Hello all. I own an '07 Mazda 3 HB with about 53K miles. I just noticed that the red inner brake lens on the driver's side has a dime size hole in it. It appears to have melted right above the bulb and white light is visible. The passenger side lens is also slightly melted although not through the plastic. These are the original bulbs and there is no damage to the outer clear cover or sockets. The dealer has never seen this and has no idea as to the cause. Any ideas? Thank you.

 

That is strange. Are you sure they are the factory bulbs? (I am assuning that you bought the car used?)
I changed the tails in my '04 out for aftermarket LEDs a while back but the OE's showed no signs of burning through then.
Perhaps just defective lenses from Mazda's supplier.

 

maybe your brake lights are always on for some strange reason.but then again they would be on when the car is parked,keys out also and youd notice that

 

Haven't had that issue with mine. I have a sedan, not a hatchback, but I guess enough miles to know if it was happening.

 

Carefull with those LEDs in your brake like Virg, your big on people being able to see you, and I had some of those in mine for awhile untill I was following my wife one day and noticed that they are very hard to see through the red plastic.

 

Me and virg didnt have the led's with the red housing, we had the ones with the black housing, much much easier to see, i did a comparison into much red i could see behind me when i hit my brakes. My stocks i couldnt really notice, with the leds i could tell they worked day or night.

 

I think Alex is referring to LED bulbs in the OE housing and depending which ones you get he's right. The ones I had before were OK, but no real improvement over the OE bulbs.

Tracker and I have the aftermarket LED tails in ours. It's a series of LEDs that light up in an array and they are quite easy to see.



The only difference between his and mine are that I kept the OE reverse lights. That and the difference between sedan and hatchback tails. (Not interchangeable.)

Add to that my side reflectors are also LED, when they didn't used to light at all.

 

My car is the exact same make, model and year,(less than 40,00 miles;bought it brand new 4 years ago) and has the exact same problem. Top of driver side tail light (red casing that covers the bulb) has a quarter sized hole that has melted away. Passenger side is slowly showing signs of melting in the same spot. Haven't taken it to the dealer yet, but this is obviously a manufacturers problem. Curious to know how many others have had this happen and if the dealer fixed.

 

Sorry, I was mistaken.

Also, where did you get those lighted side reflectors Virg, one of mine somehow walked away and I need to replace them, but was looking for the lighted ones.

 

I just took a look at my daughter's Mazda3 and what did I find? A half-dollar sized hole directly above the the driver's side tail lens. The passenger side is melted to as evidenced by hundreds of bubbles in the red plastic, but it has not completely collapsed just yet.

Completely stock lamps.

I'm out of warranty but I'm going to push for free replacement as it's a safety hazard.

Have you had any success in doing so? Other thoughts and suggestions?

Thanks!