ACCC boss Rocket Rod Sims has zoomed back as the champion of the 1.5 million Australians who buy a new car every year. On Thursday he announced that the competition regulator had begun a case in the Federal Court against Mazda Australia, alleging it engaged in unconscionable conduct and made false or misleading representations in its dealings with consumers who bought one of seven new Mazda vehicles between 2013 and 2017.
The models include Mazda 2, Mazda 6, Mazda CX-5, Mazda CX-5B, Mazda CX-3 and Mazda BT-50.
Now you can't say you weren't warned. We've been writing about these Mazda (and Honda) issues for years.
The ACCC action follows the Japanese company recalling 35,476 Mazda 3s, Mazda 6s and CX-5s in Australia which Mazda says "may accumulate carbon deposits in the intake shutter valve, in addition to premature wear of certain engine components".
Well that's funny because in the US, Mazda is recalling more than 262,000 of the same CX-5s and cars to fix a software problem that could cause the engines to stall unexpectedly without warning. And that's one of the major problems readers have had with their Mazda 3, 6 and CX-5s.
The ACCC alleges that these consumers began experiencing faults with their vehicles within a year or two of purchase. The faults affected the ability of the consumers to use their vehicles, and in some cases included the vehicles unexpectedly losing power and decelerating while they were being driven.