Uhhh...i think i may have gotten a Tsunami flood car?

[fam]

When I bought the car new I knew it had a record of needing some interior trim repaired but I didnt think anything of it and maybe it was unrelated...but..I got underneath the car today to look to see if before my 1st oil change that there were no leaks etc and then I notice little spots of rust everywhere. Its been basically a drought up here in Ohio since I got the car a month ago...its been driven in the rain about 3 to 4 times tops. The engine bay of my wife's 5 (which is 3 years old and 20k of city driving with all the ohio salt) has less rust than my new 2. I think something is up here with the car. Anyone else have these little rust spots anywhere for those of you who have new? Let me know if im crazy? PS Car has 2700 miles on it.

 

[Slow Paul]

Whoa! That's kinda scary. I would go talk to Mazda about it. Maybe they can pull up some sort of history on the car to see where it was when the earthquake hit.

 

[fam]

Did some digging...not a flood car from tsunami...made in october 2010, shipped to washington in october 2010, sold to dealer in march, sold to me in june...still going to have to have the dealer look at it though.

 

[DrWebster]

It couldn't have been a "tsunami flood" car anyway, the tsunami didn't affect Mazda's plants in either Hofu or Hiroshima. As far as I'm aware, not a single new Mazda was damaged from either the earthquake or tsunami.

If it makes you feel any better, I have a little rust forming already on my 2 as well, on the suspension bits.

 

[fam]

have u driven it through a winter yet? How many miles? I was planning on undercoating the crap out of it anyway but now ill have to wait until the dealership decides what they can do (and get paid for). My car quite literally looks like its a couple years old in some spots....of course the ohio oversalting of the roads can make new vehicles rust out pretty quick..not looking forward to winter.

 

[DrWebster]

No winters yet, have only had the car since the first week of June. About 3200 miles on the clock so far, but my car was built in late 2010 like yours.

I already have a couple cans of Plasti-Dip that I plan to hit the underside and rear wheel wells with. Mazdas, sadly, have never seemed to handle rust well.

 

[dsgrey]

My M2 doesn't have any surface rust like that. I've had it 5 weeks, it was built Nov 2010 and it spent about 1/2 a year sitting on a lot in the middle of Texas. I'm sure I could put it on ramps and find a few obscure pieces which I consider typical for any car. But with only 100 miles on the speedo when I bought it and considering Texas is in a drought, it's probably never seen moisture underneath to cause any minor surface rust.

I guess you can ask the dealership but I believe surface rust isn't covered unless it eats hole in the car. But those who drive the salted roads would know better. My Miata spent 2 years up north in it's early life and you can definitely tell it from inspecting underneath.

After Katrina and with the flood of people dispersing to Texas, there were a lot of flooded cars being sold privately and on used lots. Typical signs were smell, pulling back the carpet to look for residue, used vehicle having new carpet or interior, etc. I was buying a used car around that time and ran across a few with residue under the carpet - I.E. looks like it had been wet at one time. Carfax showed them clean since most states don't report anything unless it involves a police report. But the ownership showed they were registered in a flood zone during that time. But someone did post the Mazda plant was not near the flooding and I assume the shipping port wasn't either.

 

[XCLR8TN]

Mine is not that rusted.... (bought in may, 10k on it now) and now I will for sure undercoat mine. I'll have to look and see when mine was actually made.