5.8

fairly significant
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
14,212 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.

Get notified about new defects, investigations, recalls & lawsuits for the 2007 Mazda MAZDASPEED3:

Unsubscribe any time. We don't sell/share your email.

problem #11

May 272011

MAZDASPEED3 4-cyl

  • 22,600 miles
I own a 2007 mazdaspeed 3, purchased from a dealer in, langley bc., in June 2008. It was a us imported car ( by the dealer) and I was told I inherited the balance of the warranty. It was built in May 2007, and had approx 22,646 miles on the odometer. On Friday 27 may at about 7 am, I had just accelerated from a traffic light when an engine mount suddenly failed, pitching the complete engine and transmission forward and down onto the road, with disastrous consequences. I was really fortunate to be traveling quite slowly ( about 20 mph) as the 'cv' joint disintegrated and the car slewed alarmingly towards the kerb. I did not have much directional control, but managed to steer the car towards the kerb where it (rapidly ) came to a stop. Fortunately, I was traveling slowly enough for this not to be serious accident, but if I had been traveling at 70 mph down the freeway, I might not have been here today to write this. I had to have the car towed to a Mazda dealership ( at my expense ) where a inspection showed that the #4 engine mount had failed, dropped the engine and transmission and destroyed the 'cv' joint, in the process damaging the turbo wastegate valve. They checked the VIN and found that the vehicle was indeed built May 2007, and that there had been a recall to change the engine mount, also in 2007 ( before I purchased the car). This change was presumably done at a us dealer as it did not come to the in bc dealer until just before I purchased it in 2008. There was absolutely no overt warning signs- the only thing was the day before when I noticed a faint vibration coming from the front, which sounded like a pipe clamp or something vibrating. I stopped and made a visual inspection of the engine bay and underneath, but could not see anything. Bang as it let go. The parts were replaced free under Mazda warranty.

- Port Coquitlam, 00, USA

problem #10

Apr 282009

MAZDASPEED3

  • 35,730 miles
On April 28, 2009 while driving home from work I shifted gears from second into third I heard a big thunk from the transmission. I stopped the car and looked under the body but did not notice any broken or loose parts. Occasionally in the past while driving the car the gear would slip and move into neutral, and I thought this might be related to that seemingly minor problem. However, as I started to drive I noticed the gears were very hard to change and clutch was not as smooth as it used to be. Early the next morning I took the car to O'brien auto park of urbana. This business is located at 1111 O'brien drive, urbana, il 61802 (telephone 217-367-1222). I spoke to josh berbaum, the service consultant for Mazda O'brien, and explained to him what happened. On Monday, May 4, 2009 and told me that the clutch has failed and the flywheel had hot spots and could not be repaired. He apologized and said this is 'wear and tear' and Mazda would not cover it under new vehicle limited warranty or the powertrain limited warranty. He also stated that this is a very big job and would cost over $1575 in parts and $1045 in labor and that it would take a couple of days to fix the car. After O'brien kept the car for 10 business days I paid $2352.99 to get my car and Mazda declined my claim. I have taken the issue with my credit card and let what they can do for me.

- Champaign, IL, USA

problem #9

Mar 062009

MAZDASPEED3

  • 33,800 miles
I have an 2007 Mazda Mazdaspeed3 bought in May 2007. I had the motor mount bolt replaced during an associated recall in August 2007. A few months later it failed (July 2008). The bolt had backed out, and sheared through the last few threads. I heard this loud bang, followed by clunk-clunk noises and immediately pulled over into a gas station. I was fortunate to be on the right lane at 30 mph in 3rd gear. I had it towed to jim ellis Mazda of marietta (ga). They told me that the engineers from Mazda had a look at it and the whole mount bracket and the bolt was replaced under warranty. But over the past two weeks I've been hearing a slight clunking noise especially during slow turns, so I took it back to the dealer again on last Monday (03/02/09) to have them look at it. They found that the steering rack flow control valve was popping at times and replaced it under warranty. I had also asked them to have a look at my mounts, just to be sure. I got my car back on Thursday and was told that my mounts were fine. But on Friday (03/06/09) I still had those clunking sounds on slow turns and while pulling out of parking lots/backing up. I also noticed some odd vibrations on the clutch pedal while giving gas and during idle. The last time had these vibrations were just before the motor mount failed on me. So I decided to have a look into my mounts. I also noticed that my clock and trip meters were not reset. If the dealer had inspected my mounts they would've been reset when the battery is being removed. That raised my suspicions. I removed the battery and tried turning the mount bolt. It was I could turn it with just one hand. I immediately called the dealer and asked them what to do. The asked to bring the car over after tightening it, or get it towed if I couldn't. I tightened the bolt and it took me about 6 turns to fully tighten it!!! the bolt was almost out and I caught it before something serious had occurred. The dealer has re tightened the bolt now.

- Peachtree City, GA, USA

problem #8

Jul 302007

MAZDASPEED3

  • Manual transmission
  • 16,900 miles
Mazda speed 3 engine mount failure, engine fell out of B ottom of car.

- Portland, OR, USA

problem #7

May 222008

MAZDASPEED3

  • Manual transmission
  • 11,390 miles
My transmission occasionally pops out of second gear when I let off the gas.

- Oberlin, OH, USA

problem #6

May 282007

MAZDASPEED3 4-cyl

  • Manual transmission
  • 16,000 miles
Motor mount failure. My transmission/motor mount failed causing the engine to fall in the engine bay. This has happened to several others as posted on www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=68975.0.

- Bloomington, MN, USA

problem #5

Apr 252007

MAZDASPEED3 4-cyl

  • Manual transmission
  • 1,750 miles
I did major research on this issue on the internet. Most of the info I used was found here: www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=68975.0;all. I started reading here just for fun and discovered that I may have a serious safety issue on my hands. The transmission mount bolt on my 2007 mazdaspeed 3 loosened at 18-20 ft-lbs of torque!! there were several people who had this same issue. No less than 5 people have had this bolt fail and their engine has fallen onto the frame of the car!! this is a serious problem. Many others have found that this bolt is not tightened to factory specs. I raised the transmission about 1 inch (to relieve pressure) before checking the torque on the bolt. I applied blue locktight and re-torqued to 75 ft-lbs. There were no metal shavings on the bolt and it looked fine. The threads inside the mount also appeared fine. I also had a strange noise from the left front driver's side of the car that started with less than 300 miles on the car!! you could feel a vibration and it was very loud and audible. It sounded like a low pitched groan or something rubbing. It was intermittent at various speeds. Oddly, applying the brakes stopped the sound and vibration, even if you just barley touched them. I took it to the dealer and they could reproduce the issue, but could not find out what the problem was. The problem lessened the more I drove the car. Even so, I always felt like something didn't feel right. After locking down the bolt to correct specs, I have noticed that everything feels much more solid now. The noises have gone away and the shifter linkage is firm again, not "spongy" like before. Since many people are experiencing this issue, I feel that Mazda needs to acknowledge this very serious safety concern by issuing a re-call. This is a major issue and a big safety problem. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

- Stanley, NC, USA

problem #4

Apr 092007

MAZDASPEED3 4-cyl

  • Manual transmission
  • 8,063 miles
I was rolling in bumper to bumper traffic and went to second gear doing maybe 15 mph and heard a cluck. At first I thought it was reflectors on the road as that was what it seemed like. I made a turn, and as the thunk persisted, I immediatly stopped and popped the hood and observed the motor fell forward in the the radiatior. It was due to the driver's side transmission mount that came loose.

- College Station, TX, USA

problem #3

Jan 132007

MAZDASPEED3

  • Manual transmission
  • 2,300 miles
Mazdaspeed3 transmission/engine mount. These have been failing on a quite a few 2007 Mazdaspeed3 cars. My dealer would not even check mine upon request. Many dealers either claim to know nothing about it, or are not giving the proper service on this. Mazda Canada/usa is also claiming ignorant on this. This is a known issue as Mazda had flown engineers from Japan to the us to review a couple of cases, as reported by another member. This is a major safety issue as this mount holds the engine in the car, and can potentially cause injury or worse in my opinion. Btw, I work as an engineer. I had to check my bolt myself and found it to be loose.

- Ottawa, 00, USA

problem #2

Mar 112007

MAZDASPEED3 4-cyl

  • Manual transmission
  • 6,000 miles
2007 mazdaspeed 3 : transmission mount became loose and caused mis-shifts, loud clunking noises and stability degradation. Asked dealer to tighten bolt but was unable to get them too. On personal inspection bolt was loose and transmission was free to move around. After torquing bolt to spec all previous mentioned symptoms went away.

- Roswell, GA, USA

problem #1

Feb 182007

MAZDASPEED3 4-cyl

  • Manual transmission
  • 1,800 miles
I had read reports of transmission mount bolt failure with my new car that had resulted in the engine falling out of the engine bay onto the ground. It was discovered that the reason this was happening was due to a transmission mount bolt that had worked its way loose until the point of breaking off. This was brought to the attention of several dealers across the usa by several owners and none seemed to show any interest in checking the problem for free, since no official service notice had come from Mazda and they would not be paid for the labor of checking it out. As a preventable measure, I checked my bolt personally and hooked up a torque wrench to see how tight it was. I started at 10lbs and went up in 2lb increments. I was able to tighten the bolt beginning at 26 ft/lbs. I got almost a full turn before it bottomed out and then I set a final torque at 75 ft/lb. I then removed the bolt, covered it in red thread locker and reinstalled it again to 75 ft/lbs. I believe the torque spec for this mount bolt should be between 70 to 90+ ft/lbs so, I am under the assumption it was quite loose and certainly dangerous. This complaint refers to the drivers side transmission mount bolt.

- Portsmouth, RI, USA