Model years › Mazda Tribute

2008 Mazda Tribute

Complaints about this year name steering far more often than the model's other years — 47% of them, about 4× the usual rate of 13%.

NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.

Also unusual this year

• steering wheel — 22% of complaints, 5× usual
• power steering — 26% of complaints, 3× usual
• steering column — 9% of complaints, 24× usual

What owners wrote

WHILE DRIVING VARIOUS SPEEDS, THE STEERING WHEEL SHOOK INTERMITTENTLY WITHOUT WARNING. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO NELSON MAZDA TULSA (9902 S MEMORIAL DR., TULSA, OK 74133, (918) 296-7897) WHERE IT WAS DIAGNOSED THAT THE POWER STEERING COLUMN NEEDED TO BE REPLACE…

ISSUES WITH ELECTRIC POWER STEERING. ATTEMPTED TO EXIT GAS STATION AND STEERING WHEEL WOULD NOT TURN. BOUGHT SUV USED, RECALL ISSUE WAS FIXED SEPTEMBER 2014. RECALL IS NOW CLOSED.

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.

Recalls for this year

• 15V677000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
• 15E045000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
• 14V282000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
• 14V552000 HYBRID PROPULSION SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
• 12V357000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.

Own a 2008 Mazda Tribute? What happened to yours?

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How this was worked out

Every year of the Mazda Tribute was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.

This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.

Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.

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