1993 MAZDA MX3 — Complaint #137873
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SEAT BELTS:FRONT:WEBBING filed February 17, 1999
NHTSA complaint #137873 (ODI reference 540460) concerns a 1993 MAZDA MX3 and was filed on February 17, 1999. The owner reports the failure occurred on July 7, 1998. The report was geocoded to North Carolina based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as seat belts:front:webbing, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 1, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same MAZDA MX3 cohort independently describe similar seat belts:front:webbing failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 1993 MAZDA MX3 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
MALFUNCTION OF THE AUTOMATIC SEAT BELT ON THE DRIVER'S SIDE OCCURED IN AN ACCIDENT. OWNER DISCOVERED THAT THE VEHICLE WAS INCLUDED IN A PREVIOUS RECALL FOR THE PROBLEM, BUT WAS NEVER NOTIFIED.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 137873 |
| ODI Number | 540460 |
| Date Filed | February 17, 1999 |
| Failure Date | July 7, 1998 |
| VIN | JM1EC431OPO |
Similar SEAT BELTS:FRONT:WEBBING Complaints for 1993 MAZDA MX3
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 1993 MAZDA MX3. WHILE ENTERING THE VEHICLE THE CABLE WHICH RETRACTS THE BUCKLE ASSEMBLY BECAME JAMMED IN THE RAIL. THE CONDITION RENDERED THE SHOULDER BELT INOPERATIVE. THE P
DT*: THE CONTACT STATED INTERMITTENTLY THE AUTOMATIC SEAT BELTS WILL NOT AUTOMATICALLY RETRACT. IN ORDER TO UNLOCK THE SEAT BELTS THE CONTACT HAS TO REACH AROUND TO THE BACK SEAT. AN NHTSA RECALL,
RECALL 97V211000. DEALER JOHN MAZDA, 105 NE 78TH VACOUVER, WA 98665, 360-574-1131, FIXED THE RECALL. WHILE WEARING THE SHOULDER BELT IT LOCKED UP, CAUSES DISCOMFORT TO THE DRIVER WHICH MAY CAUSE A
SHOULDER BELT FAILED DURING VEHICLE COLLISION, COMPONENT RECALLED BUT NOTICE NEVER RECIEVED.
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.