NHTSA Complaint #10509797 — 2008 MAZDA CX-7

THE AIR CONDITIONING UNIT ON MY 2008 MAZDA CX-7 CRACKED, CAUSING THE PULLEY ASSEMBLY TO FREEZE UP. AS A RESULT, THE PULLEY NO LONGER TURNED ON THE SERPENTINE BELT AND MADE A LOUD NOISE, AND THE AIR CONDITIONER FAILED TO WORK. THE CAR WAS IMMEDIATELY BROUGHT TO THE NEAREST MAZDA DEALER WHO DIAGNOSED THE PROBLEM AND ADVISED ME NOT TO DRIVE THE CAR, OUT OF CONCERN THAT DAMAGE TO THE BELT MIGHT OCCUR. IN REVIEWING MY FILES LATER, I FOUND AN AUGUST 2010 NOTICE FROM MAZDA ADVISING ME THAT THE MODEL YEAR OF MY CAR MIGHT HAVE THIS PROBLEM, AND THAT THE WARRANTY COVERAGE WOULD BE EXTENDED TO 5 YEARS OR 60,000 MILES. IT FURTHER STATED THAT NO ACTION SHOULD BE TAKEN UNLESS I WAS EXPERIENCING AN ISSUE WITH THIS COMPONENT OF MY CAR, WHICH I WASN'T AT THAT TIME. UNFORTUNATELY, MY PROBLEM DID NOT EMERGE UNTIL NOW, AND IS NOT COVERED BY THIS WARRANTY EXTENSION SINCE I NOW HAVE 75000 MILES ON MY CAR. HOWEVER, AIR CONDITIONER UNITS NORMALLY DO NOT FAIL ON CARS OF THIS AGE AND THE NOTICE FROM MAZDA MAKES IT CLEAR THAT THEY ARE AWARE OF THIS PROBLEM. I FEEL THAT MAZDA SHOULD DO THE RIGHT THING AND COVER THE COST OF REPLACING THE AIR CONDITIONING UNIT IN MY CAR. *TR