Cx-9 Throttle Problems

[100$ GUY]

Yeah buddy, good luck man. (enguard)

 

[live2ski]

I'll have to test the cx-9 on roads around here. Some of the mtn roads may come close to 15% in spots. The main highway passes over the mtns can be 6-8% for 5+ miles.

I agree with, l-miwa, it sounds like the towing pkg with transmission cooler would help, but I'd hope the Mazda engineers would have thought of that.

 

[steveadler]

The transmission fella said that it had something to do with the restriction of flow thru a transmitter that reads the temperature or something like that. This gives a transmission temp. reading that is high enough to shut the engine down until it cools off. This can be easily fixed on future models.

I am not looking for a fight, just a vehicle that will ge me safely where I need to go. The lemon law will probably be the route. Up until yesterday, I honestly thought that they would make good. I am hoping enough publicity, including this blog, will open their eyes.

 

[l-miwa]

The transmission fella said that it had something to do with the restriction of flow thru a transmitter ... This can be easily fixed on future models....

Any chance that a TSB / recall could fix existing models?

If people find that they can't get to their ski resorts in 2007-2008 CX-9's, we're going to take a beating on the resale value when they fix it in 2009!

I wonder if any other vehicles that use this same transmission have the same issue?

 

[Mazda3]

I'm less than impressed with how Mazda is handling this for you.

Does your CX-9 have the factory tranny cooler? All the Canadian vehicles have a HD cooling system, I wonder if they work any better. I would have to assume that Mazda would think of that. Bizzarre that they aren't working on a solution.

 

[steveadler]

Wow, I am sorry to hear that was the outcome.

I am guessing this problem should be covered under your state's lemon law. You may be headed for arbitration should Mazda want to dig in its heals. Clearly, the ability to travel a paved road certified for public use is not outside the normal parameters of operation for a vehicle, so you should have a very good case.

Get your money back. They are stupid businessmen not to simply do this for you and make you go away. You need to climb the ladder to get to the person at Mazda who can write a check.

As for the problem, I am pretty sure there's nothing to be done apart from seriously reprogramming or redesigning the tranny or substituting a new one. My guess is that Mazda has decided that the percentage of people suffering this issue will be very small and not worth the expense of finding a remedy. Sad, but I understand the business logic.

As you know, car manufacturers are legendary for making this type of decision. Having just dumped a 7-series BMW when buying my CX-9, I can tell you that your problem is minor compared to people having to spend thousands on problems known to exist in a "flagship" automobile costing double the CX-9. I know, small consolation to hear you're not alone.

Good luck in your fight.

Your comments ar well taken. In the scheme of things this problem is minor. People are dying of starvation all over the world, dying of cancer, killed by drunk drivers, etc. I realize that. But I still have to get to my home. Can you imagine a situation, where I am driving home, say in a 12% grade, in my CX-9 AWD in the snow or a litte ice and the throttle shuts down. It really is a SAFETY ISSUE. I have talked to the local newspeper and a TV station that runs stories like these. I really do not want to do that, I just want MAZDA to take responsibility.

 

[Thaumaturge]

Don't worry about this issue in relation to global issues, I think you're handling this very well. Your problem is serious.

If the engineer actually thought a fix could be implemented for future models, then that's another good bit of ammunition for you. You may want to send notes to the auto mag editors (MotorTrend especially) as well as BusinessWeek and any other mainstream publication that has reviewed the vehicle recently.

I would draft a letter, send it to Mazda execs with a note that in 7 days it goes out to the media at large. You may even list the outlets and contact names to emphasize this is not an idle threat.

Here are the execs to contact in order of importance in Mazda:

Hisakazu Imaki - Director & President (Basically Chairman of BOD)
Dan Morris - Director, Senior Managing Executive Officer (Basically CEO)

Contact:
3-1 Shinchi, Fuchu, Aki, Hiroshima 730-8670, Japan

James O'Sullivan - President & CEO Mazda USA, Managing Executive Officer
Robert Davis - Sr. VP Product Development & Quality
Yasuo Kunita - VP Quality and Technical Service
Eric Johnston - Vice President, Sales and Field Operations
David Klan - Director of Marketing

Contact:
7755 Irvine Center Dr, Irvine, CA
(949) 727-1990

The odds are that the gatekeepers will try to get in your way, so just keep pounding. On the other hand, I have found that access to board members and top executives is actually not that hard if you're professional and don't come off like just another angry customer.

Keep us posted.

 

[steveadler]

Cx-9 Throttle Problems In Mountains

Mazda has just agreed, officially, to buy the car back. So, I will not be writing any more here. But, I believe being able to write here served a great purpose.

I like the CX-9, it just has this problem that will not effect many of you, but certainly did not suit my purposes.

I would advise, that everything that I have said here really happened and the

PROBLEM STILL EXISTS as reported.

Thanks.

 

[100$ GUY]

Maybe a nice finale after all.

Mazda took responsability and buyed the car back.

I wonder what steve thinks about how this story came to an end and what car he is gonna buy now?

 

[steveadler]

Cx-9 Throttle Problems In Mountains

Do you have any suggestions for a good mountain vehicle? What I mean by that is one that will go up steep inclines, 10 to 20% grade, on paved roads.

I am looking, what about a jeep product?

 

[Force-1]

I live in Albuquerque, which is 5000' above sea level. I have climbed several steep grades at 80MPH, no issues.

 

[steveadler]

Cx-9 Throttle Problems In Mountains

You could not climb these roads at 80 as there are a lot of curves and switch backs. I problem happened coming out of the curves and at slow speeds. I thought it was caused by the curves, but Mazda says it is not the curves.

 

[kosh2258]

Jeep

Do you have any suggestions for a good mountain vehicle? What I mean by that is one that will go up steep inclines, 10 to 20% grade, on paved roads.

I am looking, what about a jeep product?

I just got rid of '00 Jeep Grand Cherokee LTD and my experience with it wasn't pleasant. It had a lot of reliability problems and component failures. The maintenance on them is pretty costly as well.

I personally think there are better alternatives to be had.

Ted

 

[zoomzone]

Do you have any suggestions for a good mountain vehicle? What I mean by that is one that will go up steep inclines, 10 to 20% grade, on paved roads.

I am looking, what about a jeep product?

What about a Subaru?

 

[100$ GUY]

Well steve, Im not expert on cars performing well on steep grades as u say, cause in fact my usual roads I drive are flat or have normal inclines.

Maybe a jeep product for seven people will work, they have a great warranty I believe coming from chrysler.

I will not take risks of recomending u a vehicle without proper knowledge. (godown)

 

[steveadler]

Cx-9 Throttle Problems In Mountains

What about a Subaru?

Subaru it is.

 

[CX9 SportOwner]

we are at 5200 feet and have driven to over 7000 a few time with no problems. Our CX9 is as much a rocket going up there as anyplace else.

 

[100$ GUY]

Subaru it is.

Why subaru? and which one?

 

[SpartanMan]

We should start monitoring the Subaru forums to see if steveadler has the same issues again. .

 

[100$ GUY]

We should start monitoring the Subaru forums to see if steveadler has the same issues again. .

+100! (friday)