Outside door handles keep breaking

:
12 Mazda5 Grand T
Anyone else keep breaking the rear sliding door handles? I'm finding its a bad design with cheap plastic on a high stressed part.

The rear driver side door on the 2012 Mazda 5 broke off last year when the wife went to open the door. It was very cold and the door was a little stuck, but not covered in ice or frozen shut. The handle literally came off in her hand. The plastic pivot point snapped.

I got a cheap replacement somewhere online, pretty sure it was from Rockauto. Likely made in China, it was just flat black that I painted to match the factory paint.

That worked for the most part, but sometimes would get stuck and the door wouldn't unlock from the inside or with the remote. I never liked it. Now this winter, on a very cold morning, my 1st grader tried to open the door and it broke in the same place.

I'm just getting something from a junkyard this time.
 
Family has/had a 2010, 2012 and 2015 Mazda 5...and no handles have broken. But we live in the south and don't have too many run-ins with the freezing cold that can weaken plastic.
 
I'm a bit worried about forcing those too. Didn't break any yet, but as soon as I feel sliding door is resisting opening, I stop and open/push from inside via the front doors instead.
 
Anyone else keep breaking the rear sliding door handles? I'm finding its a bad design with cheap plastic on a high stressed part.

The rear driver side door on the 2012 Mazda 5 broke off last year when the wife went to open the door. It was very cold and the door was a little stuck, but not covered in ice or frozen shut. The handle literally came off in her hand. The plastic pivot point snapped.

I got a cheap replacement somewhere online, pretty sure it was from Rockauto. Likely made in China, it was just flat black that I painted to match the factory paint.

That worked for the most part, but sometimes would get stuck and the door wouldn't unlock from the inside or with the remote. I never liked it. Now this winter, on a very cold morning, my 1st grader tried to open the door and it broke in the same place.

I'm just getting something from a junkyard this time.
I've noticed both rear door handles on our 2013 5 feel quite loose and I'm super cautious when opening the doors in the cold. But yeah, I feel like they're ready to break off anytime. Doesn't help that both rear doors are difficult to open as the tracks/rollers could use a good cleaning.
 
If the doors are hard to slide, that's a definite problem. None of our Mazda 5s ever have had an issue. You can slide them open with 1 finger.
 
The door handle on my RX-7 started getting hard to move, so I popped off the interior door panel and put some graphite lubricant on the linkage mechanism. Worked great and I haven't had a problem since.
 
If the doors are hard to slide, that's a definite problem. None of our Mazda 5s ever have had an issue. You can slide them open with 1 finger.
Yeah, I'm up in Canada and the 5 has seen lots of salt and water and dirt. I'm waiting til spring to give them a good cleaning to see if it helps. If needed, I'll brave disassembling everything and hope it all goes back together easily. Good thing for workshop manuals.
 
My trick for preserving the door handles and weather seals around the doors is to apply a thin layer of silicon lubricant around the door frame where gets contact with the car door opening at the beginning of every winter. Most of the door and the rear hatch that get stuck is because the mating surface between them and the weather seals / metal surface are fused with ice after water got between them when warm and became ice overnight.

As soon as I feel any resistance pulling the door (both normal or sliding), I know it is about time to wipe it dry and apply another lube spray.

I had a 2010 and now have 2015 M5 and haven't had an issue with the handle.
 
Well, I got an exact replacement shipped from a friendly junkyard in Kentucky. It cost the same as the crappy one that lasted less than one year, and it's already painted to match.

Next problem is getting the door to open so I can replace it. The current handle is broken on the outside and the inside handle is stopped working shortly after. I've replaced it before and I don't think it's possible without the door opening. When the weather is warmer, I'll dig into it.
 
Back