Mazda5 Power Steering Problems

herby1

Have a 08 Mazda5, 19k, power steering failed twice, currently at the Mazda Dealership for over 8 weeks and counting. Major back order on parts according to the dealership.

Wrote a letter to Mazda Canada regarding parts availability but got the ran around....

Anybody else having this issue????

vg33e power

Please provide more details on failure. What happened? Which part is back-ordered? How it failed?

herby1

According to the mechanic its the power steering pump. It will stop working intermittently.

When it happens all you can do is turn off the vechicle, wait for a few minutes then it works again.

In my case it stop while I'm on the Highway...

coolmazda5

I think (note I'm not an expert) the power steering pump is the same one as for the Mazda3 (2.3L S trim) so I wonder why it has to be back ordered if that car is so popular and this does not sound like a common problem. Just check here, the illustrations give you a good idea:

http://www.onlinemazdaparts.com

5_more

I've also experienced loss of power steering in the way described, and was not too happy about it. However, I would not stop on the side of the road -- the car is still drivable enough to get out of the way.

5_more

Based on postings from other forums, the steering problem is a known , and is shared by 3 owners.

coolmazda5

Interesting, I own 2 Mazda5s (06 and 08) and I'm familiar with their flaws by this point in time, yet this is one I haven't heard of. Knocking on wood then

m5indg

Has anyone else had an issue with their 5's pulling to the right? I have a 2 week old 5 and noticed that it pulled slightly to the right and brought it in to the dealer to have the alignment checked and they said that it was "within spec" and that the pull might be due to the crown of the road. I have driven on roads that were flat as a pancake and it still pulls to the right. I am going to bring it back in for them to double check. Anyone else have similar issue or care to comment? Thanks.

dclurker

My '07 5 doesn't pull to either side, but the brake pedal "thumps" when you take your foot off it. When I asked the dealer to adjust it, I was told "Oh, they all do that", which I believe is a lie. My point is that, no, your 5 should not pull, but you're probably going to have a tough time getting the dealer to do anything about it. They'd much rather do highly profitable maintenance work than warranty repairs.
Lotsa luck.

drb05

I bought my car in Canada and imported recently (4 months) to TX. Its been a 1 1/2 yrs since I have had this new 08 car.

Just last week, twice steering wheel failed. It will just lock and orange indicator light comes on. After a period of rest, it works fine.

When it locks - one cannot turn the steering wheel - feels very very hard. Dangerous - if it happens on the highway.

Mazda dealer refused to do anything with it, stating that they have to see the car when it has the problem. Ridiculous. Tomorrow I am going to call them. If not I shall take it up with Mazda. Can somebody suggest me how to do it?

coolmazda5

It seems that a technical service bulletin (TSB) has been issued by Mazda related to this problem. Your Mazda dealer should have access to it (TSB: 06-002/09)

Related technical service bulletins are updated here: http://www.finishlineperformance.com, I assume that this one will be posted there in the near (?) future

drb05

Yes. You were right. Thanks

Dealer fixed the car according to the TSB: 06-002/09.

Its been a week, and I haven't noticed any problem yet.

Iam surprised that I saw this issue in 08 - canadian based car.

drb

kivo

I've had my 08 for a year and the power steering went out for the first time yesterday. Luckily I was in a parking lot when it happened. I just turned the car off and back on and it was OK. I hope it doesn't happen again.

herby1

You should get it diagnose, guarantee there will be an error code. Also it wll happen again....

You will end up replacing the pump..

m506

I have an on going right pull issue with my 2006 Mazda5. I thought it was the tires, so I replaced them, had aligned and balanced at reputable shop. Mazda dealer/service started with the crown in the road and then wanted to do their own alignment, still pulled. Went back to tire place. They rotated the tires, replaced the tires, etc., still pulls right. Contacted Mazda North America and they are involved but are not really doing anything. The regional representative saw no need to meet with me. Now the rear shocks are leaking fluid. Mazda scheduled a warranty repair. We'll see how that goes. They don't want to really get in to it. I have been working this for 6 months now.

xman2006mz5

Just had my steering pump replaced. Please get your pump replaced b4 the warranty runs out. Mazda will not nitify you for repair of this unit. The pump cost was $1277.00 plus the labor hours of $165.00. The part# isBR5V-32-600G. So happens that mine failed on a straight road three times in a row. It of course set a code that the dealership could verify here in Illinois. 2006 Mazda 5

vicenac

This is electric right?
Why do you say the Mazda would not notify about it? Is there a buletin for it?

coolmazda5

Mazda has no obligation to notify owners if it is not an official recall (or any other manufacturer for that matter). If it is a TSB (technical service bulletin), but it does not happen to your car, then Mazda has no obligation to repair nor change the part. For a TSB Mazda needs to be able to either see or replicate the problem so to take action. TSBs only affect certain owners, not all. How they differentiate between a recall and a TSB, hell knows

Now, the TSB listed earlier does not affect 2006 Mazda5s, so your may just have had bad luck, no car is perfect

xman2006mz5

Well said coolmazda5. I must say, however, that a steering pump failure is a very harrowing experience. Especially since I had just driven through the Tennessee mountains the day b4, where a car can reach speeds of 80 mph going down hill without any accelerator depression. I do think Mazda should have notified owners to be on the lookout for any problems with the steering system. I can't say that I am a fan of this electric steering gizmo. Maybe an emergency back-up system would provide more safety.

coolmazda5

I hear you, sounds scary, regardless of TSB or not, that is why I'm baffled about the differences between TSBs and recalls.

But now, I'm sure is not just a Mazda decision, it has to be influenced by the NHTSA. Just see the latest Toyota recall about the floor mats, to me that is a TSB but... :confuse:

sabdullah

Hello there,
My 2007 Mazda 5 (drove only 6000 miles as of May 31st 2009) encountered an accident (collision with another vehicle). I was found unconscious after the accident (my 5-year old daughter was dead). The accident occured because my Mazda was in the otherside of the 2 way road. By the other side i mean my Mazda 5 crossed the middle yellow line of the road and went into the otherside to block cars coming from the opposite direction. The investigation found nothing wrong with the vehivle. I can not also recall anything before and after the accident. I was not taking any medications or alcohol...and i was driving for about 30 minutes before the accident in a sunny/clear afternoon in New hempshere.
Do you think it could be a steering problem?

Many thanks.

m5indg

m506, I hope your alignment/pull issue resolves itself. I am happy to say that now after about 8 months and 6000 miles I do not notice any pull to the right anymore in my 2009 5. Maybe the car needed to "break in".

mazda_5_owner

Just had my power steering pump stop working. I have a 2009 Mazda 5...only had 27,000 miles on it. Thankfully I was sitting in a drive through when the power steering stopped working. I noticed it as I was pulling away.....I could hardly turn the wheel to get away from the window. I let the car sit for about 30 minutes while trying to get a tow truck....when I restarted it the power steering was working......felt like a fool. However, I took it immediately to the Mazda dealership and they kept it. Ended up putting in a new pump. Thank goodness it was still under warranty. The dealership did say that the electric power steering pumps were having problems. I sure hope this doesn't happen again especially when I am on the road driving. :sick: ">link title

mazda_5_owner

Hey out there.........is anyone that owns a Mazda 5 having problems with the rear end suspension squeaking when you turn a corner or go over bump in the road? My car only has 27,000 miles on it and it sound like it is 20 years old. The dealership said they tightened something underneath and that they thought it was fixed.......what a joke! I guess I'm going to have to take it back and ride with them when they test it. :mad:

shenea

I have a Mazda 3 Grand Touring and I have had steering issues as well. I was driving my car in the middle of Waikiki, Hawaii on the weekend. It was extremely busy. I stopped at a red light, the light turned green and I went to make a right turn. All of a sudden my steering wheel was hard to turn. I was in the middle of traffice, people honking at me and people walking infront of me trying to cross the street. I could not pull over anywhere because I was in the middle turning lane. I was stuck in traffic with no steering for 20 mins. I turned my car off at the next red light hoping that it would work when I turned it back on. I turned my car back on and the steering was still out. Luckly I was able to pull into an empty lot. I turned off my car,lifted my hood and checked everything. My fluids were good and nothing was loose. I turned my car on again and then the steering worked fine. I took my car to the Mazda dearlership and they were unable to find the problem for a few days. Luckly my car is still under warranty, so I was able to have a rental to get me to and from work. I was told that a wire in the steering system was not "up to par", so I was told by the service worker. I had them do an alignment on my car and rotate my tires as well. I won't have my car back until Monday or Tuesday, but hopefully this will not happen again. I noticed that no one has had problems with Mazda 3s yet. Maybe I'm the first person or maybe I'm just the first person to post my problem. Either way, Mazda has a steering issues with thier cars and they need to look into fixing it before someone gets hurt. I'd hate for someone to die because Mazda ignored thier problems like Toyota did with thier car issues.

coolmazda5

Year?

sabdullah

Dear all,

Given all the discussions going on about the problems with Mazda 5, it seems to me that MAZDA 5 has structural/manufacturing problems with power steering. I think it may be the cause for my 2009 accident which killed my 5-year old daughter. while my wife and I am just started to recover from the mental distress and grief, I wonder whether we should go after Mazda for the loss. Any helpful thoughts?
-A

mzredd

Today I had the exact same issue with my 2008 Mazda 5 and the steering going out on me while driving home with my children from the grocery store. Luckily I was turning into a parking lot and not still on the Highway or a Freeway or any other major road. Shouldn't this be enough for Mazda to make a recall? Or does it take multiple accidents and deaths like with the Toyota case? I truely regret trading in my 99 Honda that never gave me one single problem - EVER.

geely2010

Yesterday afternoon @2:40pm, My 2008 Mazda 5 steering suddenly became very hard to turn when I was exiting high way. The car seemed to have its own mind and fought very hard to against my control. I could barely turn the wheel. Although frighten, I managed to drove the car (controlled by the car) to a nearby gas station (about 300 yards away), across street from the Mazda dealer where I acquired this vehicle from 2 years ago. I stopped the car before it hit a structure in the gas station. It was a terrified minute I ever had in my life.

marilyn24

HI.......I am very excited to get this little mini van .
I am getting a black one with black leather seats and white stitching so I am having them put a white pinstripe on the body of the car!! Should be very sharp!
I want a roof rack and the American version is awful. Has anyone ordered the European version and does it fit on the US Mazda? I do have a moon-roof but am not concerned with the cross bars. i just want to install the side rails for "the look". Does anyone know if they line up with the US? I am waiting to hear from a Mazda parts dealer in the UK as I have friends in England that could ship it out if available.
Anyone here on this forum can help with this??????????????

moosep

Also have a 2008 Mazda5 which had intermittent power steering failure. Mazda fixed it on warranty and haven't had a problem with it, since... however we've just gone beyond the 60km mark and now the blower for the second row sitters isn't working (the motor works, but no air comes out), and we're getting a noise from the rear that sounds like a broken spring when you go over bumps.

Haven't heard about any recalls... why if this is happening to so many?

mad0726

sabdullah:

My 2007 Mazda 5 ( about 3,3000 miles as of July 26, 2010) encountered an accident in Arkansas on July 26, 2010, which is the exactly same as what happened to you, except, Thanks God, my wife, my 6 year old daughter and my 5 years old son are still alive and did not loss of the conciousness (my son have right cranial bone fracture and subduralhematoma in Emergency for 24 hours). My wife was not taking any medications or alcohol, and drove on the local just passed a traffic light, the speed was only about 30-35 miles. Our car was out of control pulling to the left, seems the speeded up, the brake also did not work at all! It crossed the middle yellow line of the road, went into the otherside, hit another car coming from the opposite direction and ran into the woods! We were scared!!!

Would you please to tell me how to contact you, email or telephone?
Thank you!

lostwrench1

Geeze people, report these safety issues to safercar.gov

ravenly98

My '08 is going in to the shop tomorrow. I've had the CD player "not exist" every so often after turning off the car. And one time have had the power steering turn off. Fortunately it was after turning off my car in a parking lot. Unfortunately, I was in a curb-side spot, and couldn't crank the wheels enough to maneuver out of the spot. I had to call a tow truck. After 40 minutes of waiting for the tow, I decided to turn the car back on and magically the power steering came back on. While we were waiting, we did check the fluid levels and turn the car off and on a few times.

aviboy97

Samantha,

Mazda is already aware of the issue. They have it posted on their home page. NHTSA is also investigating this as well.

whobodym

Yes, I have a 2006 owned since new (63000 miles). Your problem is very likely solvable by gooping up the anti-roll bar rubber bushings with lithium grease. This is fairly straightforward to DIY if you have socket wrenches and safe jack stands (don't just use the car jack). Both the front and rear ends of ours have needed treatment. The dealer's fix for the front only lasted a couple years, and I redid it myself, at least as well. The front is a little harder to reach the bolts but is still easy enough if you're patient.

whobodym

you've probably heard before, but you didn't have "no steering" -- you had "no steering assistance". You still could have driven the car and turned any corner as tight as usual, just with 5 or 10 times as much muscle. Of course, I recognize this would be very startling and no doubt my own reaction at first would be the same.

whobodym

as an owner of a 2006, which as far as I know has the very same kind of electric-pump power steering as the recalled 2007-2009 models, is there any plausible reason why my car is not being recalled? (just because it's old and I don't deserve it as much??) ((or did they start the early years with higher quality parts supplier then cheapen it out too much?))
Our 5 has not had any PS problems, and is now at 63,000 miles. It was built in late 2005 and we took delivery of it in March 2006. It's spent most of its time in the Pacific NW.

aviboy97

No recall for your MY becasue the pumps are not defective.

danhouston

my 2009 mazda5 which has only 7K miles also has had the squeaking noise when the car goes over a bump or dip. will bring it to the dealer to see if they can fix or make the noise goes away and let you know

jchris10sen

I just purchased 2010 Mazda 5 and am experiencing the same problem. The alignment man at the dealership re-checked all the specs twice and confirmed that the car still drifted to the right. He informed me that the camber setting on the rear tires is not adjustable. The strong negative camber setting may or may be the cause for the car pulling to the right, but the "zoom zoom" setup surely will shorten tread life dramatically. I had a 1997 Catera that had the same strong camber settings (rear tires sloped in at the top for better "zig zag" traction in cornering" with no adjustment provision. Result: tires wore out on the quickly with the inside tread wearing out down the steel belts in less than 10,000 miles.

However, the service manager said he thought the suspension parts used on a sister vehicle in Ford's line, the Focus, were made with adjustable camber capabilities. Presently, they are checking with Mazda's warranty department to get permission to replace the Mazda rear suspension parts with those used on the Focus. If true, it might really be an example "a better idea from Ford."

If this solution is not allowed or fails to be allowed, I'll keep taking the car into the dealership to be "fixed", and when it cannot be fixed to my satisfaction, I'll demand the car to be replaced under the "3 times your out" lemon law! I am not going to put up with poor handling and premature tire wear from a problem that could be solved if Mazda wanted to. It seems that this correction has been needed for several model years previous! The "zoom, zoom" setup, which has been touted from Mazda advertising for years, may be appreciated to those people buying smaller sedan or coupe vehicles, but I don't think it is reasonable nor necessarily a great choice for a family's mini van! I'll update this reply when I get more information back from Mazda and hopefully this car repaired properly.

qbrozen

I notice a great number of vehicles these days with excessive negative rear camber.

I agree, though, it doesn't make much sense to not build in adjustability. Often, however, there is an aftermarket fix. Your post prompted me to do a quick search and I came up with these rear control arms. Could be a good, cheap fix. We haven't put enough miles on ours to demonstrate this problem, but if it does crop up, this is probably the route I'll take to dial the camber back towards 0.

Since it sounds like you've been dealing with this problem quite a bit, do you happen to know what the factory rear camber setting is?

janellezebell

I have had the same issue. The Dealer said it was because of the battery being low. They said the first thing that would shut off when that happened was the power steering assist. They overrode the computer and "fixed it" so something else would cut out first. In my opinion, very poor design. It was pretty scary because we live in Colorado and were camping in the mountains and it kept cutting out on a very curvy road.

whobodym

Hmm? I'm not sure which of my comments posted here you're responding to but if it's the power steering one, no, I hadn't had that issue, and still haven't. I know nothing about why exactly, but 2006 model year Mazda5s were not subject to the power steering system recall, and ours has never had any power steering problems, now nearing 6 years old and 77,000 miles. If you have a 2007+ model Mazda5 or Mazda3 you should definitely take yours in to a Mazda dealer and demand action on the recall issue for the power steering system. It's an important safety recall, well known, and they should deal with it no matter how overdue your vehicle is to be brought in.

chieftainmbaku

Why is my power steering sometimes stiff and hard to turn on my 2006 Mazda 5?

It's not a regular problem, but it is a problem because it happens without warning, at any moment. The power steering wheel has maximum amount of fluid, but the power steering will randomly become suddenly so stiff and hard to turn in order to turn right or left. It works just enough to get it out of the away but can definitely still cause an accident.

I was reading about the 2007-2009 Mazda 5 recall because of the power steering, I called Mazda and they want me to bring it in for service, but I'm definitely having the same problem in my 2006 Mazda 5, as the ones from 2007-2009 models. They are trying to turn me down since there's no official recall on my specific make/model/year; but its the exact same problem.

Has anyone else had this problem and how can I get it fixed super cheaply? Will the Mazda dealership be able to help me?

I just bought the car used from someone a couple months ago.

PF_Flyer

According to the recall, the fix is replacing the power steering pump and high pressure pipe. With no recall for your model year, even though you suspect it's the same problem, given the similar symptom, not sure that you're going to get much help from Mazda unless enough complaints pile up for the 2006.

Recall Number
10V374000
Recall Date
08/12/2010
Component
STEERING:ELECTRIC POWER ASSIST SYSTEM
Summary
MAZDA IS RECALLING CERTAIN MODEL YEAR 2007-2009 MAZDA3 AND MAZDA5 VEHICLES MANUFACTURED FROM APRIL 2, 2007 THROUGH NOVEMBER 30, 2008. THESE VEHICLES MAY HAVE A CONDITION IN WHICH A SUDDEN LOSS OF POWER STEERING ASSIST COULD OCCUR AT ANY TIME WHILE DRIVING THE VEHICLE.

Consequence
POWER STEERING ASSIST IS SUDDENLY LOST REDUCING THE DRIVER'S ABILITY TO STEER THE VEHICLE AS TYPICALLY EXPECTED, AND INCREASING THE RISK OF A CRASH.

What Owners Should Do
MAZDA WILL NOTIFY OWNERS, AND DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE POWER STEERING PUMP AND LINES FREE OF CHARGE. THE SAFETY RECALL BEGAN ON SEPTEMBER 15, 2010. OWNERS MAY CONTACT MAZDA CUSTOMER ASSISTANCE CENTER AT 1-800-222-5500.