Either Japan’s auto industry has always had problems and it is only now that people in Americas are paying any attention, or things like the recent Mazda recall and all of the trouble Toyota has been having are recent developments predicated by the need to find a cheaper way of production to meet mounting production demands. Whatever the case seems to be, automakers everywhere should be grateful that the Mazda recall has not been connected with any accidents yet. Automakers have taken their share of public image lumps lately, as Consumer Reports points out.

Mazda recall is a part of the Mazda 3 model

The car that is wildly popular in China and Japan is the Axela, or rather the Mazda 3. Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that Mazda Motors, which is partially owned by Ford, will recall 35,181 Axela cars in Japan and about 54,000 Mazda 3 vehicles in China due to a problem with an oil hose. A radiator being too close to a shroud panel is what the defect involves. If the ride is bumpy, possible friction can cause the hose to develop leaks. These cars were produced from January 2006 to March 2009. Even though there were two complaints that were logged in this Mazda recall, neither of them were accident related. The Mazda recall vehicles in question aren’t available in the US; however, Mazda indicates it is unknown at this time if models on the European market will be affected.

The Mazda recall is still not nearly as bad as Toyota

Toyota recalls have exceeded 8 million vehicles since late 2009. Most of these have been related to brake and accelerator issues, says the AFP. The Toyota recall issues have brought executives to the Congress and left the automaker’s reputation horrible. To date, there are at least 97 lawsuits “seeking damages for injury or death linked to sudden acceleration” and upward of 138 class actions connected to the loss of Toyota resale value caused by the Toyota recall. The government wants to sue Toyota for $ 16.4 million on top of the damages the other suits generated. Mazda should be thankful, because things could clearly be worse than what they’re dealing with during this Mazda recall.

Sources

Agence France-Presse