Automatic Transmission Torque Converter Problems of Mazda MPV

A few weeks ago I had noticed that my 2003 Mazda Mpv was jerking or hesitating. I only have 42,395 miles on it. I took it to one place and was told it sounds like transmission trouble to them. I brought in to aamco and was told it was the torque converter and they showed me where the metal was etched out>my warranty expired in April 2007 I was told I was lucky to address this problem now before the entire engine seized. I have been a Mazda owner since 1993 first I had a protege then the 626 now I own the Mpv I am shocked that this would happen so soon with so little mileage/ to replace everything it will cost me $3480 what a shame!!!!.

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My 2002 Mazda Mpv had a transmission failure at 42,000 miles. It had continuously slipped to neutral at highway speeds leaving the consumers family in a perilous condition. Updated 09/18/07.

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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.

The vehicle began to have a hard time shifting gears. The rough shifting began very intermittently at about 45,000 miles. At 51,000 the shifting was so hard that the tires actually screeched when the van shifted gears. Problem caused by defective solenoids. 2 of the 8 solenoids plus the torque converter had to be replaced to fix the transmission. Dealership would not cover the cost of the repair since we did not get the van to the service department prior the 50,000 mile mark. The torque was available as rebuilt".