Hiroshima, we have a problem

After driving a Mazda3 GT sedan for 3.5 years now I have to say I am really satisfied with this car.  This is an opinion shared by thousands of other owners of the car.  Some of the reasons I like this car are still valid today, as the day I first test drove it.  Fun to drive, attractive – both outside and inside and solid feeling car.   Now I add, rock-solid reliability, easy to maintain, versatile and room for a giant Coleman 5 day cooler and camping equipment.

The one area I do have a complaint about is the quality of the carpet used on the floor.  Not just the mats, but the entire floor carpet.  I found that keeping this carpet clean is next to impossible. Vacuuming proves to help as almost everything sticks to the carpet and won’t let go.

Within months of driving this car the carpet had a hole in the passenger side floor. While vacuuming the car I noticed that the carpet was flattened out. It no longer looked like carpet. It feels like worn felt glued on construction paper.

This appears to be something that is common to all Mazda3’s and has been the subject of many owners forums on the net.  Here is just a sample of one such posting:

“The carpet underneath the mat is ripping due to the plastic mat holder.
Is this covered under warranty? does anyone have this problem?
I can see the cotton underneath the carpet and I think it’s getting bigger…

Any solutions?? I don’t know how to post pics here.. (sigh)…

Thank you all in advance!!”

“A girl at my old workplace warned me about this. She bitched alot to the dealer (leased car) and now shes on her THIRD carpet. The second one ripped too. The third time they layed down some material between the carpet and body to prevent the underside from wearing thin. She only had 65,000km. 2005 i think.
They covered it under warranty.”

“Funny, I was going to make a post on this as well, to see what others have done
both my passengers front and drivers floor upholstery has holes, with the cotton sticking out
It seems to be a soft spot right there, that catches the heels of the feet coming in/out of the car(when the floor mat slides up)

I spoke with the dealer about it, and they said it’s something they’ve seen in alot of used 3’s. My car is out of warranty now, so all they told me to do was get some new floor mats or all season ones to hide it… =(   “

“Would anyone have an idea how much the replacement carpet costs (Joe?) Mine is not only torn, but it has nasty salt stains I can’t get rid of.”

Being that I love this car so much and really enjoy driving it and its still in excellent condition I want it to still feel new.   So I figure that I will go ahead and call the dealer find out if they have a suitable replacement. I will update this blog with my findings.

–Dave

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