One problem related to hatchback/liftgate hinge has been reported for the 2000 Mazda MPV. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2000 Mazda MPV based on all problems reported for the 2000 MPV.
The ball stud that holds the right rear liftgate cylinder snapped and the liftgate crashed down because the cylinder became disengaged. Luckily, no children were under the liftgate. The same thing happened to the ball stud that holds the left rear liftgate cylinder about 5 years ago. We were lucky there were no children under the liftgate at that time also. This is a serious safety problem and Mazda would not acknowledge it as such. Mazda also would not acknowledge that we had the left side repaired about 5 years ago, thus indicating a pattern of failure.