2000 MAZDA MPV — Complaint #270786
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about CHILD SEAT:HARNESS/CROTCH BUCKLE filed January 30, 2001
NHTSA complaint #270786 (ODI reference 739793) concerns a 2000 MAZDA MPV and was filed on January 30, 2001. The report was geocoded to Georgia based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as child seat:harness/crotch buckle, 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: 0, 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 MPV cohort independently describe similar child seat:harness/crotch buckle 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 2000 MAZDA MPV shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
SEAT BELT BUCKLE IN 2ND ROW IS DESIGNED SO THAT IT IS FORWARD OF SEAT CRACK AND CANNOT MOVE TO A COMPLETELY UPRIGHT POSITION. THIS CAUSES MAJOR MOVEMENT/ISECURE BELTING OF A CHILD CONVERTIBLE BOOSTER SEAT, ESPECIALLY FRONT-TO-BACK MOVEMENT. THIS MOVEMENT OCCURS EVEN WITH THE TETHER ANCHOR STRAP INSTALLED. WE COMPLAINED TO MAZDA AND WANTED THE SEAT BELT BUCKLES REPLACED (TO MATCH THE REDESIGNED AND WORKABLE SEAT BELTS IN THE 2001 MODELS) OR THE ENTIRE SEAT REPLACED WITH THE 2001 SEATS. SO FAR, WE HAVE HAD LITTLE SUCCESS GETTING ANY FEEDBACK FROM MAZDA. ADDITIONALLY, ONCE WE BEGAN PURSUING THIS WEITH MAZDA, THREEE DIFFERENT PEOPLE WITHIN THE COMPANY HAVE INFORMED US THAT NO CHILD SEATS OF ANY KIND ARE TO BE USED IN THE 2ND ROW OF THE 2000 MPVS. HOWEVER, THEY WENT AHEAD AND INSTALLED A TETHER ANCHOR MOUNTING KIT BEHIND THE SECOND ROW (AS THEY HAVE DONE FOR MANY OTHER CUSTOMERS TOO). DOESN'T THAT IMPLY THAT YOU COULD USE CHILD SEATS IN THE SECOND ROW? IF YOU TRULY CANNOT INSTALL CHILD SEAT
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 270786 |
| ODI Number | 739793 |
| Date Filed | January 30, 2001 |
| VIN | JM3LW28G8Y0 |
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.