down at 20mph. Car ABS was activated but I still skidded almost hitting another car as it was about to pull out in front of me. I am forced to have to replace these tires.

- Lake Villa, IL, USA

Same issue as other stated. These tires provide little to no traction on ice or snow. I have owned eight Mazda and never had on issue like this with any, I have had vehicles of various sizes. These tires are a safety issue. I nearly had an accident the first week of ownership with inability to slow and stop, and take off traction is no better.

- Warren, IN, USA

The original equipment tires on my 2009 Mazda3 5-door: Goodyear Eagle rs-a 205/50 R17 are showing premature wear at 12,000 miles. The owners manual states that Goodyear warranties the tires. The Goodyear pamphlet provided only warranties "workmanship" wear is not covered under "original equipment installations". this is the second set of goodyears that have come as original equipment and showed premature wear. I feel that Goodyear does this intentionally to inflate their aftermarket sales. When I purchased the vehicle, I asked the dealership to swap tires with another vehicle. All vehicles on the lot had the same terrible Goodyear Eagle rs-a.

- West Springfield, MA, USA

We purchased a 2009 Mazda 3 and have found the car/tire combination to be unsafe for winter driving on show and ice. The car has Goodyear Eagle rs-a tires which are "all season" rated tires. There needs to be stricter requirements for cars sold in nothern states and for tires that use the "all season" designation. My daughter was driving the car and narrowly avoided a collision while drive at approximately 20 mph because the cars in front of her were able to stop much more quickly. This car/tire combination provided extremely low traction on packed show and ice. The dealership and Mazda have been unwilling to provide adequate tires so the car is no longer being driven when there is snow or ice on the roads.

- Grass Lake, MI, USA