general problems of the 2007 Mazda MAZDA3

My daughter and I were on the way to o'reilly when we turned at a short curve going under 20 miles and the steering wheel got loose and the brakes wouldn't stop us. The car just kept swerving all over the road and we ended up in a ditch the day after my husband purchased the car.

After a hard brake event to avoid a crash, brake pedal is soft and loses pressure. Identical to many, many Ford and Mitsubishi reports on models that use the same abs equipment. Abs valves probably leaking internally. Dealer refuses to remedy and insists brakes are fine - they are not, significantly worse since hard brake incident. Oem abs part no longer available (I wonder why?) so the only repair option is a used part that is probably also defective in manufacture.

The car idles very high which prevents it from shifting into gear most of the time. The idle and rpms will also accelerate when no one is touching the gas while driving making the car speed up when you are not speeding up. When these issues are happening the car also shuts off while driving it (while it is still on and being driven down the road) or sometimes will rev up when you push on the break causing it to launch forward. My car has almost caused several accidents because it died while driving it on the freeway and the starring wheel locked and could not be turned to drive me off to the side of the road. It has also launched forward while braking causing me to almost hit cars in front of me.

I believe this issue may be the same as investigation pe 16-017. That mentions only Ford/Mercury cars, but I think they share some components with Mazda3's of the same years. After an incident where abs engaged while braking on a slippery city street, the brake pedal became very "mushy" and now the brakes take a worryingly large amount of travel (almost to the floor) to slow the car in regular driving.

The abs system is broken.

1. Normal everyday driving, current mileage just under 16,700. 2. Occurs when driving the car above 40 mph and then applying the brakes, the car shimmys hard (steering wheel shakes and so does braking foot as it is applying brakes) 3. Took the car to the dealer service center for diagnosis and repair. The dealer would not repair under warranty as the car has more than 12,000 miles. Dealer indicated that the front rotors are warped and need to be repaired for $189. After much research on the internet, I have discovered that this is a very common problem with the Mazda with many rotors warping well under the 12,000 mile threshold on the warranty. I have owned many cars and this is the only car that I have ever experienced "warped rotors".

In March 2008, my vehicle had warning lights turn on for both the seat belt and abs system. The dealer cleared the code and checked the system for errors. No codes re-occurred and the car was returned to me. Subsequently in December 2008, the airbag light came on again. The dealer adjusted some wiring and cleared the light/code. Now in September 2011, the airbag light is on again.