One problem related to steering gear box has been reported for the 2002 Mazda Protege. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2002 Mazda Protege based on all problems reported for the 2002 Protege.
My 80 year old mother was driving the car eastbound on sw 104 street when at the intersection of 127 Ave. The steering wheel stopped responding and felt unattached to the wheels. I was informed today, by the Mazda service representative, that it was in fact the geering box that had failed. There were no fatalities but there could easily have been if it was not for the good samaritan that used his/her own vehicle to forcibly bring the car to a stop. Yesterday my mother was driving the car but if it had been another driver, a younger, faster driver, this incident could have been catastrophic.