I believe that Mazda had at least fixed the rust issue with their vehicles around 2009,10,11> as they were redesigning their vehicles and getting away from Ford. Not saying that Ford was an issue with Mazda's rust problem, just using Ford as a timeframe. Definitely by now Mazda vehicles are doing well in the rust dept. I haven't seen any rusted Mazda's in some time and I live here in the north east.