My GTI goes it one better...a real, full-size spare and a full-size spare tire well...which is a much better place for the flat tire than this hokey strap setup.
While it's nice that they thought of this, I'm trying to think of the logic behind it. Is a wheel with a flat tire the only potential projectile that may fly get carried around in the Mazda? Of course not. This is a solution that must have come as much out of Legal as out of Engineering. They don't provide a strap for securing the stuff you get at Costco or Home Depot. No, the lawyers realized that, while anything flying around the car could be dangerous, the only thing that could fly around the inside car that could be traced back to Mazda in a lawsuit is the wheel. If they were really concerned about the passengers, Mazda would be telling it's engineers to develop straps and retention systems for all types of cargo.
Since I plan to ditch the rubbish standard tires upon delivery of the vehicle anyway, I may either just take out the spare and put in a can of sealant + compressor, or buy run-flats (which have gotten much better). In the unlikely event of a flat, I wouldn't bother to go through that wrap-around process depicted.
My cx5 has no such strap or room to put the full sized tire in the spare space... this has to have recently come from legal or some lawsuit they faced. Pretty bizarre
I just bought a 2015 Mazda 3 sedan. I thought the strap was a tow strap to go along with the massive eyebolt they included. Obviously, I haven't read through the entire manual yet!
Comments