There was constant knocking from the rear of the vehicle and I took the SUV to dealer. The dealer says "the right rear strut is not connected to the body of the car. There is heavy rust and this is not a safe condition to try the car". Over the weekend, the shock mount bracket completely fell off. It doesn't seems to be a good design originally to use the sheet metal of the fender well as the connection point, without extra measure to secure the shock to the body. It is a defect.
2006 Mazda Tribute body complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 13 of 13, newest first, as owners wrote them.
While driving to work I started to hear a banging sound from the back of my vehicle. It sounded like the back window was open & banging every time I hit a bump. I pulled over and made sure everything was shut. I proceeded to work but the banging persisted. When I got to work I checked the back compartment & removed my cargo incase that was culprit. On my drive home the banging still persisted. My husband looked at the vehicle and said that the shocks/struts were blown. I took it to the garage that night & it turns out that the passenger side rear wheel well was completely rusted through & there was no where for the shock to mount. When the mechanic pulled up my cargo mat in the back it is amazing that nothing fell out, the size of the hole from the rust is comparable to the size of a basketball. Welding is not even an option to repair this damage. There is no other rust or body damage to my vehicle. There was a protective coating on the inner wheel well to prevent this. The driver side is fine and is showing no sign of rust/rot. While searching the web for support I see this is a very common problem in the ford escape and mazda tribute (virtually one in the same). When will something be done about this costly problem? As a side note, this car has been a problem since I bought it in 2006. I filed a magnus and moss warranty act suit against mazda and won for numerous issues regarding the transmission and power train system.
I purchased a mazda tribute 2006 model on 9/4/06 and I took it in on 11/1/06 for water in headlamp, water was getting down the in windows, and tire pressure light blinking. I was told at the end of the day that the car was not ready because they could not figure out the tire pressure light problem and they ordered a part. Well, the next day it was the same thing, needed another part and they have been on the phone with mazda tech support. Well today is 11/7/06 and I still do not have my vehicle back. They are now saying that they have ordered another part and it will be three to four days because the part is on back order. I feel I have bought a defective vehicle and mazda should give me another vehicle to replace it. This vehicle (from the sounds of southern states) has had all of the computer censors replaced minus the major one (according to southern states) and for a vehicle to be new as this one is with these kind of problems, I feel is defective.
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