500,000 Mazda 3’s recalled; over 90,000 in Europe

Mazda has announced a recall of Mazda3 and Mazda3 MPS vehicles built between 7 January 2008 and 22 December 2008. The recall affects over half-a-million Mazda cars around the world, with 91,588 of those being in Europe.

The problem affecting the vehicles is an electrical fault than may cause the windscreen wipers to fail. It has been found that during assembly of the wiper motor the ground terminal may have been deformed in some cases, causing a film of oxide to form around the wiper motor’s ground wire contact point and resulting in a loss of contact.

Mazda has stated:

“Affected owners in Europe will be notified in writing in mid-July, and asked to bring their car to an authorized dealership. The reworking is free of charge, and requires adding a ground wire to the front wiper motor on all affected vehicles.”