NHTSA Complaint #10395204 — 2008 MAZDA CX-9

2008 CX-9 MAZDA WITH 25,644 MILES APPEARS TO HAVE EXACT SAME PROBLEM AS RECALLED TOYOTAS IN THAT THE DRIVER'S CX-9 ORIGINAL RUBBER FLOOR MAT MOVES UP TOWARDS FRONT OF VEHICLE WITH USE & LODGES UNDER THE PLASTIC PANEL ON THE LOWER LEFT SIDE OF THE FOOT WELL, (PHOTOGRAPHS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST). WHEN THE FLOOR MAT LODGES UNDER PLASTIC PANEL IN THIS MANNER, IT CAUSES BOTH THE TCS INDICATOR LIGHT AND THE TCS OFF LIGHT TO PERMANENTLY ILLUMINATE. TCS / BRAKE ASSIST SYSTEM CEASES TO FUNCTION & CANNOT BE OVERRIDDEN WITH TCS ON/OFF BUTTON. VEHICLE IS UNDER WARRANTY AND HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO DEALERSHIP TWICE FOR SAME ISSUE. THE FIRST TIME THE TCS SYSTEM WAS "RE-SET" BY COMPUTER & WAS ADVISED BY SERVICE TECH. THAT VEHICLE WAS NOW FINE, (FLOOR MAT INVOLVEMENT UNKNOWN AT THIS TIME). THE SECOND TIME, THE VEHICLE WAS BROUGHT BACK IN, (LESS THAN 5,000 MILES AFTER FIRST TIME IT WAS BROUGHT IN), AS THE TCS INDICATOR LIGHT / TCS OFF LIGHT WERE ILLUMINATED AND TCS BRAKE ASSIST SYSTEM WAS NOT OPERATING AND SERVICE TECH SPENT MOST OF MORNING WITH VEHICLE. AT THE END OF THIS VISIT, THE SERVICE TECH. ADVISED THAT HE HAD DETERMINED INCIDENTS WERE CAUSED BY FLOOR MAT MOVING UP UNDER BRAKE / GAS PEDAL & THAT MAT WAS "INTERFERING WITH THE BRAKE ASSIST SYSTEM IN THAT IT WAS PREVENTING IT FROM COMPLETING THE CIRCUIT". I WAS ADVISED TO REMOVE THE FLOOR MAT FROM THE VEHICLE. CLIPS TO SECURE THE MAT WOULD PREVENT THESE INCIDENTS. NOTE: WHEN THE FLOOR MAT BECOMES LODGED WHILE DRIVING, I CANNOT PHYSICALLY DISLODGE IT FROM UNDER THE PLASTIC PANEL UNTIL STOPPED AS TWO HANDS (AND A LOT OF STRENGTH) ARE NEEDED TO DO SO. I FIND THEIR RECOMMENDATION TO REMOVE THE FLOOR MAT UNACCEPTABLE AS THE FLOOR MAT TRAPS DIRT / DEBRIS. I CONTINUE TO USE THE FLOOR MAT BUT AM EXTREMELY CAREFUL ABOUT NOT ALLOWING IT TO MOVE WHILE DRIVING. OTHERS MAY NOT KNOW POTENTIAL HAZARD EXISTS. (SERVICE TECH NOTED INCIDENTS NOT RELATED TO SERVICE BULLETIN RE: TCS INDICATOR LIGHT REMAINING ILLUMINATED.) *TR