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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.

2014 Mazda3 configurator zoom-zooms to life

The 2014 Mazda3 is probably going to be on a lot of shopping lists, thanks to its striking good looks, clean interior treatment, fuel economy and driving character. If it happens to be on your personal list of new cars to test, you'll be happy to see that the configurator for Mazda's newest product has officially gone online.
In terms of build-your-own web items, configuring a 3 isn't much of a departure from the rest of the Mazda range. Most of the work comes from choosing one of the three trim levels - Sport, Touring and Grand Touring - and selecting either the 155-horsepower, 2.0-liter, Skyactiv four-cylinder or its larger sibling, the 184-horsepower, 2.5-liter, Skyactiv four. From there, a simple range of color and interior finishes are available, before a slim list of packages, options and accessories. Really, Mazda's made it easy to get through this build process.
Click on over to the configurator and take a look at the options, colors and prices for Mazda's newest five-door hatchback.

Watch what happens inside a rotary engine

Since it looks like Mazda may very well revive the Wankel rotary engine as a range extender for electric cars, there's no better time to become reacquainted with the quirky internal-combustion engine. And there's hardly a better way to become reacquainted than by peering into a running rotary engine, which you can do with the video above. The video comes to us from the YouTube channel Warped Perception. The channel has already shown what happens inside a conventional internal-combustion piston engine by putting a clear cylinder head on top of a flathead engine. This new video shows off the rotary engine by adding a clear side to a tiny model-airplane engine, something that we weren't aware existed and are glad to know about now. Despite the tiny size, the engine is functionally almost exactly like the bigger versions you'll find in Mazdas from about 1967 to 2012. It has intake and exhaust ports on the edges of the rotor housing, and the triangular rotor swings about in a peanut-shaped housing. For maximum effect, jump to right around the 7:40 timestamp. This is the point at which a bit of acetylene is added to the air-fuel mix for a brighter flame. It's at this point that you can really see when the mixture combusts and how the pressure of the flame pushes the rotor to produce rotational motion. Each stage of the video does slow things down to make everything as clear as possible. Even if you already knew how rotary engines worked, it's still fascinating to watch, first because it's something you don't get to see usually, and also because of the engine's elegant simplicity. Related Video: Image Credit: YouTube / Warped Perception Weird Car News Mazda Technology Videos rotary rotary engine