2019 Mazda3 hatchback recalled for loose wheels

UPDATE The ACCC has released the Australian recall notice for the Mazda3. More than 3320 car's VIN numbers are listed as affected; 2533 Mazda3s were sold in June, according to VFACTs.

"The stability of the vehicle may be affected, increasing the risk of loss of vehicle control and potentially resulting in an accident injuring vehicle occupants and other road users," said Mazda in the statement.

The company is contacting all affected customers directly.

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Mazda Australia has today confirmed it issued a recall notice for its new Mazda3 hatchback to rectify a potentially dangerous fault with its wheels.

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The company lodged a recall notice with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) early last week for “certain models” (variants) of the new BP-coded Mazda3, according to a spokesperson.

“The wheel nuts loosening concern on Mazda3 BP hatch models does affect some Australian models,” confirmed the spokesperson.

The Japanese company has discovered that the wheel hub bolts on certain variants of the new Mazda3 haven’t been tightened sufficiently onto the hub flange during manufacturing.

A resulting gap between the bolt head and the flange could cause the wheel’s lug nuts to work loose, according to the company, even though the wheels were tightened at the factory.

This means that even if the wheel nuts were checked again - or even removed and replaced - prior to delivery to customers, they would still present as being correctly tightened.

The recall notice published in the US overnight points out that the wheel would make a rattling sound if it were to come loose. The fix is a simple one; the wheel nuts will be re-torqued by a Mazda dealer to ensure that the hub bolts are properly seated within the hub flange.

The US notice affects some 25,000 cars, with plants in Japan and Mexico both reporting the same manufacturing issue.

Whichcar has contacted the ACCC about the date of publication of the notice, which will contain the VIN numbers of the cars affected by the recall. The Mazda3 went on sale here in May.

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