2019 Mazda 3 Recall....Wheels fall Off!

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Found this on the news. An interesting read!!!

Here's a recall we had to read twice before believing. Mazda is bringing in 25,003 Mazda 3s that just rolled off the assembly line, because the wheels may fall off while driving. All the Mazda 3s are 2019 model year cars, so it's only the totally new generation Mazda 3 under the gun here.

Thankfully, Mazda says there are no cases of this occurring to owners, and therefore no injuries or deaths related to the issue. As for the cause of the wheel detachment? Mazda put out a statement explaining the issue at hand.

"A manufacturing process error may result in a gap between the wheel hub bolt and hub flange during assembly. This gap causes loosening of the lug nuts though they were initially tightened to the correct specification at the plant. A rattling noise occurs prior to a wheel detachment from the vehicle," Mazda says.

It's heartening to see Mazda did in fact tighten the lugs at the factory, but still extremely troubling to see that they can loosen all on their own. Our advice? Walk on out to your shiny, new Mazda 3 and torque those lugs to spec. If you don't have a torque wrench, then just use the wrench that came with the car to make sure they're not loose.

Those that have a new Mazda 3 should be on the lookout for a recall notice in the mail. You'll then be able to take the car to the dealer for Mazda to fix the problem. Until then, just keep an eye on your lugs. A wheel flying off while driving at speed is always a recipe for disaster, and we sure do enjoy driving the new Mazda 3 at speed.
 
Mazda sure does have interesting recalls, remember the spider recall on the Mazda 6? Spiders would web up the gas tank vent tube, causing emission malfunction.
 
Sounds like the lug bolts were not pressed all the way into the hub flange. Re-torquing the lug nuts may only provide a temporary solution. Until the flanges of the lug bolts fully seat against the hub flange, the lug nuts will keep loosening.

Scott
 
Originally Posted by Vern_in_IL
Mazda sure does have interesting recalls, remember the spider recall on the Mazda 6? Spiders would web up the gas tank vent tube, causing emission malfunction.


We all loved the spider spring recall. We had a tech who called Mazda and basically called them out saying it was a cover for something else. Basically the gas cap would let go before the tank would implode. The Mazda tech line quickly told him to stop reading too deep into it and just do the work. He even made a theme song for the recall, it was pretty much the Spiderman theme song.
 
It's interesting that tightening the lug nuts to spec was not certain to fully seat the stud bolt into the hub. How else are you supposed to do it?

And the song for this one has already been written: "You picked a fine time to leave me, Loose Wheel."
 
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