This is my wife's 2007 Mazda5, so I haven't seen the problem first-hand yet. So far, it's happened to her twice - once on Friday, once today. Instead of starting, all of the dash gauges go crazy, and then the car is dead. Power door locks don't even work. After the first incident, it actually started an hour or two later.

The battery is a year old. I'm guessing it's the alternator, which as far as I can recall has never been replaced. But I'm posting it on here in case anyone else has seen this "everything goes crazy and then it dies" behavior before. Once again, this is her description to me, so I'm not able to get specific.

Thanks for your feedback.

 

Definitely sounds like a gremlin to me. Try to not feed the car after midnight and see if that helps.

Seriously though, no idea. Electrical issues can be very mysterious. That said, a friend of mine had a similar issue. Perhaps its the same?

My friend has a 97 Toyota 4 runner. She spilled a bottle of water on the seat. Apparently beneath the seat is the controller for the alarm, it got wet and shorted the circuit board. When driving her car went nutzo with the lights flashing and alarm and horn honking before stalling out. She couldn't get it started again. They had to find a replacement board, and then the problem was solved.

Perhaps your problem is also related to the security system?

 

Had a similar situation with my Fathers Honda Civic.
I disconnected the battery and pumped the brake pedal a few times.
Waited a few minutes then re-hooked up battery.
It started working again.
I guess the computer needed re-setting.
This may or may not work but worth a try, it's free!