I own a 2004 Mazda 3 hatchback that I purchased new. The car has 74,000 miles on it and has been maintained faithfully by Mazda technicians. Driving home from work, the car caught fire. To reiterate, the car caught fire. Had my wife not noticed, and had we parked the car in the garage, it would have burned down the house with us in it. We managed to put the car out and took it to the Mazda dealership. The technician told us the air conditioning compressor froze and the belt caught fire from the friction; this then ignited plastic splash guards under the vehicle. All total - $1500 in damage. The technician stated the compressor should not have caused a fire, and in fact this was the first time he had seen anything like it. I contacted Mazda and asked them to recompense the damage from the failed compressor and the fire, and they refuse to assist me (or even acknowledge that one of their products' spontaneous combustion is a problem), or compensate me. I am less concerned about compensation than I am concerned that there are thousands of these cars on the roads, being driven by families, waiting to catch fire and burn. This needs to be addressed and addressed quickly before someone loses their life. There have been no recalls or even warnings from Mazda that this is a potential problem. Please, I am asking that the NHTSA assist in doing something before this potentially fatal manufacturer defect costs someone their life. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- San Angelo, TX, USA

The A/C on my new car does not cool the car to any comfort level.. I sweat in the heat with the ac on.it doesn't cool the car inside.I had it checked by my Mazda dealer they said it is up to the maufactuer's standards.I told them that I have difficulty accelerating with the ac on when passing at 40mph the car would not move it dragged.I had to flloor the gas pedal on a majorr interstate to move from 40-60, from too slow to too fast.I had seconds to move or get killed.the ac does not work and the service managerr told me I have too small an engine and that I should have gotten the larger engine the( 2.3) yet they deny anything wrong with the ac system.the ac hasn't worked since I bought it in may I noticed it in July.it took three weeks for the dealer to get back to me about an appt. Please ignore the hood equipment added below( nothign addded after car was sold) could not remove equipment added in this report.

- Berlin, NJ, USA