1.4

hardly worth mentioning
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
122,375 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.

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problem #8

Nov 182020

Tribute

  • 140,000 miles
My wheel started vibrating back and forth while in park and I started and the power steering worked fine. Then turned car off went in the store and came out and it didn't wanna work. Turned car off and back on it worked fine. On the way home coming around a sharp curve it decided to go out and the wheel tightened at 45. I had to slam on my brakes and try my hardest to keep from going off the road. Took it to the mechanic and he said it's a recall to take it to the dealership. Well in 2014 a month after the recall we took the car to the dealer for air filters and they happened to "fix" the solution while there without notifying us. They never fixed it because there was never an issue until now. And they wont fix it because they said that it was already repaired. In fact it wasn't. the electric power steering system is very dangerous and I pray that Mazda contacts dealerships and has them actually replace the column as needed and not just clear codes. It does nothing but reset it for it to happen at a later date. I almost ran off the road!

- Splendora, TX, USA

problem #7

Aug 242020

Tribute

  • 145,600 miles
Issue #1 - left front caliper locks up preventing vehicle to move. On multiple occasions the left front brake caliper has locked up after the vehicle had been traveling at several different speeds and coming to either a complete or sudden stop after hard braking. The issue makes it extremely difficult to drive the vehicle which causes the brake pads to overheat and smoke. I've replaced the caliper 3 times and have had the same issue with each new caliper. The underlying cause for the brake lock up has been a malfunction in the ABS and traction control unit and sensors. Temporary remedy has been to remove the 50amp ABS fuse for 24 hours and replace. System works like it is designed to do afterwards. Issue #2 - power assisted steering. The vehicle had shown systems of a vibrating and twitching steering wheel while at idle in park and while in gear while sitting at a stop. After 2 days of the moving steering wheel the vehicle was turned off and then restarted 5 hours later with no more jumping steering wheel but now with no power assisted steering at all. Making it extremely difficult to steer while under no to very low speed. The vehicle continues to have no power assisted steering as there is no consistent resource on what to do for those vehicles that have already been through the recall for this issue.

- Kansas City, KS, USA

problem #6

Nov 122017

Tribute

  • 180,000 miles
The brakes started to go down to the floor intermittently. They will get hard and the next day or two will go back down to the floor. The master cylinder has been changed, the brakes have been bled. The rotors are in good condition and have been turned and new brakes were put on the car. The brakes still go down to the floor. I think this is an ongoing problem with this model of car and it needs to be added as a recall.

- Desoto, TX, USA

problem #5

Sep 152016

Tribute

  • 130,000 miles
The contact owns a 2008 Mazda Tribute. While driving at any speed and attempting to apply the brakes, the brake pedal traveled to the floor without warning. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed and replaced the master cylinder and the brake booster. The failure recurred and the vehicle was taken back to the mechanic who diagnosed and "power bled" the brakes. The failure recurred after a few weeks. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and stated that the vehicle had high mileage. The failure was not remedied. The failure mileage was approximately 130,000.

- Kewanee, IL, USA

problem #4

Nov 252015

Tribute

  • 102,403 miles
At various times between August 2015 and November 2015, my brakes did not respond properly. At about 3-week intervals, my brake pedal would go farther down toward the floorboard than it usually takes for me to stop. This usually happened at low speeds (5mph to 40mph), usually when I am approaching a stoplight or stop sign. After all of these instances, whenever I parked my car and started a new trip, the brakes would go back to normal. However, on 11/10/15, the brake pedal went all the way to the floor when I tried to stop at 15-20mph. This was on a busy city street, and I had to drive up on the median to avoid hitting the car in front of me. I took it to sears and was told there was no problem with the brakes; however, they bled the brake line, changed the brake fluid. Then, I took it to the Mazda dealer and was told there was no problem with the brakes, but that the fluid needed to be changed. When I took it to carmax, they told me it was the master cylinder, and they replaced it along with the front ABS tone rings. On 11/25/15, two days after getting my car back from the carmax mechanics, the brake pedal was again feeling like it was going farther down than necessary, and then it went to the floor again. That time, I was approaching a stop sign in a residential neighborhood, so it was at a low speed. The car is now back at carmax, and they have called to say that they cannot find any problem. The scariest things about this (besides the obvious fear that my car will cause an accident) are: 1) the random nature of these brake problems; 2) the fact that the brake pedal goes back to normal after one of these events; 3) mechanics were not spotting a problem with my brakes; and 4) when a problem was specified and supposedly fixed, the brakes still went out.

- Gwynn Oak, MD, USA

problem #3

Aug 052015

Tribute

  • 105,000 miles
The contact owns a 2008 Mazda Tribute. While driving 35 mph and attempting to decelerate, the brake pedal failed to respond and traveled to the floorboard. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure recurred. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 105,000.

- Gwynn Oak, MD, USA

problem #2

May 012015

Tribute

  • 143,000 miles
The contact owns a 2008 Mazda Tribute. While driving 55 mph, the brake pedal extended to the floorboard when depressed. The dealer diagnosed that the ABS module needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 143,000. The VIN was invalid.

- Dodson, LA, USA

problem #1

Aug 102009

Tribute 4-cyl

  • 33,000 miles
This is the third time in 5 years that we have had to replace the ABS tone ring because it has broken/crumbled and caused our brakes to go out while driving! there seems to be some serious issues with the quality of this product?? I fear for my life at all times, never knowing when its going to decide to break again.

- Fishers, IN, USA