Driver and passenger sun visor can crack/break and obstruct vision while driving.
2004 Mazda RX-8 visibility complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 16 of 16, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Driver's side sun visor has broken for the second time in 3 months. The top seam splits rendering the visor completely unusable. It loosely hangs directly in the driver's line of sight. This is a safety hazard.
Sun visor splits in middle when folded down on hot days and blocks windshield while driving. Sun visor is electrically wired and hangs from wire obscuring most of windshield on drivers side. Dealership has replaced sunvisor several times for same problem. On internet community many if not all other users report that the same thing has happened to them. Http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?t=12572.
2004 mazda rx 8 has many design defects, battery was replaced, spark plugs and oil filter was replaced 3 months after purchase. *ts the started was replaced. The vehicle was stalling in traffic and was taking multiple times to try to restart the vehicle. After numerous times of the vehicle being towed, the dealership decided to replace the entire engine. After the replacement of the engine, the engine light illuminated and the vehicle was still not starting smoothly. The dash lights were blinking on and off and the heat was not working. The catalytic converter, 02 sensor, and A/C amplifier. The heater control switch was replaced. The sun visor was replaced.
My son was involved in an accident while driving the 2004 mazda rx-8 I had recently purchased. The collision occurred at night in a left turn situation. The rx-8 turned left in front of an oncoming vehicle. My son emphatically states that he did not see the oncoming vehicle. He was of course cited for failing to yield the right of way. It was the second time he had driven the vehicle. He is an experienced driver, with over 11 years of driving experience. It is my opinion that the design and position of the rearview mirror in the rx-8 may have been a contributing factor in the accident. The low headroom in the rx-8 places the large rearview mirror at the level of the driver's eyes. My experience in the month that I have owned the vehicle is that the mirror tends to obscure the driver's view to the right front of the vehicle, more than is typically the case in other vehicles. This is truer for taller drivers. In the case described above, the driver was 6' 2" tall. For someone not familiar with the vehicle, the tendency of the mirror to significantly affect driver visibility may not be immediately apparent.
The drivers sun visor broke when put down and the result was a visor hanging down in front of the drivers to totally block her vision. Fortunately car was not in a turn or stopping for traffic as this would have caused a crash. This was a sudden and disconcerting failure. Other such failures have been reported on the www.rx8club.com website. I returned vehicle to dealer who called the manufactures representative who refused to replace the visor even though the car has 5800 miles on it and is only 11 months old and covered under a 4 year warranty. I suggest strongly that a recall be made on the visors before someone get killed due to lost of vision. Also I am not able to drive my car safely because of the visor hanging down. This has been reported in 10068252 also.
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