Australian authorities have issued a recall notice for over 3,000 new Mazda 3 vehicles, over concerns their wheels might loosen and fall off due to a potentially existing “small gap” between wheel studs and hubs.
The problem affects 3,323 cars, sold between April 2018 and late June 2019, the watchdog Product Safety Australia said.
During manufacture, wheel studs may not have been fully seated. A small gap may exist between the wheel studs and the hub assembly.
Prolonged usage of the affected vehicles might cause “a knocking or clunking noise.” While the occasional clank in suspension of a brand new car might be quite infuriating, it gets worse: the defect might cause “wheel nuts to loosen” as well.
The issue might affect “stability of the vehicle” and increase the risk “of loss of vehicle control and potentially resulting in an accident injuring vehicle occupants and other road users,” as the watchdog put it.
In plain English: losing one – or several – wheels while on the road might be harmful for your health.
The regulator promised to contact all the owners of the affected cars, advising them to drive – carefully, apparently – to the nearest Mazda dealership to have their wheels “retensioned.”