I was driving down the Interstate at about 60 mph and suddenly my car completely lost all power. The Electronic Stability Control light came on. I weaved my way through the traffic around me and luckily made it to the right shoulder, coasting all the way (no power). Then virtually all the lights on the dashboard came on. I turned the car off for 5 minutes, then restarted it. It started, but would not move at all. The Electronic Stability Control light came on again. I called a tow truck. The Mazda dealer confirmed it was throwing codes associated with one or more problems with the transmission. They kept my car a week, and finally called back saying Mazda Corporate authorized putting a remanufactured transmission in my car at no cost to myself, since the vehicle had not yet reached 60,000 miles so it was covered under the Power Train Warranty.

I asked exactly what was wrong with the transmission but the Service Writer at Brown's Chantilly Mazda never gave me an answer, only kept repeating that "Mazda Corporate had authorized them to replace the transmission." I asked him whether or not any other Mazda 3 owners had ever had this problem occur and he said "no" (evidently he was not aware of the dozens of stories that were at that time all over the internet with this same exact problem, or he didn't want to admit it). I could have been killed because this happened during weekend morning rush hour on the interstate in Washington, D.C. and I was just damned lucky other cars let me slip through them to the shoulder, as I lost power at 60 mph in the fast lane and had to cross 3 lanes of traffic to coast to the right shoulder.

I am a new Mazda 3 customer and having previously owned Toyota's I was very skeptical with moving to another brand. But I decided to upgrade from my trusty 2007 Toyota Corolla to the 2012 Mazda 3 Skyactiv. About 4 weeks ago I was driving home from work when I noticed the Traction control light was on without my doing, so at the next red light I turned the car off to reset the indicator. It worked. However, once I got on the highway and I was doing a steady 65mph and I was hit with a big suprise,... all of the lights start flashing on the dash. It started with hazard lights, then the check engine light, etc.Then the car started to De-accelerate! I kept pressing on the gas pedal but no go. It was scary as cars started to pass me by at 70+ mph. At any rate I managed to get the car over to the shoulder. I then turned the engine off and let it rest for 5 minutes. I should have called a Toe-truck but I was anxious to get home. Luckily the engine fired back up, but the check engine light remained on. When I got back home I called the dealer and asked them to pick the car up. They did.

Now the frustrating part began, the dealer couldn't give me a rental car for 3 days. And they also said that they needed a part for transmission that would take up to 2 weeks to get and then another 1 week to install. I was pissed because no new car should have to be in the shop for this long. I finally got that car back after 1 month. But I wanted to post this complaint because I think Mazda may have a bigger issue with its new 'flagship' Skyactiv engine they are pushing out. Hopefully, I am wrong because I don't want anyone to have the same experience I had with the vehicle.

The car is ok now and I will periodically update this post if anything changes. For now I am giving this car its 1st strike, once it hits the 3rd strike I will be heading straight back to Toyota.