So, I’ve been kind of scattered in my postings about my RX-8 troubles. I took a lot of the issues with patience and grace: console display failure, A/C that spontaneously turns on (still not fixed), alarm issues up the wazoo. The most troublesome problem has been the repeated failure of the passenger airbag system while I am driving with a passenger. This has happened at least six times. The short history is such:
Happened twice in one weekend. Took it into the shop. 2335 miles on the car. They re-calibrated the seat sensor.
Happens again, at 3660 miles. This time they replace the seat sensor.
Again at 5273 miles. A Mazda ‘engineer’ comes out, spends a couple of weeks poking at my car. They replace the seat track.
Again at 6837 miles. They replace the control module, run some tests, and Mazda has the shop replace the ENTIRE wiring harness. This is no easy task, and it introduced four new problems to my car:
- Steering wheel is off-center
- Air vents seem blocked, and no longer work correctly. Can’t get split-level air.
- Windshield washer fluid pump no longer works
- iPod connector cable no longer anchored down behind dash. The foam cable mounting piece is sitting in my glove box. One light tug and it will probably rip out of the stereo.
Oh! And best of all… Eight days after I got my car back from having the wiring harness replaced the passenger side air bag system failed again. So, after four visits to the shop, two of them lasting over two weeks long, and countless labor hours… my fracking lemon of a car is still not fixed.
My car has spent FIFTY-EIGHT days in the shop for one problem alone: the passenger airbag system failures. In those FIFTY-EIGHT days, Mazda has not only failed to fix the problem, they have introduced four new ones.
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