Some Companies Refuse to Listen

January 22, 2007 at 6:57 pm Leave a comment

Autoblog reported that Mazda has a problem with its Mazda3 that allows easy access to people that want to break-in and get your stuff (ipods, purses, wallets, etc.).

Canadian website MobileMag.com got the skinny from an anonymous Mazda dealer that if one hits the passenger door hard in just the right spot it will affect the lock assembly mechanism and unlock the doors.

Now the problem is bad enough…. but it is the response of Mazda that is the “real problem”. They are not calling the cars back to get the problem fixed. They only offer some folks that have been targeted to have a “reinforced lock” installed, but are also not offering to fix the dent.

Target ignored the “online community” and ended up getting drug through court and also suffered horrible PR at the cost of ignoring the “handicap”. Will Mazda need to go that far? They have ignored this problem since October. Also, there are articles all over the internet telling people about the vulnerability. So this isn’g going to go away.

We do understand that it is a “break-in”, but the convenience of the break-in probably places this “beyond common sense safety” from the manufacturer. I like Mazda cars, so hopefully they won’t have to have sales drop before they figure out that a voluntary callback is necessary.

Fabrizio Pilato posted this on MobileMag:

Greg Young, Director of Corporate Public Relations for Mazda spoke with me this morning. He acknowledges that Mazda has been aware of this issue since October 2006, they have been working on the situation with some degree of considerable effort and expertise. Mazda is studying it, and they have made a countermeasure in components from Cars that have been built in January 2007 in Japan. This countermeasure is to prevent this specific type of break-in. There is no defect in the product; the countermeasure produced will make it more difficult or not possible to break-in to the vehicle in this specific way. However, as any vehicle is susceptible to a break-in, normal precautions should be taken.