general problems of the 2004 Mazda RX8 - part 1

The electric power steering randomly pulls hard to one side while driving. There are brief spasms of forceful jerks each jerk is 1-2 seconds the series of jerks lasts 10-20 seconds and usually stops with power steering failure all while driving.

Steering turn alone.

My power steering intermittently goes out from time to time. I have taken it to the shop 4 times. There is something seriously wrong with this design and the vehicle is very dangerous.

My power steering malfunction indicator light came on when I started my car. Too hard to steer my car when I drive.

Synopsis: power steering going crazy at highway speeds. Starting approx 2 years ago, the power steering would shudder, or jerk back and forth, when turning the steering wheel (somewhat sharply), for several minutes after the car was started. This happened exclusively in cold weather, and at low speeds. Once the car was in motion for a few minutes, the behavior would cease. The colder the weather, the stronger the jerking (it seems). However, a few weeks ago, the steering exhibiting the "normal" amount of shudder, and then stopped as usual. But a few minutes later when I was traveling on a highway (at highway speeds), in relatively straight line, the steering suddenly began violently jerking back and forth. Needless to say this was disconcerting. I was able to control the car using both hands (I am a strong athletic male). The event lasted about 5-10 seconds. I have researched this behavior when I first noticed it a few years ago, and there are numerous reports online about the shuddering behavior at startup. . Read more...

My power steering goes in and out as it pleases; only works when it wants to and cuts up when driving and had to turn off car to make it work to only make it repeat again. Does this only when driving. And not safe for anybody who is dealing with the no powersteering issues or have steering but with many faults that can lead to accidents/death Mazda fixed others by wire tapping all deleting the powersteering connections. But only having the issue later down the road they did this around February/March of last year and had in and out powersteering after 3 month of their repair.

My electronic power steering has been acting like it is shorting out. It started off as something that felt weird but got progressively worse. As I would turn around a corner the steering wheel would feel like it was bouncing back or fighting back, you could force it past the jolting but it would make corning very awkward and concerning. At first it would happen maybe every few times I drove but it got more and more to every time I drove the car. I eventually just unplugged the power steering and have been driving without it since.

Electric-assist power steering, randomly in the parking lot the wheel will turn all by itself, one way turns easier than the other, sometimes you have no power steering and other times your steering wheel turns like butter, I live in the mountains with a very windy and dangerous roads, I've taken it to several mechanics finally one mechanic just unplug the wiring harness so there is no power steering. It is very scary to drive especially with a newborn baby. There are a lot of cars on the road with this issue I know 10 different people that have some sort of power steering issue. This is very dangerous and I'm surprised there is not a recall yet on it. I've had two friends that are close to me that have this issue as well, one friend wrecked his car the other friend sold it I believe to pick-n-pull so it would not hurt anyone, please help and maybe help save a few lives, thank you for your time and I look forward to speaking with you.

"takata recall" my power stering goes out all the time doesnt matter if im sitting still or im going down the high way. It does eventually come back on but does go back off. It also will cause my stering wheel to jurk left and right by itself cause me to swerve in an out of lanes. It got to the point now where I have the power stering unplugged so that it doesnt jerk my wheel while driving. I just need to know if there is a recall that will pay to fix this cause its getting dangerous. Please contact back with any info.

The electric power steering has a connection directly under the coolant overflow. Coolant causes the connection to go bad, on multiple occasions my power steering would completely cut out. Almost caused me to be in an acciden. And from what I read online it seems to be a common issue. I do believe this to be a huge safety risk.

Takata recall after completing the "interim repair" the cars power steering will intermittently go out without warning, or pull to the right electronically and forcefully with no notice, this is a seriously dangerous problem as, in addition to the car pulling hard right without notice, sometimes while correcting for the pull the power steering comes on without notice forcing the steering correction to swerve left. Also the abs and tcl lights turn on an off intermittently since the ¿interim repair¿ . The power-steering will go in and out while stopped, in motion in either city or highway, and while going in a straight line or while turning. ¿ this is going to kill someone.

Electronic power steering quit working while driving down the road.

The contact owns a 2004 Mazda RX-8. While driving at 70 mph, the steering wheel independently turned in both directions. As a result, the contact crashed into a curb and the air bags failed to deploy. The contact did not sustain any injuries. A police report was not filed. In addition, the contact noticed that the rear passenger wheel well was curved and fractured. The failure recurred on numerous occasions. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The technician was unable to diagnose or repair the vehicle. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 95,000. The VIN was unavailable.

Power steering suddenly started to pull to the right then went out.

I was driving on the freeway and when I wanted to take my exit I noticed that my power steering (assisted steering) gave out without any warning or precondition that it was failing. The steering was really heavy and almost made me crash into a divider, which really scared me. I then had to drive all the way home with out any power steering. I have thus spent several hundred dollars at the mechanic so they can figure out the problem. They have told me the problem is with the computer module that controls the power steering and it will need to be replaced. The mechanic directed me here to file a complaint because they said it is a common fault in this car and should be brought up to Mazda's attention.

Car turns left way too easy. Also car will pull left really hard and jerk out of my hands at higher speeds.

I typically drive my Rx8 like it should, one day I come home park my car per usual. Next morning I go to turn on my car, the dsc light stayed on, thought nothing of it, then on my way to work, I was driving causally, then while in the middle of a turn, my steering became very heavy and almost impossible to turn, my power steering had went out. After dealing with about 2 full days at the dealership, spending thousands, still no power steering, and I'm not credited any portion of what I paid to get fixed and its still not fixed. This is a known issue and a recall must be done immediately before people seriously get injured, injure others, or even die. This is all possible, if I didn't have both hands on the wheel, an accident most definitely would have taken place.

For some reason the power steering start working intermittent, now it is not working at all. May cause a fatal accident because of the hard to manipulate. My life is in danger.

Power steering was lost mid-turn, had to wrestle the vehicle out of the turn. Forum search has revealed that many other RX-8 owners are having steering issues and intermittent power steering loss. In the worst occurrences, the wheel becomes locked to one side. User-base has researched and found sensor issues that Mazda may want to address.

Power steering stopped working when I was turning on to the high way. Making it stif and hard to turn. Clutch peddle collapsed making it had to shift gears and the clutch ratio is off,.

The electrical assist power steering intermittently stops working. Sometime, when starting the car, the power steering works fine. Other times, it will not work.

Power steering jerks and shuts down while driving. Very dangerous. Also while setting still steering wheel did a complete 360.

Tl-the contact owns a 2004 Mazda RX-8. The contact stated that while driving approximately 45 mph, the power steering assist would seize and cause the vehicle to veer abnormally to the left. The contact would have to move off the roadway and reset the power steering assist through the engine compartment. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where they advised him that the battery terminal had failed. After replacing the battery terminal, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer where they then advised that they were inspecting the wiring harness being the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 92,000. The current mileage was approximately 92,500. Kmj.

I jumped into my 2004 Mazda RX-8 after work started it up and went to drive and noticed it was really hard to turn and I looked and noticed that a light that was a steering wheel with an exclamation mark next to it so I drove it home not even a mile away and read about it online and found out it happens a lot. Probably going to take it to the dealer very very soon.

Power steering intermittently goes out. A search of the internet indicates that this is a known problem for Mazda yet there are no recalls to fix faulty engineering. The radiator overflow leaks onto the connectors for the electric power steering causing corrosion and sporadic connections.

Steering torque sensor that sometimes fails to properly register driver steering input, causing the system to remove electric power steering (eps) assistance.

On April 3,2012 at 10pm in buffalo NY. I was driving my 04 Rx8 around a bend at 35mph. I experienced a jerk/twitch in the power steering. The indicator light came on instantly I lost the steering sending me into the front of a steel divider of a train bridge. I was taken to ecmc by ambulance. I luckily only suffered minor injuries to my back neck ribs head and shoulder. I am not one to sue nor am I'm going to persue any legal action against Mazda. I will say my airbags did not deploy my car was considered totaled $10,000 in damage. I just thought anyone looking to buy an Rx8 should read on numerous sites that this malfunction is an extremely common problem that Mazda is aware about but still does not wish to post a TSB or a recall. Love the car but have lost faith in Mazda. Sincerely unhappy owner.

Power steering went out. Comes & goes??.

As I turned on my car one time, the power steering just didn't come on. I then shut it off, and then turned it back on and it worked. After this happened several times the power steering ceased to turn on at all. It wasn't as if the motor for the electric steering was slowly going out; it was either night or day.

Car would loose its power steering, never on the highway.

First indications, the failure warning light upon starting. Used another car that day. Next day, no warning light, however, on the way home, the steering abruptly made a *full* turn to the right very quickly (going about 30mph on a dirt road). I was able to stop the car before it ran off the road - no failure warning light on the dash. Since then the failure light has appeared in increasing frequency to the point it is mostly on. When the warning light is on, the steering is essentially manual, but workable. The worst case is when it is off, and suddenly goes into a failure mode without * indication (I. E. The warning light stays off). It has happened a few times, even when at a full stop and the wheel turns by itself to the right. Pretty disconcerting. The full symptom description is that it becomes extremely easy to turn clockwise and more difficult to turn counter-clockwise. I'd rather it was in failure mode and hard to steer than indicating everything is fine and then suddenly decide it wants to go a different direction - always to the right in my case. Reviewing the other complaints here makes it seem like a flaw in the implementation or probably the selected part(s) Mazda used, but worse even, there are two different failure modes, one making it hard to steer, but at least consistent, and the other mode leaving the driver guessing as to what direction the car will travel and when it may decide to do that. I'm having it repaired and will retain the failed components. When it does indicate failure it remains that way until the engine is shut down. When it indicates everything is fine, it may fail anytime, but never indicates failure. I'm submitting this in hopes that something can be done to prevent a terrible accident for someone who has not yet experienced the problem. The first case for me was on a dirt road - if it was on a highway . . . Ouch.

I just got the car back from dealership they had to put new motor in at 67000 miles replaced motor and catalyist converter 3 colis and also told me they had to flush it out as it was flooded I drove less than 100 miles and power steering went out? now I dont know what the problem is and have to take it back less than a month later this is crazy!!!! cost me over 1100. 00 to get it back and drive 2 times and now broke again this car is a piece of crap should have done homework on it before buying.

Power steering issues, failing, electrical issues where coolant overflow is located not covered in warranty.

Vehicle power steering intermittently decreases to the point of little or no power assist. Most common on starts after a long vehicle soak. Secondary concern is that the battery fails rapidly and repeatedly, and vehicle stalled in traffic en route to dealer to investigate poor power steering performance. Root cause reported as a failure of the electric power steering system in vehicle. Amperage request of power steering system is so great that can overwhelm electrical system, resulting in poor/no battery charging and believed cause of on-road stall. Per manufacturer service, only fix is replacement of entire power steering rack. Repair to be performed week of 5/20/11; old parts should be available.

Electrically assisted power steering stopped working intermittently until it no longer works at all. This is a common problem with this model. I found this fact by joining the Rx8 club website. Multiple owners have reported this problem and it appears obvious that it is caused by poorly engineered/manufactured electrical connectors. Some owners have gone as far as replacing the wire harness only to have the problem recur. Making the problem worse is that the Mazda website has no mechanism to report the problem to the manufacturer. Currently the only time the power steering if functional is only for short periods after the care has been through a car wash and the undercarriage has become wet, and then it is only functional until the undercarriage dries out.