So my driver's side rail spit out the cable. After doing a lot of reading I've learned of the recall and lifetime warranty. Sounded great. Called my local dealer who said the recall repair had already been done. When I said it had a lifetime warranty, the service manager went "huh?". More doubt was expressed and he said he'd have to do some inquiries.

During the interim I searched out the nhtsa recall, where it does say 'lifetime warranty'. I then called Mazda North America's recall division, who said that once the recall was done, that was it. I quoted the recall letter, and the nhtsa notice. Agent called over her supervisor who confirmed that it was only good for the one fix. I argued and asked to see what policy or documentation that they were using. They said they were going by the nhtsa guidelines, which I then reminded them said 'lifetime warranty'. Agent became unsure and when I again pressed for documentation clarifying their position, she said she needed to do some more research and would call me back.

I called nhtsa and talked with them about it. Their agent didn't seem too knowledgeable but said that the manufacturer was only required to do the recall/repair once, and then they were off the hook. I was getting bummed.

A few days later the service manager at the dealer I first called, contacted me and said that he'd verified with Mazda (I don't know who he called) that since the recall had already been done, that was that and they wouldn't do anything.

Today, about two weeks later, I got a call from the original agent at Mazda North who said that the seat belt rails did indeed have a lifetime warranty and would be replaced as many times as needed. She stressed that it was the only part that did have a lifetime warranty. She is going to call the service manager at the dealership and "give him the right codes" so that I can then have it repaired.

So in the end, they are under lifetime warranty and should be repaired. Should and will be are two different things though, and I'll update when the repair is actually done. You may have to do some arguing to get it done though. Don't tell em I told you so though!

Just thought I'd post this for any others of you who get the run around.

 

yup, been covered i think ever since this forum existed and that issue has been asked about.......
at least you actually called everyone involved.
i got the same bullshit from the local dealership, i told them if they didnt do the repair, regardless if it had been done before, that i would sue.
they got it done in a hurry
then broke my a pillar plastic.................................

Lloyd

 

I wonder what's going to happen to this recall in another 10 years when Mazda no longer has parts in stock to replace the tracks. At some point Mazda's supply of parts for the repairs will dry up, and they will probably decide it will be cheaper to defend a lawsuit or two than to make a new run of parts. (I imagine the result of such a suit would be Mazda having to buy back the owner's car for a few thousand dollars.) Will the FC community eventually be forced to bring some kind of class action lawsuit? Will there be enough people still driving S5s to make a suit worthwhile?

 

Yeah, most of the other threads said that when they called Mazda North America, then the problem got solved asap. I was really shocked that she originally told me I was SOL. If I hadn't argued with her some, and she hadn't been willing to do some digging, I'd be bumming.

 

Bottom line, the dealerships will never want to do the work, mostly because they plain old don't want to do it, and secondly because of the old plastics in the car.
Mazda will back you up though.

 

Thanks so much for all the information that give to me , today I go to the dealer to replace the automatic seat belts on my Rx7. They are like a roadrunner very fast!!!!!
Thanks so much!!! Best Regards from Puerto Rico Jose.