Tl* the contact owns a 2008 mazda mazda3. The contact was driving approximately 60 MPH when the steering wheel became abnormally stiff causing the contact limited ability to steer the vehicle. The contact was unable to maneuver the vehicle and was involved in a crash. A police report was available. The contact was not injured. The vehicle was towed to the contacts residence and was not diagnosed for the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileages was 33,000.
2008 Mazda MAZDA3 steering complaints
Page 3 of 5: complaints 41 to 70 of 117, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Power steering failed on 2008 mazda 3 causing a crash. Mazda has acknowledged the problem on the vehicle in it's letter to mazda 3 owners but stated it had no parts to repair the defect. While still waiting for an official recall notice from mazda, the power steering on our car failed on a busy city street causing the driver loose control of the vehicle which resulted in a crash.
Tl*the contact owns a 2008 mazda3. The contact stated that on two occasions, the steering locked up and was unable to turn the vehicle. The contact turned off the vehicle and restarted it; the problem seemed to correct itself. The contact then received a recall notice for recall 10v374000 (steering:electric power assist system) but the parts were unavailable at the time of the complaint. The manufacturer had not been notified; when she called the manufacturer, she heard a recording to await a second notice. The vehicle had not been repaired. The current mileage was approximately 34,400. The failure mileage was approximately 34,200.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 mazda, mazda3. While the contact was driving approximately 25-30 MPH in the process of making a left turn, an unexpected loss of power steering occurred without warning. The vehicle was driven to the residence cautiously with excessive force applied to the steering wheel. The vehicle was in the process of being taken to a dealer for diagnosis. A recall notification was received the same day of the power steering failure. The recall was associated with the federal safety agency campaign id number 10v374000 (steering: electric power assist system). The contact stated the experienced failure could have been avoided if the recall notification was not mailed in different phases as specified in the recall due to the lack of parts. There was significant concern of a safety hazard. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was unknown.
On 9/15/10 my daughter was driving her '08 mazda3 in nj on int. 78 when her power steering failed and she lost the ability to steer the car.. The car had to be towed 40 mi. To our mechanic where the mechanic discovered and informed us of the recall. She has not been notified by mazda of this significant threat to her safety.
Left my car running in drive, when I came back out 10 minutes later the power steering did not work.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 mazda mazda3. The contact stated while driving 50 MPH, the power steering failed without warning causing the contact to crash into a guard rail. The air bags deployed. The contact sustained injuries to the back, neck and right arm and was transported to the hospital via ambulance. A police report was available. The contact was able to locate a recall for the failure (the federal safety agency campaign id number: 10v374000-steering: electric power assist system) yet the recall was not scheduled to begin until september 15, 2010. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 18,000.
My daughter was about to pull out from a parking space in a shopping center when she noticed the steering wheel would not turn for her. I looked at the dash and a light with a steering-wheel and explanation point was showing. I told her to put the car in park, shut it off and then start it up again. She did and the warning light was still was there and no power-steering. She tried this a couple of times. It was then I called my husband and explained the situation. He called the dealer who told us to bring it right in. After a couple of minutes with it off and switching places, I started it and it was still not working. I had to drive it several miles with no power to the steering-wheel. Wow! Talk about taking a step back in time. My daughter could see me struggle to turn the steering-wheel. When I pulled in the driveway the power came back on out of the blue! This is a vehicle I now no longer trust for safety especially at high speeds.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 mazda 3. The contact was attempting a turn at 10 MPH in snowy weather when the steering wheel became extremely difficult to turn. The contact was unable to maintain control of the vehicle and crashed into several bushes. The vehicle was towed to a collision center where they advised that the wiring harness and steering pump failed and would need replacing. The vehicle was repaired. The failure mileage was 12,367 and the current mileage was 14,500. Updated 12/01/10. *lj updated 12/07/10
I have a 2008 mazda 3. I bought it in 2009 and immediately started having problems with the steering. I heard a loud pop and the steering light came on. The steering wheel was hard to turn so I turned the car off and then turned it back on but the light was still on ,so I turned the car off and on several times until the light went off ,then I drove it to the dealership and told them the problem . They told me that mazda does that from time to time to just turn the car off and back on again.I have been having this problem since I bought this car. August 17,2010 was the worst it happen five times while I parked with the engine running waiting on my girls to get out of school. This is very frustrating and something to be done before an accident occurs.
Power steering function was lost twice last year in my mazda 3. The pwr steering malfunction light came on and I had little control of the steering function in the car.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 mazda 3. The contact was stopped with the brakes depressed when the power steering warning light illuminated. As the contact attempted to accelerate from the stop, the steering wheel became extremely stiff. The contact moved the vehicle off the roadway and shut the engine off. When restarting, the vehicle operated as normal. The vehicle was neither diagnosed for the cause of failure nor repaired. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 16,000 and the current mileage was 17,500.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 mazda mazda3. The contact was driving 30 MPH and applying the brakes to attempt a u-turn when the power steering warning light illuminated and the steering wheel became extremely difficult to steer. He shut off the engine and when restarting, the power steering was operating as normal. The following day, the check engine warning light illuminated and the vehicle was taken to the dealer. The dealer replaced the power steering pump and steering lines under the contacts warranty. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 26,583.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 mazda 3. The contact stated when driving at 45-50 MPH and attempting to brake, the steering wheel would vibrate uncontrollably. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where the contact was informed that the tires were the cause of the failure. The tires were replaced at the contact's expense. The failure persisted and the contact went back to the dealer for another repair. The manufacturer would not provide any assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 20,000 and the current mileage was approximately 25,000.
I have a 2008 mazda 3. While in florida last winter I experienced a failure with the power steering during extreme heat and humidity while I was in bumper to bumper traffic. I pulled off into a parking lot with much difficulty. My husband thought maybe due to how hot the outside temperature was, maybe we used up power steering fluid. He was able to drive the car to a nearby auto parts store, bought power steering fluid and added a small amt. He was surprised that it only required less than an ounce. After a rest period, the car regained power steering and we never experienced another problem. We did have a mazda dealer in florida check it out and they claimed nothing showed up on the computer. Well, over the 4th of july weekend when we were experiencing a lot of hot, humid weather the same thing happened again. It seemed that after you shut off the motor and allowed the car to cool off, the power steering returned. We contacted the dealer in pennsylvania where we purchased the car and they insisted we bring it right in as long as the weather wasn't hot. They rented us a car and kept our car for a week to complete repairs. They installed a new power steering pump and new hydraulic fluid lines. So far, we have had not further problems. We could have been in a very dangerous situation if we had been driving at normal speed on the highway when this occurred. Both times, we were almost at a standstill. The only similarities were the extreme heat and humidity and that we were using the air conditioner.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 mazda 3. While driving approximately 40 MPH, the steering wheel became extremely stiff and the power steering warning light illuminated. The contact was unable to maintain control of the vehicle and was involved in a single car crash. A police report was available. The vehicle was towed to an authorized dealers collision center to repair the body damages. The vehicle was not examined for the cause of failure. The failure mileage was 22,000 and the current mileage was 26,000.
Power steering light on dash came on then loss of power steering leading to heavy steering. According to owners manual, we were advised to turn off the engine, then back on. Even then, the light came on again and I lost power steering again, leading to very heavy steering. After those two incidents the power steering seems to be working ok. There is plenty of power steering fluid in the reservoir. I called mazda dealership and explained the issue in detail and was told there is no problem, especially because the light is now off and normal steering resumed - he advised there is no need to bring in the car. This is a safety hazard, especially for someone like my wife who lacks upper body strength. The effort required to turn the wheel without power steering is a lot, even for a man like me. Slow speed steering is almost impossible without power steering.
2008 mazda 3 approx 28k miles. After a few minutes of slow moving traffic on a hot day - power steering failed, with warning light on. Looking into this problem on this vehicle - this is a wide spread problem of mazda vehicles of steering failures in hotter operating conditions. This information is easily seen with a simple internet search. We have an appointment to look into this - but it was funny that there was no acknowledging of a known problem during the initial call.
I had just bought my 2008 mazda 3 and as I was getting ready to leave the dealership with it, when I went to back out of the parking space the car had no power steering when not 1 hour before I took it for a test drive and it was fine. The power steering light was on. When I took it down the road to the service center they stated that this is common for this vehicle when the weather gets hot. It was about 95 degrees that day. The power steering pump was replaced. I told the service manager that I was lucky this didn't happen while I was driving or something serious may have happened. He agreed.
I was driving my 2008 mazda 3 "s" and when I heard a loud pop and the power steering light came on and a growling sound coming from the car. Trying to pull over was difficult as there was no power steering. Mileage on the car is 38500. Just 2000 miles over the factory warranty. Upon researching this online I have found that there are numerous complaints for failing electric power steering pumps in the 07-10 mazda 3's. This seriously needs to be looked at as this could lead to an accident.
After I was in lengthy traffic jam entering bwi for departure on thursday august 5th, I pulled to the curb to let out passenger. On restarting my 2008 mazda 3i, I noticed it was much harder to turn steering wheel--I thought I had a flat tire. Then I noticed the yellow steering wheel indicator on the dash. I could turn the wheel, but it took much more effort than normal. My wife checked owners manual and mazda's suggestion is to restart the car. Ultimately I did so and the power steering resumed - with no indicator light glowing. Since then I drove the car 300+ miles without another incident.
Mazda 3 power steering. W/o any warning my power steering went out on pulling onto a busy highway w/ my 2 yr old son in the car. Pulled over turned my car off then back on and the power steering was fine. I checked power steering fluid and it was full. I have not contacted the dealership yet because I was researching to see if anyone else ran into this problem w/ their mazda 3.
The power steering on my 2008 mazda 3 suddenly gave out on me while I was stopped in traffic and the power steering fault indicator light came on. Re-started the engine and it was fine after that. This is a huge safety issue while merging through traffic.
Driving home from work, approx. 20 mile drive, when 5 miles from home the power steering warning light went on and then the power steering went out. Drove the rest of the way home with no power steering. Looked at the owner's manual, recommended shutting off engine and then restarting. Did that and the power steering was back. Has not recurred since then. May have dealer look at it and try to get them to replace due to recent news on this issue.
I drive a 2008 mazda 3 hatchback. Recently my wife was driving the car in hot day (about 95 degrees) and the power steering just went out. The car's equipped with a power steering failure indicator light and it did not turn on when this happened. This is the second time this has happened under very similar circumstances. The car worked fine after being parked in a garage for 24hrs or so when the power steering failed last time. Updated 08/19/10*bf updated ivoq 08/23/10*jb
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 mazda, mazda 3. While the contact was driving approximately 45 MPH, an unexpected loss of power steering occurred. There was difficulty turning the steering wheel which caused the vehicle to travel into a parking lot uncontrollably. The contact was able to gain control. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where the technician informed that power steering unit would need to be replaced. The part was unavailable; however, the repair part arrival date would be july 29, 2010. The failure mileage was 20,000. Updated 11/19/10. *lj updated 11/1610
Sitting in parking lot, engine and A/C on, then tried to pull out, power steering failed; had to wait one hour for car to cool before the steering came back on. *tr the power steering pump failed, needs to be flushed, common problem with the mazda 3's apparently. At least it did not happen on the road.
I was driving on the freeway at rush hour and my power steering light came on. Within seconds I lost power steering and my car was incredibly hard to steer off of the road. I had it towed to a mechanic and he called today to say that the light is out now and the car is driving fine. He doesn't know what happened. My car only has 48,000 miles and I am afraid that this will happen again with dire consequences. I will take it to the dealer on monday. My sister also has a 2008 mazda3 and she also had power steering failure last year at 35,000 miles which the dealership fixed under the warranty. This is a serious safety concern. Please do something!!
2008 mazda 3i. Steering column shuddered violently when brakes were applied at high speeds (60 MPH).
Power steering on 2008 mazda 3 went out and indicator light came on. Fluid level is good and vehicle has 33,000 miles (original owner). Fortunately I was driving low speed and close to home as it was almost impossible to steer. Started the vehicle today and the problem is gone. Noted significant number of similar complaints so I want to ensure the federal safety agency knows about it. Will be taking to the dealer next.
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