2009 Mazda MAZDA6: harsh or hard shifting

Filed Nov 2, 2018 · Body, Steering · 188,000 miles · OH

While driving car, felt clunk and car kept pulling to right and hard to control steering. When turn wheel, loud clunking felt and hard to control car. Car was on highway just before exiting to city street.took to independent mechanic who said subframe completely rusted and affected steering and wheels would not let anyone drive car and said car is undriveable. Car towed to mazda dealer where it sits today. I was driving my 3 brothers in the car when this occurred. Luckily there was no accident.

Filed Oct 9, 2018 · Body, Brakes · MA

Driving on highway, I had to brake and realized I had to struggle to steer the vehicle properly. I heard a loud clunk when releasing clutch when I had to use it. My steering wheel was out of alignment. When I brought in for service they said the entire frame and underside of the body had rusted out. I do not have pictures yet.

Filed Sep 13, 2018 · Steering, Suspension · 120,219 miles · WI

I backed out of my driveway, which has a slight curb to it, and heard a clunk or pop from the front of the car. Drove down my street and to a highway on-ramp and while turning onto the ramp the steering felt loose (required more steering angle than normal to turn same amount). While on the highway, to keep the car straight, the wheel needed to be held turned left ~20degrees. I drove to the 1st exit to get off the highway right away, and while applying brakes, the car pulled to the right. Going on city streets to try to return home, a traffic light turned yellow, and applied brakes again and car pulled almost over into the right hand lane. Immediately pulled into a parking lot and called a towtruck, and towed it to a shop. Pictures from inspection performed by the shop are attached.

Filed Sep 2, 2018 · Steering, Suspension · 110,000 miles · OH

Car suddenly veered right on the highway and scraped both fenders and the mirror against a cement barricade. Steering has been unpredictable. While elevated on jack stands with both front wheels hanging, crouched facing the right passenger side tire, the tire can be gripped with the left hand on the rear facing tread and right hand on the front facing tire tread, then moved in and out with large amounts of play, wobble, and clunking noises. There is also a large amount of noise and clunking coming from the area where the streering " linkage" ( term?) connects to the hydraulic rack when the front of the car is on jackstands and the steering wheel is moved to both extremities. The hydraulic steering rack appears to flex left and right when the car is on the ground in the normal driving position and the steering wheel is moved to both extremities. The left drivers side wheel bearing is in need of replacement. While assessing that is when the extreme rusting of the front subframe was noticed, along with a huge rust hole on the right passenger side as described by others. Very close to the attachment of the lower a-arm of the same side. Car was purchased new from dealership with 1500 miles by an in household family member and has had all/nearly all of its scheduled dealership maintenance at the place or purchase up untill the beginning/middle 2017. Afterwhich I recieved the vehicle. This was all noticed on or aprox july 1st 2018 and the car hasnt been driven since.

Filed Jul 26, 2018 · Body, Suspension · 171,000 miles · MI

I was driving and making a turn when a loud clunking noise occurred and I lost stability of the car. In order to make it to the dealership (which was within a mile), I had to turn the wheel to the left and drive 10mph to maintain stability. Over the 2 days previous to the event I heard occasional clunking noises while driving. The mechanic found significant rust that had gone through the subframe on the front passenger side, rendering it undriveable. They informed me that this was a common problem they had been seeing and that the part is backordered months. The rest of the undercarriage was mostly rust free except for the subframe.