Tl*the contact owns a 2002 mazda mpv. The contact stated that the transmission had been slipping on and off for the past two years. The vehicle was taken to a mechanic who stated that the transmission needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was contacted and offered no assistance. The failure mileage was 100,000 and the current mileage was 136,000.
Mazda MPV slipping problems
19 of the 914 owner complaints about the Mazda MPV describe transmission slipping, most of them for the 2003 model year.
- owner complaints
- 19
- worst model year
- 2003
- typical mileage
- 34,000
Is there a fix? No recall or service bulletin covers this area of the car yet.
By model year
Often reported together
Transmission failure 4Harsh shifting 3Check engine light 2Loss of power 1Jerking 1Hesitation 1
What owners say
2002 mazda mpv transmission kept slipping out of gear .
Transmission slips, usually going from 2nd to 3rd, and sometimes 1st to 2nd. Usually happens when I try to accelerate hard. Engine revs up and the transmission slips, then with a big clunk the gear engages. Seems to me like a severe safety issue if you cannot accelerate yourself out of a potential side impact. And this must be hard on the transmission too. I've checked this out with two separate dealers, once right after I got the vehicle in 2003 and once in 2005. Both dealers could not reproduce the problem, but this happens to me quite often, at least a couple of times a month. I know that the service bulletin is out on this, but now my warranty is expired. At any rate, I don't feel like taking it into the dealer and wasting my time only to be told that there is nothing wrong with it.
2002 mpv at about 7000 miles the transmission started to drop out suddenly. We drive a loton country roads and there is no shoulder to pull over on. We were very lucky not to get into an accident. This happend twice, then we took the van into the dealership. They could not find the problem, but changed the fluid. Driving home from the dealer, within 10 miles, the transmission started to slip again. At a stop light it failed completely, and we were unable to move. My wife was in the car with our two kids, stranded. Fortunately, I was about a mile ahead of her, and came back for her and the kids. The vechile ended up being towed back to the delership, and they are now replacing the transmission.
Transmission failure after 5 documented trips to dealer about transmission problems: - car bought 2/2002. - 8/6/02-10,816 - hesitation from start. Wife complaining of poor driving characteristics. Dealer couldn't verify anything, even that the cel was on. - 2/21/03 - 21,065 - rough downshifting. Wife thought tranny was slipping and kicking in. Dealer flashed tranny per tsb on the 3-2 downshift known problem. - 8/27/03 - 26,235 - poor shifting. Dealer said shift solenoid sticking. Flashed TCM again. (not sure what they did to correct solenoid) - 11/19/04 - 41,979 - tranny & torque converter flushed after complaining of poor driving again. Note: - contacted mazda corporate about the lack of transmission maintenance in owners manual. Mazda said there's no maintenance required! - 4/4/07 - 94,xxx - without warning, no accelerating, car simply stopped moving on the highway. Tranny was slipping bad and my wife was nearly killed pulling off the highway! Fluid level was ok, color was ok, but it smelled burnt. Car required towing. It was diagnosed with total transmission failure. I called mazda USA, who said the car is out of warranty and no assistance will be offered. I called the dealership where it was always serviced, and they said that they've never seen mazda support a car out of warranty like this. I complained to both about how this was a documented problem from new. If I was smart, I would have filed a lemon law complaint and gotten a full refund back then, but they just kept insisting it was a TCM program. I never imagined that the TCM would be able to cause the tranny to physically fail. Also, the fact that these trannies have internal, non-serviceable filters is just poor design. Lastly, honda has the same issue with their odessy, but they are covering the repairs in full! My friend had his tranny replaced at 88k miles! I'm exploring legal avenues of recourse.
At just over 80,000 miles the transmission on my mpv stopped shifting into higher gears. There was absolutely no warning except for a few times when the transmission seemed to feel like it was slipping, certainly no warning lights or messages showing it needed to be serviced.
On my mazda mpv in temperatures below 40 degrees the transmission slips when shifting into 3rd gear. This causes loss of power and a whiplash action when the transmission re-engages. In high traffic situations this can be very dangerous.
Transmission slips and then slams into gear.
My 2003 mazda mpv, the transmission shifts hard between 2nd and 3rd gear. You can feel the transmission slipping and then it hits hard into third gear. I have taken this vehicle three times to the dealer for repair. First time they updated computer info, second time they replaced the TCM, and third time they replaced the tranny fluid which I paid for and the problem still hasn't been solved.
2003 mazda mpv. Transmission shifts very hard from 2nd to 3rd. You can actually feel the transmission slipping and then it will slam into 3rd gear. It feels as if you are being hit from behind. Very dangerous! The problem is intermittent and unpredictable.
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the Mazda MPV slipping
Which Mazda MPV years have transmission slipping problems?
The model years with the most reports are 2003 (9 complaints), 2002 (5 complaints) and 1991 (3 complaints).
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