Brake Problems Lead to Mazda Recall

A California lemon law attorney can provide representation to consumers whose vehicles experience mechanical issues. Unfortunately, an increasing number of vehicles seem to make it to the market with serious and potentially dangerous flaws.

Many of these vehicles are eventually recalled by manufacturers, but unfortunately injuries can occur before vehicles are recalled. Recalls can also cause inconvenience and financial loss for consumers who are forced to take their vehicles for repairs, as well as for consumers whose vehicles' value is reduced and for consumers who have to worry about their safety as they wait weeks or months for repairs to actually take place.

Mazda has now added an additional 228,000 vehicles to the millions of cars already recalled in recent years, according to the Press Herald. Mazda owners should determine if their cars are affected by the latest recall and, if so, should take action to get fixes made to the problems prompting the vehicle recall.

Mazda Recalling 228,000 Vehicles

According to the Press Herald, Mazda is recalling hundreds of thousands of vehicles across the United States because of problems with the parking brakes on the cars. There are several different issues with the parking brake. One possible problem is that the parking brake may not release fully. Another potential issue is that the parking brake may fail to hold the cars in place when the brake is engaged. Both of these potential problems with the parking brake could lead to an increased risk of a motor vehicle collision occurring involving the affected vehicle.

The problem with the parking brake is caused by water being able to enter the brake caliper. The water can cause the corrosion of a shift in the brake caliber. This corrosion can lead to binding which, in turn, can cause the parking brake to get stuck in the on position or to get stuck and not fully engage even when the driver believes the parking brake has been put on. If the driver parks the car on a slope and the parking brake does not properly engage due to the corrosion and binding, the vehicle could roll unexpectedly.

There are several different Mazda vehicle models which could be affected by the problems with the parking brake. Several of the affected vehicles are model year 2014 or 2015 vehicles.  The 2014 and 2015 Mazdas affected are all Mazda 6 cars. There are additional vehicles with problems from the 2014 to 2016 model years. These affected vehicles are the Mazda 3 series vehicles.  Owners began receiving notice of these problems and of the recall in August of 2017.

These Mazdas are far from the only vehicles which have had problems increasing crash risks. While many of the vehicles with defects and problems are recalled, sometimes cars have problems but are not subject to recalls. A California lemon law attorney can provide assistance to owners of vehicles with defects who may struggle to get repairs made to defects when vehicles aren't subject to a recall despite having serious operational, functional, or safety issues.