My wife's CX-5 has 52K gentle miles on it. She tells me the transmission is slipping. I check it out. Reverse works fine, but when you have been in Reverse and start out in Drive it does not engage and when it does it does it is abrupt. Once going it goes through all the gears and drives fine. No check engine light or codes. Go to the dealer. No codes, tech drives and verifies. They then pronounce it needs a new transmission and the transmission is "sealed". That of course is BS as I had first thing checked the fluid myself but the tech did not! It was overfilled by the way. $3500 for rebuilt transmission and $2000 to put it in. I see that other people have had this problem also, although it is not common. Called Mazda Customer Service explaining that although off warranty due to time, they need to stand behind their product. Answer: tough luck. I explain that this, of course, is a breach of the customer relationship. I have owned a Miata and the CX-5 over the years. Can they get me the transmission at cost? No. I explain again that they are forcing me to never consider a Mazda vehicle again. It's at a really good transmission shop now so wish me luck. The icing on the cake was paying a $160 diagnosis charge for a tech who did less than I had already done! This is at the dealer where I bought the car new and the only place it has been serviced. Any similar experiences or advice?

 

Sorry your transmission has problems. I don't understand what "breach" of relationship is involved here. The car is 8 years old, years beyond the warranty period. Independent shop should be less expensive than the dealer. Good luck!

 

The vehicle behaving that way sounds like a possible A/T gear position switch (or related linkage) issue. Watch the dashboard while the shifting from R to D is taking place, and see how the gear display correlates to what the vehicle is actually doing. If the R delays changing to D on the dash similar to how the vehicle physically delays, then the gear position switch or associated linkage becomes the likely culprit IMO. And if that's the case, just an FYI that cleaning/lubricating the moving parts of the linkage often will eliminate all issues, with no replacement of the switch required.

 

Kind of a simple answer. The car also has a 60K warranty for mileage. A decent transmission, especially a "sealed" one with required maintenance done (none) should last at least 100K miles, not half that. Can I expect to pay 11 cents per mile plus towing and downtime just to keep a Mazda in transmissions! There is more to a transaction than the warranty exact terms. These problems have showed up before and Mazda has no TSB or root cause guidance for these transmission slipping problems, Some were early in the warranty period and Mazda fixed them. Mine just showed up later. Mazda could at least give up their profit on the replacement transmission. Instead they choose to profit over my supposed misfortune. That's why it's a breach of the customer relationship.

 

Thanks. That is really helpful.

 

Hopefully the transmission just needs serviced or a solenoid or something simple is sticking or needs replaced. Some clean fluid and a new filter may fix the problem. I wouldn't be too quick to condemn the vehicle to needing a new transmission. Especially on the word of the dealer. Sounds like they weren't bothering to investigate further, just wanted to sell you a new transmission.

 

I do not understand being mad at Mazda for a 2014? The car is getting old and items do break on all makes and models? . If Mazda were to pay for the repair- Why even bother having a warranty period and you might as well do this for every car that fails...

 

52K miles. Would you be satisfied with a $5500 transmission replacement every 50K miles?

 

no of course not- but every make and model has failures - you have to remember while the miles are low the age is not- parts age and go bad.
My Dad owns a 2013 Toyota Camry with 38,000 miles on it but now everything is failing, Its not the miles it's the sitting around that did it in - to avoid this in the future as he knows he does not drive much is a lease, three years and it's gone..

 

Another option is to just trade it in on a new one- the values are crazy high and the dealer might not even notice..