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Feds investigating 2010-11 Mazda CX-9 CUVs over braking issues

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating 62,000, 2010-2011 Mazda CX-9 models over brake problems. The government safety watchdog says it has received seven complaints of an observed loss of power braking power to stop the crossover, according to the The Detroit News.
The NHTSA complaints say that the problem causes a hard pedal, increased braking effort and reduced braking effectiveness. Some complaints allege that they hear a hissing noise during braking similar to the sound of air leaving the tires. No injuries or crashes have been reported.
"As always, we are fully cooperating with NHTSA on their investigation. We cannot comment further at this time," said Mazda spokesperson Tamara Mlynarczyk to The Detroit News.

Mazda3 Skyactiv-Hybrid and CNG Concept shown in Japan

Mazda has received a tremendous amount of public and industry praise in the last few years, following up the successful introduction of its Skyactiv technology (powertrain and otherwise), with strong products like CX-5, Mazda6 and most recently, the Mazda3. At the Tokyo Motor Show, Mazda has taken yet another step forward with Skyactiv and the 3, showing the compact (called "Axela" in Japan) with an all-new compressed natural gas engine in the Skyactiv-CNG Concept.
The end result of the Skyactiv-Hybrid is fuel consumption estimated at something like 74 miles per gallon.
Mazda thinks that CNG-powered vehicles are due for an uptick in demand, and the company believes this new powertrain will add valuable breadth to the Mazda3 range. The CNG Concept is actually a duel-fuel vehicle, capable of running on either natural gas or gasoline. In fact, we're told that the high compression ratio (14:1) inherent in Skyactiv-technology gasoline engines makes conversion to CNG particularly simple.

Mazda's new turbo four fits in both the 6 and the 3

Despite the size differences, the Mazda CX-9 shares a lot with its smaller car-based siblings, the Mazda6 and Mazda3. That could allow Mazda to slot its full-sizer's new 2.5-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder engine under the hood of its smaller offerings. Pardon us while we do a happy dance. "[The 2.5-liter turbo] fits in a lot of our cars, and where we're actually going to put it is another question," Mazda North America vehicle development engineer Dave Coleman told Australia's Car Advice. Coleman specified that the turbocharged engine will fit in all the same applications that can accommodate the company's 2.5-liter gas and diesel engines. "Basically, that big space we used for the bundle of snakes exhaust manifold, the turbo is in that space too. They're all packaged to occupy the same space. It's exactly the same clearance as the exhaust manifold of the other engines." This kind of logic – if Engine A is the same size as Engine B, then both should fit in Car C – is what's lead us to imagine a turbocharged Mazda6 since the new engine was announced. In short, it's great news. Mazda's 2.5-liter turbo is a hell of an engine in the CX-9, and it's hard to imagine it'd be worse in a lighter vehicle. But just because it works from an engineering standpoint doesn't mean it's going to happen. At least, not soon. "It fits. I'm not a product planner so I don't get to make that call," Coleman told Car Advice. "It's up to the product planners to decide what they're going to put it in." The most obvious application for a turbocharged engine in the 3 or 6 is as a reborn Mazdaspeed model. But don't get too excited – Coleman said Mazda hasn't even gotten as far as building an engineering prototype with this engine. We're still firmly at the theoretical stage. And that's bad news, because it gels with what we've been reporting – that Mazda will wait a generation for future Mazdaspeed models. We just stopped doing our happy dance. Related Video: