1999 Mazda Miata 10th Anniversary Convertible 2-door 1.8l on 2040-cars

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Takata airbag recall spreads to China with 42k Mazda sedans

The scope of the problem with the faulty airbag inflators from Takata continues to broaden and is now reaching China, as well. Mazda is recalling 42,732 Mazda6 units there, produced by its local joint venture partner China FAW Car Company, to replace the front passenger airbags. It comes as part of Mazda's recall of nearly 160,000 vehicles worldwide, including about 34,600 in the US, according to Reuters.
This is the same problem that caused seven automakers in the US to recall an estimated 2.1 million vehicles in late June. The airbag inflators can potentially explode instead of deploying the airbag, which hampers the bag's inflation. In some cases occupants are also hit by the metal shrapnel, which can cause further injuries. In the US, Mazda is repairing the 2003-2007 Mazda6 (pictured above), 2006-2007 Mazdaspeed6, 2004 MPV and 2004-2008 RX-8 originally sold in or currently registered in Florida, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii.
This is hardly the first instance of this issue. Since 2001, there have been 20 recalls tied to the exploding airbags supplied by Takata. The problem is possibly linked to the propellant in the inflators, but there's no conclusive evidence of that yet. Most of the automakers in the US limited the most recent recalls only to a few humid states because moisture potentially exacerbated the problem.

Las Vegas reporter makes literal street food

A reporter in the American Southwest did a test to see just how hot it was this week, and received her just deserts. With a promised high of 115 degrees in the Las Vegas Valley on June 20, Caitlin Lilly and Kira Terry of the Las Vegas Review-Journal decided to find out if they could bake cookies and cook breakfast using just the ambient heat of the day and some handy flat surfaces. First, the pair attempted to bake a couple dozen pre-mixed cookies on the dashboard of a Mazda. Starting around 1:00 pm, they left the cookies on a sheet tray propped up beneath the car's un-tinted windows. By 5:00 pm the cookies were done and, according to various R-J staffers, quite delicious. While the cookies were baking, they decided to make themselves something a little more substantial, something to justify the desert they had baking in the Mazda. They found a nice patch of parking lot and tried to fry an egg, some bacon, and a handful of shrimp. The shrimp cooked quickly, as shrimp are wont to do, but after 20 minutes the bacon only browned at the edges while staying raw in the middle. The egg remained uncooked, unfortunately, since even the hottest asphalt isn't hot enough to actually fry an egg. Record high temperatures are baking the American Southwest and Southern California as the region suffers the effects of a weather phenomenon called a " heat dome." Highs of over 100 degrees were reported throughout SoCal, Arizona, and Nevada, which is surprising for mid-June. The threat of wildfires is already astronomical, and people are suffering from heat-related illnesses. Recent Video:

Mazda shows lightweight MX-5 Spyder and Speedster at SEMA

Ever since Mazda dropped the first teaser on us last week, we've been looking forward to seeing what it had in store for us at SEMA this year. Now we've seen it what Mazda has dubbed the MX-5 Spyder and MX-5 Speedster, and they were worth the wait. The Spyder goes vintage with a silver paintjob and a brown top stretched overhead. It also has an aero kit, grille, and tonneau cover done up in carbon fiber, rides on 17-inch wheels, and features a natural leather interior. The blue Speedster, meanwhile, goes for the stripped-down, wind-in-your-hair experience. It has no roof or windshield, just a tiny deflector at the front of the dashboard. It's dropped an inch closer to the ground on an adjustable coilover suspension with 16-inch alloys, and features a center-exit exhaust. Carbon fiber helps trim 250 pounds from the curb weight, along with a stripped out interior trimmed in Alcantara. Both look pretty slick, and disappoint only in so far as they (like so many of their predecessor concepts) won't be heading for production. If they were, we'd be hard pressed to choose between the two. Which would you go for? Mazda Reveals Extreme Lightweight Design Concepts at 2015 SEMA MX-5 Concepts Display Two Different Takes on Staying True to Pure, Lightweight Sports Car Philosophy LAS VEGAS (November 3, 2015) – Mazda revealed two design concepts today at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, based on its all-new 2016 MX-5 Miata—MX-5 Spyder and MX-5 Speedster—demonstrating two vastly different takes on lightweight, open-air performance. Lightweight. Fun-to-drive. Roadster. Those three tenets have served as the foundation for the Mazda MX-5 Miata since its 1989 introduction and continue to serve the new fourth-generation model. Focused, lightweight engineering is a guiding principle of every Mazda vehicle made with SKYACTIV Technology, allowing for greater efficiency, improved performance and agile handling dynamics. But what if that sense of lightweight performance were taken to the extreme? What if Mazda's North American designers harkened back to vintage roadsters to create thoroughly modern, bespoke concepts for what a lightweight performance car should be The results would be the MX-5 Spyder and MX-5 Speedster concepts. "Both MX-5 Spyder and MX-5 Speedster are uncompromising designs that highlight the core strengths of MX-5," said Ken Saward, design manager, Mazda North American Operations.