NHTSA Complaint #10160023 — 2004 MAZDA RX-8

I PURCHASED MY 2004 RX-8 IN AUSTIN, TEXAS, 8/19/03. MY FIRST PROBLEMS OCCURRED 2/18/04, PCM AND COOLANT PROBLEMS. ON 3/29/04, I BEGAN HAVING RECURRING PROBLEMS WITH THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT. I ALSO TOOK MY CAR FOR SERVICE FOR CHECK ENGINE LIGHT PROBLEMS ON 4/12/04, 3/3/06, 3/31/06, 4/3/06 AND 4/5/06. ON 7/19/04, I TOOK MY CAR FOR SERVICE BECAUSE THE DRIVER''S-SIDE SUN VISOR FELL APART. I TOOK IT IN AGAIN ON 7/29/04, FOR MORE SUN VISOR PROBLEMS. IT IS STILL LOOSE. I TOOK MY CAR FOR RECALL SERVICES ON 1116/04 AND 9/1/05. ON 7/1/05, I TOOK IN MY CAR AS IT WAS RUNNING VERY ROUGHLY AND DYING. ON 8/9/05, I AGAIN TOOK IN MY CAR FOR CHECK ENGINE LIGHT PROBLEMS AND THE FACT THAT IT WAS CONTINUING TO IDLE ROUGHLY AND DIE. I TOOK IN MY CAR ON 9/1/05, BECAUSE IT WAS STILL IDLING VERY ROUGHLY AND DYING. ON THAT OCCASION I WAS ALMOST ''T-BONED'' BY ANOTHER CAR THAT MANAGED TO SWERVE AT THE LAST MOMENT. DURING THIS 22-DAY-LONG SERVICE VISIT, AT 27,534 MILES, MY ENGINE WAS REPLACED. I TOOK MY CAR FOR SERVICE ON 5/22/06, BECAUSE MY CAR WAS IDLING VERY ROUGHLY AND DIED 3 TIMES ON THE HIGHWAY. EACH TIME I NARROWLY AVOIDED BEING REAR-ENDED BY TRAFFIC BEHIND ME. THIS VISIT LASTED 10 DAYS. ON 6/12/06, MY CAR BEGAN IDLING VERY ROUGHLY AND DIED 4 TIMES. AGAIN I NARROWLY AVOIDED BEING HIT BY TRAFFIC. ON 6/13/06, I TOOK MY CAR FOR SERVICE, WHERE IT REMAINS, AS OF 6/16/06. ON THIS SITE FOR 2004 RX-8'S ALONE, THERE ARE 9 OTHER COMPLAINTS LIKE MINE. WHEN I DRIVE MY CAR, I CONSTANTLY FEAR THE NEXT INSTANCE WHEN THE CAR WILL DIE. FORTUNATELY, I HAVE ESCAPED SERIOUS INJURY AND SERIOUS DAMAGE TO THIS POINT. HOWEVER, I AM CERTAIN THAT SHOULD THIS PROBLEM CONTINUE, AS IT SURELY WILL, THAT I WILL NOT CONTINUE TO BE SO FORTUNATE. DESPITE ALL MY COMPLAINTS MAZDA CONTINUES TO DO NOTHING TO REMEDY THE PROBLEM. THEY NEED TO BUY BACK MY VEHICLE, AS IT IS QUITE OBVIOUSLY IRREPARABLE. *NM