Issue"I just boughr. 2012 mazda3 touring. This is the model with the skyactive technology. The car has 3300 miles. Twice now I have had a problem where I turn on the car and all the instrument warning lights come on and I have no power steering. If I wait a while the car starts with just the check engine on. If I wait some more the car starts and all indicator lights are gone. The dealer told me the car had registered low voltage errors but they have not found any problem to fix.

I am mostly worried about loosing power steering while driving. Contacting mazda only yielded "this is not a known issue".

 

Why are you worried about losing power steering while driving? The Mazda3 is small enough that it is easily controllable with no power assist at all speeds above about two miles per hour; albeit with more effort.

It is a common misconception that if the power steering system fails, the driver will be unable to steer the car; that simply isn’t true. If you want to give it a try, drive to a large parking lot, accelerate up to say twenty miles per hour, throw the transmission in neutral, and turn the engine off; then steer the car around a bit.

 

I have driven it without power steeribg and yes it is possible, but I would hate to be in a situation where I need to turn suddenly to avoid something and lose power steering. That is a safety issue in my mind. I would rather be able to trust the car will work as expected, right now what I know is that sometimes, I seem to have an electrical problem, part of which results is the loss of power steering.

 

Did they do a load test on the battery and check the output of the alternator and connections at both?
Adding extra ground wires may be helpful as well. I would add 1 ground wire from the engine block to the negative terminal at the battery (4 gauge size). Also add 1 ground wire from the body of the car to the negative battery terminal.
Cars these days have minimal wiring on them. I was not impressed with Mazda's wire sizes on my 2006 Mazda 6 (I guess saving $$$ is more important than safety).

 

The dealer told me they tested out the electrical system and checked for loose cables. I hope that included a load test. I measured 12V at the battery with the car off. With the engine on, the voltage jumped up, to about 13V.

I checked and pressed all the fuses, thinking something might be loose.

I will try adding an extra ground. Thanks for the suggestion, its something to try.