I've had CONSTANT problems with the airbag light & check coolant light sincethe 4th month Iowned my 2003 Tribute ES, which I bought new.Each time, the service depts claimed it's been fixed but problem returned in a day or so.NOW, my service dept has hadthe vehiclefor 3 months and still don't know what's wrong with it or they don't have a mechanic qualified to fix it--at least that's what they've been telling me. At the time it was towed in, it was only 9 days out of warranty with less than 50K on it. The dashboard lights went completely wild, dials and lightsacting crazy, then the car just died while idling at a light and wouldn't restart.Prior to that, I had an appointment to bring it in for bad gas mileage and weird engine whine (plus the airbag & other lights).The car didn't make it to it's appointment date--it had to be towed in. They still haven't got a clear diagnosis on it & asked me if it was in an accident--which it was NOT, based on the codes that were coming up. Talked to the local Mazda rep who agreed to cover the repairs under warranty but it still hasn't been fixed and I haven't had use of the vehicle for 3 months while I've been making payments on it. Anyway, the service dept. suggested tome that the problem COULD BE (they are not sure about that either)due toan aftermarket remote starter that was installed 6 months after purchasing the vehicle. Could this be at all possible and why haven't they been able to figure out the problem? For some reason, I'm getting the runaround. I've been told that the master tech is on vacation, he's sick, he quit, they had to hire a new one but he has to have 2 weeks of training, yada yada. Every time I talk to the service manager, he tells me not to take it out of there to another Mazda dealer or it won't be covered.ANY SUGGESTIONS, ANYBODY?

 

Hi Tamizon,
Sunds like there are a lot of problems on the Tribute but not getting any resolution from any of them and that is a shame. Being a Master Tech at my dealership I can not imagine letting these kinds of problems just slip under the table and not be resolved. There seems to be a number or different issues that are not resolved so let us take the first two that look to me to be the very easy ones. What has been done to resolve the air bag and low coolant light concerns?

It is a very widely known issue that the low coolant light sensor sinks and has other problems so the light will be on even when the coolant level in the overflow bottle is at optimum. Later year Tribs do not even have a sensor due to so many problems with this system if that is a clue to you.

As for the air bag light. There are two different problems that are occuring with the Tribute. Seat belt pretensioner codes being set as well as side air bag codes. Do you recall what the code numbers are being set for the air bag system that continues to have the light come on? Both problems with the pretensioner as well as the side air bag codes are currently being "resolved" by replacing the electrical connectors under the front seats for both issues. This does seem to be the source of the problem as I have watched the monitored resistance of these units with Mazda IDS and a light touch to connectors in question brings the reading right back into specs and light shuts off that quickly. Internal resistance of both units shoud be around 2.3 ohms and a reading as high as only 4.0 ohms will trigger a fault.

As for the stalling and not restarting issue. Been there for 3 months with no resolution and no clue????? Bull Fu*****cking **** to his claims of taking it to another dealership and not being covered.Callthe regional rep yourself. If they are willing to cover under warranty then they can either get a competent technician on the program and get the Trib fixed or they can also start paying your monthly payment as well as the alternate means of transportation that you are having to use due the inability to use your own vehicle. Keep one thing in mind, The squeaky wheel gets the grease but the wheel that is way too noisy gets ignored untill it breaks entirely. By that I mean keep being persistant and making noise but do not loose your cool or you will just be blown off as a "hothead".

 

Thanks, babyhuey. I emailed MazdaUSA with the issue and found out that the service dept. has been on their technical hotline as of June 5th. I appreciate your advice about not being a hothead, but even if it only took 3 weeks to fix the vehicle, that is too long. 3 months is downright ridiculous. Anyway, I've been polite each time I called the service dept. to check the status of the vehicle, which has been only every 2 weeks or so. I've been more than patient.
PS--I "pm"ed you back with the info you asked for.

 

This saga continues: I finally got the car back on June 14th, paid them $50 (which I don't know why) and they comped me for new e-brake cables & install, probably because they had the vehicle for 3 1/2 months. They evidently thought the problems were fixed, however the airbag light came on flashing less then 5 miles away from the dealership. Then on June 27th, the vehicle broke down again with the same stalling-out, no start symptomsexperienced inFebruary. This time I had it towed to a different Mazda dealership after losing confidence in the first one. Also spoke to customer relations at MazdaUSA, who advised that I should have the remote starter removed and the wiring put right (at my expense) with additional advice that if that didn't fix the problem, it would have to go back to the first dealership. It's kind of beyond me why the first dealership didn't recommend that idea back in February when they had the vehicle. Anyway, the car was ready on July 3rd, andI paid a bill of approx. $500. Today is July 5th andguess what?The car broke down AGAIN with the same symptoms. Towed away again, back to the first dealership it goes. Guess it wasn't the remote starter then, huh?

 

That really sucks that the problem is still there after all this time and even spending the $500 to have the remote start remove. Obviously not the problem is an understatement.[:@][:@][:@]

Did the instrument cluster go crazy again as you described before?? Has this dealer given any consideration to a battery/charging system problem. Much of what you describe including the cluster going ape is a symptom of low battery voltage. Just had a 2004 Mazda 6 in last Friday that was towed in with headlights, windows, etc working but when the key was turned on the needles started jumping around and warning lights blinking off and on erratic like. Ended up being very low battery power due to shorted battery. I know that you have had several batteries since but if the alternator is not putting out enough voltage or amperage to keep the battery charged up you may be getting a similar set of problems. Would sure hope that alternator has been checked anyway.

One other thing that should be closely checked is the connection point from the alternator in the main fuse block under the hood. At the front area of the fuse box there are two large diameter wires that are secured to the fuse box electrical connection with 10mm nuts. If either of these nuts are loose or there is otherwise any corrosion or damage you may get a similar type of symptom.

 

Well, after yesterday's tow, they got right on the problem and advised me that the alternator and battery (again) needs replacing.Thank you for your help, babyhuey!