Vehicle has had, on several different occasions, been driven, not at any particular speed and lost 4th gear, the engine light appears, an at light appears, and the brakes are applied to downshift the car down to 3rd gear. Upon me noticing this. I wait until it is safe to stop at a red light or stop sign and make a complete stop shift the car into park and back into drive. This seems to fix the disappearance and removal of the 4th gear as well as the at light, but only occasionally. It does not however remove the engine light. Though after a few different trips on different days the light will not appear on start up and does not show up until this issue happens again. The car shows error code P0715 and is possibly needing a new transmission speed sensor. This issue has not been fixed.

- Holtwood, PA, USA

I was driving along and suddenly a loud noise, the check engine light came on and the car shifted from 4th to 3rd without losing speed (except from me taking my foot off of the gas when hearing the noise) all at the same time. My mechanic said the diagnostic machine pointed to the "turbine speed sensor", so this was replaced within 2 days. The same day I got the car back, I drove it about 30 miles and it did the same thing again. Now my mechanic is checking into the transmission, possibly causing the problem.

- Anoka, MN, USA

Started vehicle (2006 Mazda3) parked on a residential street and lightly applied gas to pull away from curb. Vehicle lunged forward rapidly and engine revved quickly and loudly. Tried to apply brakes, but they did not seem to respond or may not have had enough time to respond. Collided with a truck parked across the street 1 house down from start location. The impact was enough to lift the truck F150 up and onto the curb it was parked next to, along with damaging the axle area of the F150. The Mazda3 lost part of the frontend on the roadway due to getting wedged under the truck. The car had lunged forward like this on one occasion in the previous week, but was able to be recovered without incident.

- Cypress, TX, USA

2006 Mazda 3 lurched forward the consumer stated the vehicle was only a few months old, when she backed out of a parking space to let another vehicle get out, when suddenly the vehicle went out of control and crashed into a lamp post. When she put the vehicle into drive, it lurched forward and then accelerated through the path she had backed out of and crashed through the window of a convenience store.

- Unknown, DC, USA

I am glad to be alive and telling this horrific story. I was traveling alone in my 2006 Mazda3 on I-95 to lumberton on June 27, 2009 to meet my sister and pick up my mom who had been staying with her while I was out of town for the week. I had my cruise control on about 63 mph and had been traveling behind a tractor trailer truck for approx. Two miles before I reached my exit. I pulled over into the exit lane and hit my brakes and nothing happened! I hit them again and nothing. I hit my on/off cruise control switch and the deceleration switches and nothing happened. I put both feet on the brake and hit my horn and entered a five lane intersection at the end of an uphill exit ramp on a red light doing in excess of 60 mph!!! I knew I was going to die or be physically injured and didn't know who I would take with me as I had no way to slow or stop the car. Looking back, I know I had no more than 10 or 12 seconds to react before I was at the top of the exit ramp going that fast. I turned to the right as I entered the intersection to avoid cars that were entering and I think my car spun around and I was hit by a pickup truck in the inner lane who probably had no idea where I came from. I then went head-on into another car traveling in the opposite direction. My car was totaled, the one I hit head-on was totaled but the pickup truck was able to drive away from the accident. All of us were able to walk away - me very shakily. I had seatbelt bruises and air bag burns and all of my muscles were sore, but I am getting better each day. I still have pain and tightness in my chest area, but from what I am learning about this type of injury it may stay with me for several weeks. Nothing broken and nothing so far that I can't live with. Needless to say my nerves are shattered. Something needs to be done. This does not need to happen to others!!!

- Raleigh, NC, USA