Catastrophic Failure - Mazda 6 Front Subframe

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2006-2008-Mazda-6-FRONT-Suspension-Crossmember-K-Frame-Engine-Cradle-Subframe/163133257940?hash=item25fb7ff8d4          

  Several of these are on E-bay, all look good and seem to be a good price.....

I believe they just announced the pending recall for this 

September 14, 2018 NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 18V631000

Road Salt Causing Corrosion of Cross Member

Corrosion may weaken the mounting point for the passenger side lower control arm, unexpectedly changing the steering alignment and increasing the risk of a crash.

NHTSA Campaign Number: 18V631000

Manufacturer Mazda North American Operations

Components SUSPENSION, STRUCTURE

Potential Number of Units Affected 48,814

Summary

Mazda North American Operations (Mazda) is recalling certain 2009-2010 Mazda Mazda6 vehicles sold, or ever registered in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia. The front cross member may corrode after exposure to road salt.

Remedy

Mazda will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the cross member and either install a side member and drain hose and apply wax to protect from rust, or install a drain hose and an improved front cross member, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin November 12, 2018. Owners may contact Mazda customer service at 1-800-222-5500 Option 4. Mazda's number for this recall is 2818I.

Notes

Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/recalls/recallprocess.cfm

If I pay for needed repairs before a recall is ordered, am I entitled to reimbursement?

Yes, under certain conditions. Manufacturers are required to provide reimbursement for certain costs incurred by owners to remedy safety defect conditions prior to a recall. Vehicle manufacturers are required to reimburse owners for costs incurred to remedy a defect based on either (1) the date NHTSA opens its Engineering Analysis, or (2) one year prior to the manufacturer’s notification of a defect to NHTSA, whichever is earlier. The closing date of eligibility for reimbursement of repair of a motor vehicle is 10 days after the manufacturer mails the last of the owner notices informing owners of a safety defect recall and cost-free remedy. For replacement of equipment, the closing date is either the same as for motor vehicles or 30 days after the manufacturer’s closing of its efforts to provide public notice of the existence of a defect, whichever is later. Documentation of the costs is required for reimbursement. While the current reimbursement policy is a relatively new requirement, manufacturers have in the past often voluntarily agreed to absorb such costs, provided customers could prove the pre-recall repairs remedied the defect in question.

Good on Mazda for taking care of it. That's a terrible and dangerous design defect.

I guess the NHTSA agreed with my side of the argument with Knurled earlier in this thread.  

I have a 2009 Mazda 6 and my mechanic discovered I have the same issue as outlined in this post. I called Mazda Corp this morning. They had the car towed, put me in a rental and “inspecting” the car to see if it meets the requirements for the recall. The said the recall hasn’t been launched as of yet. But I’m glad they are working with us because I firmly believe this is a huge SAFETY issue as well as a manufacturing issue. 

Mbrown2091 said:

I have a 2009 Mazda 6 and my mechanic discovered I have the same issue as outlined in this post. I called Mazda Corp this morning. They had the car towed, put me in a rental and “inspecting” the car to see if it meets the requirements for the recall. The said the recall hasn’t been launched as of yet. But I’m glad they are working with us because I firmly believe this is a huge SAFETY issue as well as a manufacturing issue.

I dunno, it looks like you have at least 1/8" of structural rust left.  Seems safe enough to me!

:)  Sorry, I couldn't help it.

Glad they're taking care of you (at least, thus far!)

WonkoTheSane said:

Mbrown2091 said:

I have a 2009 Mazda 6 and my mechanic discovered I have the same issue as outlined in this post. I called Mazda Corp this morning. They had the car towed, put me in a rental and “inspecting” the car to see if it meets the requirements for the recall. The said the recall hasn’t been launched as of yet. But I’m glad they are working with us because I firmly believe this is a huge SAFETY issue as well as a manufacturing issue.

I dunno, it looks like you have at least 1/8" of structural rust left.  Seems safe enough to me!

 

:)  Sorry, I couldn't help it.

 

Glad they're taking care of you (at least, thus far!)

looks to me like they could just put some POR-15 on it and it would be like new again :D

This has to be some sort of engineering snafu. I would be really interested in what it was. 

dean1484 said:

This has to be some sort of engineering snafu. I would be really interested in what it was. 

In the original post he points out that the AC condenser drains right onto that side of the subframe.

Just got the recall notice for my daughter's 2010. Parts won't be available until January. They'll either install a reinforcement cross-brace and drain hose or completely replace the crossmember, depending on the damage.

Harvey said:

dean1484 said:

This has to be some sort of engineering snafu. I would be really interested in what it was. 

In the original post he points out that the AC condenser drains right onto that side of the subframe.

And as I replied at that point, there has to be more to it than that.  Subframes are designed to get wet, that happens every time it rains.

There isn't...you're missing the point.  The issue isn't that it is getting wet, we all know it can and does get wet.  We're talking about a somewhat steady drip focused in one specific are for a prolonged period of time, not unlike examples of erosion you would see in nature...like water dripping on a rock.  The steady drip on one spot for years resulted in the protective coating on the subframe getting washed away enough to allow rust to penetrate and do its thing form there.  If you notice above in the recall letter they mention the installation of a hose...that hose is to direct the drain away from the subframe.  Make sense?

I have a 2010 Mazda 6 that had this issue repaired in August 2017. So yes, if you do the math the car was only seven years old. Way to early for corrosion of this magnitude to develop, even here in Ohio.  It was caught by Goodyear when I was having basic service done. I could put three fingers inside the two holes that had developed. I don't even want to think about the catastrophic failure that could have occurred had the issue not been discovered and corrected.

Ohio_Dave said:

I have a 2010 Mazda 6 that had this issue repaired in August 2017. So yes, if you do the math the car was only seven years old. Way to early for corrosion of this magnitude to develop, even here in Ohio.  It was caught by Goodyear when I was having basic service done. I could put three fingers inside the two holes that had developed. I don't even want to think about the catastrophic failure that could have occurred had the issue not been discovered and corrected.

I can't speak for this one as I don't own a Mazda 6 so I haven't read the official recall notice if it's out, but if you have (or can get) proof of what you paid to have that repaired you can probably get compensation.  Mazda has traditionally been pretty good about covering you if you had to take care of it out of your own pocket. 

I don’t have the recall notice in hand but I’m pretty sure it did say they’d reimburse you if you’ve already paid to have it fixed. Seems like most recalls say that.