a little over 2 weeks ago my radio died. mazda had me bring it in and after an hour said they ordered a new radio. last week i called to see how much longer it would be and they said a few more days. yesterday it was 'there is one here that don't belong to you so i'll call and see if yours is on back order.' he was supposed to call me right back and after several hours i had my husband call and he talked to the service manager. he had to call us back and said that it is a 'nation wide' problem and it could be anywhere from days to months for us to get a radio. so i have a couple of questions....has this happened to anyone else? obviously it has since he said it was a nation wide problem so i'm just curious as to who else has this problem. our options are waiting, mazda buying a new p5 and swapping out radios or getting an after market one. i'm sure several of you have different radios installed now and i'm wondering what to get that isnt' going to look cheap or getto....thanx in advance....

 

well as for your options....don't hold your breath on the dealer taking a radio out of one of the cars on the lot and swapping it into your car....just not going to happen. then they would be stuck with a car with no radio, it would be rather hard to sell till they got the replacement...and they even told you it could be months. there are many aftermarket radios that would work just fine and look good too. Personally....I like the stock radio/cd player which is why I still have it and have upgraded the rest of the system. Waiting....well that would really suck if it were a long time till the radio comes in....

I think if I were you I would be calling up the MAZDAUSA corperate office and raising a big stink.....for starters....if you decide to get an aftermarket radio because you don't want to wait....then try to get Mazda to kick in the same ammount as what the stock radio cost, or at least buy it ....you could get a killer aftermarket headunit for what they charge for those things.

 

I agree. Call Mazda and raise some hell about it. I never heard of a radio shortage. I know when I bought my Mazda Protege new back in mid 2000, they threw in a sunroof reflector and the splash guards that go behind the tires. It took 4 weeks for those to come in! I called and threatened to call a local news station that helps consumers get resolution to people that give them the run around. 2 weeks later and phone calls of reassurance on their part, it came in. I didn't have to call the news station afterall. Thank God, otherwise, the catch was that I would be the one on tv too! Good luck with it all. I still don't know why they can't take one out of another Protege and keep that Protege on the lot until the new one comes in. Shame on them!! Damn car dealers!

Mister T

 

i don't think p5's radio is under the warnntee..plus i think they will help u fix it rather then replacing a new one..... but why u want to stick wif the stock one.. if u need to replace one.. there will be like $200..more.. and u can get a good one wif in 200$..
why bother getting back the stock one?

 

the radio is under warranty. or at least they said it was because it is supposedly a faulty radio but no one replied back that they had problems so now i am beginning to wonder. right now i will settle for any damn thing. i HATE being without a radio and week three is coming up. they offered to take a radio out of another p5 and put it in my car and not sale it til the other radio comes in. i don't know if that will actually happen. i just hate to wait or get one out of another p5 and the same thing happen. anyway...thanx for the replies....

 

I haven't heard of a radio that died within a few weeks nor months of purchase. You are the only lucky one. How does it feel to be the only one?! I would probably let them do the exchange thing so you can have some tunes while you are out commuting. (You poking the radio to see if it works)

Good luck!

Mister T

 

Hell yeah - if they OFFERED to swap in a unit from another Protege, tell 'em to do it - and do it quick!

Here's another idea:

This IS a warranty issue. And the Mazda warranty (at least when I bought my car) includes free loaner car service while any warranty work is being performed.

So - call 'em up, empty out your car, and tell them you want your warranty loaner while they fix the radio (months, huh?). When they refuse (you know they will), then it is time to raise a big stink. You did NOT buy a car so it can be without certain parts for months at a time.

If you put up enough of a fight, they will DEFINITELY pull a stereo out of another Protege - just to shut you up. Same result though - new radio!

And calling Mazda USA is not a bad idea anyway - especially if you let the dealer know you're doing it. They don't want that kinda crap.

Squeaky wheel gets the grease!

~HH

 

I know exactly how you feel i'm going though the same thing for the second time, the radio ate my cd and then just died on me, the first time this happened i got a new radio within a week this time it's going on three weeks sucks