Transmission has always hard shifted between 2nd and 3rd gear. Wrench light came on. Tried to make it to a garage but the vehicle failed to shift and the RPMs red lined. Had to pull over in the middle of nowhere and wait for a tow truck in the freezing cold. Took 7 days for a replacement transmission to be installed at a price of $2700. Guess this is why Mazda/Ford went away from the 4 speed transmission after this model year, they're pretty unreliable from my reading. A transmission shouldn't fail at 70k miles unless there's an underlying issue.

The SUV started shifting 'hard' into 2nd. Within a week, the wrench light came on. About 10 days later, the transmission went. Took it to a transmission shop and they said there was no 2nd or 5th gears. It was replaced with a remanufactured transmission. It took 2 1/2 weeks for this to be repaired. Tribute only had about 97,000 miles on it. The repair was covered under the extended warranty but if this is a "known issue" as the warranty rep stated, why doesn't this fall under a recall? I should not have had to pay the $200 deductible.

Purchased 20008 Mazda Tribute new in September 2008. In September 2010, wrench light went on and car wouldn't shift out of first gear. Had car towed to dealership. They tested vehicle and said it needed a new transmission! Car had 33,818 miles on it. Replacement was covered by warranty. They had the car 11 days. How can the transmission fail? All work has been done by the dealership.

Update from Jun 4, 2015: Purchased 2008 Mazda Tribute new in September 2008. In September 2010, wrench light went on and car wouldn't shift out of first gear. Had car towed to dealership. They tested vehicle and said it needed a new transmission! Car had 33,818 miles on it at this time. Replacement was covered under warranty. They had my vehicle 11 days.

Update from Apr 12, 2017: In 2015 Transmission went out again at 99,880 miles. Towed to Mazda dealership. $1500 to fix. I did not get it repaired. The dealership gave me $2500 to put towards another car.

Well, my daughter was driving on the highway in Orlando when the SUV began to slow down. When she pressed the gas pedal instead of the car gaining power it slowed down and seems to be losing power. Luckily for her, the traffic was not heavy and she was able to pull to the side of the highway. When she tried restarting the car it was not restarting. We called our insurance provider (Geico) for roadside assistant. The car was towed home as my daughter was not going to stressed herself because her birthday was on 9/10/14. On the morning of Thursday 9/11/14, the vehicle was towed to a the nearest dealership (Classic Mazda) in Orlando; a diagnostic was complete and the service rep advised us we needed a new transmission. How is this possible this vehicle is not even 10 years old? We do regular maintenance on this vehicle and we do not abuse our vehicle. First the dealership claims it would cost $3329.80 to be repaired and on 9/20/14 they claimed the found another issue related to the same transmission which will cost us an additional $850.00. Now I am researching online and I found your website where other people are reporting similar or the same issue. This is crazy, how can a car that was manufactured 6 years ago have a failed transmission??? I do not get it. Any suggestions, Do I need to contact the manufacture? Thanks

When the car had 49,000 miles, I had to replace the transmission. Six months later, the transmission collar had to be replaced; both covered by Mazda. The car now has 76,000 miles on it. The transmission needs to be replaced again, even though the replacement only has 27,000 miles on it. Mazda says they are not going to pay to replace it because it is out of warranty which is only 12,000 miles. How can 2 transmissions go out on a car in 3 years with only 76,000 miles if it is not defective? Mazda does not stand behind their products; instead they hide behind a weak warranty.