first of all, the passenger side cable is hanging in a greasy loop down out of the door track. it's an obvious problem. I've searched, read, downloaded, got all the info on the recall and even called Mazda corp. thanks for all that info.

so now... the service manager at my local Mazda dealership admits that there is a recall on my car (step 1 completed), but he wants me to approve a $77 charge to find out what the problem is. he says I won't have to pay the $77 if the problem is the track, but I'm saying that it's so ******* obvious it's the track that the fact he's even asking for the $77 approval stinks of weaselry.

He told me that until one of his techs looks at the car, he can't say whether or not that track is messed up (I really should upload pics, it's so obvious). I asked him to get one of his techs to come out to the parking lot for TWO seconds and they would say of course it's the track, but no he didn't want to do that
I'm afriad he's going to try to find some way to make the fee stick. bad gut feeling you know? so I didn't drop the car off today.

my question: was anyone else required by their dealership to approve a potential labor fee before they would even look at your car? did it all work out in the end?

 

pretty common for dealer to try and do that.

Tell them that if it is part of the recall, then you expect the fee to be refunded, and if it is not refunded that you will be talking to Mazda NA and the local rep and the National Traffic and Highway saftey org (the federal agency that makes them do recalls) on thier dealerships crappy service attitude.

I would also bump it up and ask to talk to the dealerships manager, rather than a lame service advisor.

 

they told me the same thing because both my seatbelts don't retract at all. I am not paying to fix seatbelts that should be covered for life

 

Mine was fixed once & broke again.
I gave up on it, manually rolled the carriers to the back & unplugged the system control box.
I just put the belts on manually.

 

wow that is ridiculous. i hate dealerships.




my car has to go in soon for the same recall

 

I reserve hate for the worst of swine. and that includes almost everyone I've taken any car to for service I really wish I had the tools, time, and skills to do all my own work my car. it would eliminate so much bull****.

anyway, I will probably approve the fee and make it clear that I don't want ANYTHING done to the car except the repair of the seatbelt track, and if he tries to stick the charge to me I'll just stick to my guns and start calling up everyone in the Mazda phone tree. why do people have to be pains in the *** though? you know, just be fair and do right... the world would be a better place. goddamn.

 

How long will this repair take? I have no plan to leave my car at the dealership unattended. Maybe if you hang out there and watch what they are doing the reason for the fee will magically disapear.

 

You might want to pull the old brittle plastic trim yourself, before taking it in.
It might break, even if you're careful.
It will surely break if the dealer pulls it off.

 

that's the other thing! I hate leaving my car for ANY job, let alone a freebie where they don't give a **** about me to begin with! at least if you're a paying customer you have that on your side.

sheesh, maybe I will just fix it myself

can you imagine what a super-happy-fun-time it would be: getting a dealership to pay for slight interior damage that occurred during a free job on a 15 year old car with more plastic than michael jackson? Raarrrrghhhhhh!!!

 

The seatbelt is hanging? My drivers side seatbelt does not retract but it does lock. Does this mean my seatbelt is going to somehow fail or something? Though its kinda annoying to have a non-retracting seatbelt.

 

As long as it's all the way down in the rear position, you're OK.

 

I have had that seatbelt done at my local dealership twice on two different cars. They never even ask questions.

 

what years had the seat belt problem cause my 88t2's seatbelt wont retract.

 

^ I want your dealership

 

it's the auto-seatbelts on 89-91 that have the recall. if your regular-type seatbelts simply doesn't rewind, that's another story (not covered under recall).

 

^cool thanks

 

^^^ yes only auto-seatbelts.....dude thats bullshit that same thing happend in my 90 t2 and i took it to mazda and they said cuz my car is salvaged they couldent do it....so i called mazda north america and they said it dosnt matter..its a saftey issue and they will fix it for you.....so i went back it they did it and they said that the track was fucked up...they didnt charge me a ****** penny so call mazda north america and sit there and lysten to the zoom zoom song for 20 mins while your on hold...then go hear what a rotary sounds like....i think u press 7 or 8 good luck with that.

 

I sold a car to a guy that had this recall done. He called and before his appointment time they had already ordered the replacement and it was ready to be done when he got there. I think most mazda dealerships want to get these cars back out the door ASAP without having to deal with them too much. It's hard to find a dealership with technicians that even remember these cars, let alone how they might fix something when it goes bad.

 

i have the same problem. im going in for my appointment this thursday. hopefully they wont charge me. for me the thing on the door, the one that moves, it wont move so im guessing its the motor?

 

My passenger seatbelt messed up aswell. It's an 88' convertible and the belt worked perfectly fine then all of a sudden it just would not come back out. I've yanked at it but it still won't work. Too bad the recall isn't for s4's.

 

I would refuse to hand over any money whatsoever related to this recall. The definition of a recall is that the manufacturer covers all costs, not the customer. Make yourself another call to MANA and take care of the situation.

The only time there is an exception is when the door sensors go out, which is what tells the seatbelt ecu when to open adn close the belts. Those are not covered under the recall and must be sourced used or new and installed yourself or pay them extra to install it.

 

You guys had to leave your cars at the dealership? for how long? Cause right now i'm useing my belts manualy, just slid back the carriers to the back, just like what SureShot did. But its a pain to get the passengers to use the belts opposite from regular cars.

 

Took me almost a month at my local dealership... cept for they had me by the *****... I needed the drivers side fixed but the inspection was expired so I had to leave my car there... couldnt just drive it till they got the parts in... plus they did the inspection(thougt they were going to fail me so they could "fix" something stupid before they could pass me)

 

I have an S4 so I'm not affected by this recall, fortunately.

I am a mechanic, though not at a dealership. Any time you bring your car into the dealership, the technician gets paid, whether its for a repair, a warranty claim or a recall. The difference is whether its your cash reimbursing him or the companies, but the bottom line is they get paid.

If its for recall work, it is Mazda North America which will reimburse the dealer, and in turn the tech gets paid for the job.

There is no reason for you to be getting any slack over this from any branch of the tree until, maybe, you call Mazda Head office (who won't bitch because they know whats up and won't risk a lawsuit).

Pay the fee, and as long as the work is related to the recall, you will be reimbursed. You already said you're not paying for any work not related to the recall, so it should be ok.

Also, if they reak any trim or anything, it is their resposibility to replace it. I suggest you take a timestamped pic of your trim before and after, and let the service advisor know you have done so. But don't take apart the trim yourself. As a tech, I hate it when a car comes in half apart, because then I feel I'm cleaning up after your mistakes and any problems that may occur from your shoddiness, I am automatically going to get blamed for.

 

i want to have them do MY seatbelts too but I'm afraid they'll mess with it.....the cars kinda bad rightnow (needs TPS and timing to be adjusted a bit) and I don't want them touching anything........will they void the recall because i have a T2 motor in the GTUs?