Did Anyone Get A Tie Down Hook?

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I called the dealer where I bought my CX 5. They said to stop by when the parts department was open and they would try and scrounge up a tie down hook for me. No thanks and I now live 100 miles from that dealer anyway.
I had an Amazon gift card and ordered the KD53-50-EJ1B tow hook for around $30.

What really made me think about it was an incident that occurred a couple of months ago. There was about 2" of fresh snow on the ground. I live on a very steep street. I guess I was going too fast when I braked to turn into my driveway. The ABS started hammering away and I continued to slide down the hill rapidly approaching the dead end of the street. I thought I was going to go right into the trees. Luckily the road leveled out near the end and I was able to stop in time. It sure would have ruined my day if I had gone off the road and had to call a tow truck. Let alone any damage that may have occurred.
 
What really made me think about it was an incident that occurred a couple of months ago. There was about 2" of fresh snow on the ground. I live on a very steep street. I guess I was going too fast when I braked to turn into my driveway. The ABS started hammering away and I continued to slide down the hill rapidly approaching the dead end of the street. I thought I was going to go right into the trees. Luckily the road leveled out near the end and I was able to stop in time. It sure would have ruined my day if I had gone off the road and had to call a tow truck. Let alone any damage that may have occurred.
Did you have snow tires?
 
I find it strange that Mazda did not put anchor points on the car to use for recovery but put anchor points only for tying the car down. The tow hitch can be used for recovery on the back, for those people who have one.
 
Whatever you call it, KD53-50-EJ1B is the “tiedown eyelet” stated in the owner’s manual.

No, it's not. Take a look at the screenshots you posted in post #10. It says "do not use the front and rear tiedown eyelets for towing the vehicle", but KD53-50-EJ1B can be used for emergency towing/recovery. Thus, the eyelet shown in the manual is different from KD53-50-EJ1B. If anything, all this shows is that this section of the manual needs a revision.

To avoid any further confusion - the correct parts to buy for towing/recovery/cargo tiedown use are:

KD53-50-EJ1B (front)
KD53-50-EJ2B (rear, x2)

Part numbers for the eyelets that are removed from all 2014+ Mazdas do not exist, likely because they are not meant to be ordered by dealerships or customers due to their misuse, or risk of being confused with the correct parts for towing/recovery/cargo tiedown.
 
Did you have snow tires?

I just have the standard Toyo all season tires that came on the car. I really wish that there were proper chains available for the CX 5. I watched my neighbor with a front wheel drive, but not an AWD SUV try to get up the street one morning after a light snowfall. No chains on his car, and he could not get enough traction to go anywhere due to the very steep street.
I have not yet tried my CX 5 under the same circumstances, it drives OK on fairly level snow covered surfaces and with a little momentum behind it climbs the hills in my neighborhood OK but on slippery and steep surfaces I have concerns about being able to stop or get moving from a parked position. I don't really want to invest in a dedicated set of snow tires when we only get a half dozen snow storms a season and it's usually melted within a day or two.
 
I just have the standard Toyo all season tires that came on the car. I really wish that there were proper chains available for the CX 5. I watched my neighbor with a front wheel drive, but not an AWD SUV try to get up the street one morning after a light snowfall. No chains on his car, and he could not get enough traction to go anywhere due to the very steep street.
I have not yet tried my CX 5 under the same circumstances, it drives OK on fairly level snow covered surfaces and with a little momentum behind it climbs the hills in my neighborhood OK but on slippery and steep surfaces I have concerns about being able to stop or get moving from a parked position. I don't really want to invest in a dedicated set of snow tires when we only get a half dozen snow storms a season and it's usually melted within a day or two.

I would recommend a good all-weather (not all-season) tire in your case. The all-weather tires should have the mountain-snowflake symbol on the tire, will perform much better than the OEM tire in the slush/snow, and is engineered to be used all year round. The Yokohama Geolandar A-T G015, General Grabber AT2, and Falken Wildpeak AT3W all come well reviewed (Grabber AT2 can also be studded for improved traction).
 
No, it's not. Take a look at the screenshots you posted in post #10. It says "do not use the front and rear tiedown eyelets for towing the vehicle", but KD53-50-EJ1B can be used for emergency towing/recovery. Thus, the eyelet shown in the manual is different from KD53-50-EJ1B. If anything, all this shows is that this section of the manual needs a revision.

To avoid any further confusion - the correct parts to buy for towing/recovery/cargo tiedown use are:

KD53-50-EJ1B (front)
KD53-50-EJ2B (rear, x2)

Part numbers for the eyelets that are removed from all 2014+ Mazdas do not exist, likely because they are not meant to be ordered by dealerships or customers due to their misuse, or risk of being confused with the correct parts for towing/recovery/cargo tiedown.
As I said several times, I personally compared KD53-50-EJ1B and
KD53-50-EJ2B I bought to those tiedown eyelets in the trunk of brand new 2015 CX-5’s, they’re totally identical!
 
I believe what yrwei52 says, it only makes sense to make the same part, unless one is made really cheap out of plastic. If an eyelet is strong enough to hold the car, why can't it be used for pulling the car? At what force will the frame bend? I can push my car without bending the frame on a flat smooth surface. Are the bars good for 200 pounds of pull? 500 pounds of pull? The frame doesn't bend all that easily. One of these days I will examine the threaded holes to see what the structures looks like.
 
As I said several times, I personally compared KD53-50-EJ1B and
KD53-50-EJ2B I bought to those tiedown eyelets in the trunk of brand new 2015 CX-5’s, they’re totally identical!

Again, to avoid confusion, make sure that you use those part numbers to order the correct recovery tools. The tiedown/shipping eyelets that are not meant to be used for recovery look identical to the correct parts (another reason why many confused them as recovery tools). They look the same, but the construction is different enough that one is safe to use for recovery while the other is not.

I believe what yrwei52 says, it only makes sense to make the same part, unless one is made really cheap out of plastic. If an eyelet is strong enough to hold the car, why can't it be used for pulling the car? At what force will the frame bend? I can push my car without bending the frame on a flat smooth surface. Are the bars good for 200 pounds of pull? 500 pounds of pull? The frame doesn't bend all that easily. One of these days I will examine the threaded holes to see what the structures looks like.

Not plastic. I don't know what the specific difference is, but based on what Mazda says, the metal is different enough to warrant a note in the manual. You have to remember that there are many different grades and alloys that a given bolt can be made up of.

Regardless of what you want to believe, it's better to err on the side of caution. We're talking about a $20 part that could save you from spending a LOT of money on repairing frame damage, even if the only damage is to the receiving nut's threads in the frame.

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I'm done trying to explain this. You guys are on your own, lol.
 
Again, to avoid confusion, make sure that you use those part numbers to order the correct recovery tools. The tiedown/shipping eyelets that are not meant to be used for recovery look identical to the correct parts (another reason why many confused them as recovery tools). They look the same, but the construction is different enough that one is safe to use for recovery while the other is not.

Not plastic. I don't know what the specific difference is, but based on what Mazda says, the metal is different enough to warrant a note in the manual. You have to remember that there are many different grades and alloys that a given bolt can be made up of.

Regardless of what you want to believe, it's better to err on the side of caution. We're talking about a $20 part that could save you from spending a LOT of money on repairing frame damage, even if the only damage is to the receiving nut's threads in the frame.
I'm done trying to explain this. You guys are on your own, lol.
I’ve seen both ”tiedown eyelets” from a brand new 2015 CX-5 and “tow hooks” ordered with correct and only available part numbers side by side in front of me. They’re totally identical on weight, shape, color, material, you name it. i’ve been working on cars and DIY since I was in teens, and I don’t think I can’t distinguish two simple parts that are identical or different. I bet you’ve never done such comparison, and to insist they’re different smply based on different naming standard that’s irresponsible to me, just like you insisted that these tiedown eyelets had been removed starting from 2014 CX-5, but in fact it was starting from 2016 MY, and Kedis82ZE8 who has a 2015 CX-5 confirmed it in post #23 above.

Furthef, if there’re indeed official “tow hooks” available, how come the Emergency Towing section in owner's manual has never mentioned them, and urges owner to get OEM “tow hooks” to serve the purpose of emergency towing?
 
to insist they’re different smply based on different naming standard that’s irresponsible to me, just like you insisted that these tiedown eyelets had been removed starting from 2014 CX-5, but in fact it was starting from 2016 MY, and Kedis82ZE8 who has a 2015 CX-5 confirmed it in post #23 above.

I never once said that they were different based solely on naming standard. I said that they have different names because they are used for different things - shipping/tiedown for shipping/tiedown only, and KD53-50-EJ1B (front) and KD53-50-EJ2B (rear) for towing/recovery and shipping/tiedown.

Unless you can prove your claims, I'll go with what Mazda Canada has told me. To summarize, Mazda states in the manual that the shipping/tiedown eyelets used for vehicle transport must not be used for towing/recovery. They sell separate parts for towing/recovery (and have part numbers for those parts). Mazda Canada also confirmed with me that all shipping eyelets previously included with the car were to be removed from all 2014+ Mazdas. Many dealerships are privately owned, so it's quite possible that some dealerships ignored this directive, and its also possible that dealerships chose to eat the cost of replacing the shipping eyelets with the correct tow/recovery eyelets (which would explain why some people got them and some didn't).

As I said, if you want to risk damage by using the eyelets that came with the car without making sure that they're the correct ones, that's on you. I feel I have done my due diligence in providing the information I have.

OP got his answer, so the thread has run it's course. Leaving the discussion intact so other owners can interpret and decide on their own.
 
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