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Hello,
We own a (late) 2013 Mazda CX5, and have done so since it was new. It has been serviced on time (as per the schedule) by the same company where it was bought from originally.

Recently the car has developed a knocking sensation (when going over bumps/rough sections in the road), and when it was serviced we asked them to look into what the cause was. It was recommended to replace the intermediate steering shaft, which the parts alone cost over $900.

I know not every car is the same, but I have owned a number of cars, 3 of them having between 160,000 - 200,000+ speedo before I sold them on, and none have had this fail let alone fail at such a young age/mileage.
For context this car is used purely around the city, doing short suburban trips.

So a couple of questions:
1) Is this what would be considered normal or at least not expected?
2) Is it safe to continue drive with - I assume they would have told me if it was not

The service desk is going to chat with Mazda to see if it can be carried out under "goodwill", but I want to be prepared in the event that this comes back and I need to fight for what is right.

Thanks for your insight, I appreciate your perspective on this matter.

Hi there,
It could be difficult to find the answer to the likelihood of an item like this requiring replacement after 6 years. If you contact the dealer and ask about it, they might offer full replacement or a part remedy also as a goodwill, where they might pay for the part and charge labour. You can decide to take the offer or the only alternative is to see back the costs of repair through a tribunal who are the pones who can answer if it's acceptable or not.

Thanks Cade,
So what sort of things would "normally" wear an intermediate steering shaft?

As mentioned in my initial post I have already asked the dealer to talk to Mazda about it being covered under goodwill, but in anticipation of the worst I am trying to get an understanding on what would be considered "normal" (not withstanding exceptional use of a vehicle, eg off roading, prior crash/impact, etc), as it feels as though this is not normal.
Are you able to offer any detail around what things normally wear this part and whether it is more of a consumable item? For comparison; our tyres or battery (a consumable) to Intermediate shaft replacement ratio is sitting at 1:1 and I wouldn't have thought that normal.

From my mechanical knowledge, I'm not aware of anything that can be done to prevent or accelerate a steering shaft (connects the steering wheel to the steering rack) wear/play etc. You wouldn't put it in the same class as tyres and brake pads. Only a tribunal can really state if it is acceptable or not when two parties can't agree.

Okay thank you for your thoughts on the matter.
I suppose I was just hoping to get some clarity from the AA as an independent expert in the field that could offer some insight as to whether this was "normal" (given NZ's consumer law relying on the concept of what an average person would consider "reasonable"), and was hoping that the independent advice could have helped either me, Mazda or that tribunal (which no doubt will not have automotive background/experience) to come to a sensible decision IF it gets to that point.
Thanks again for your help/ideas/thoughts.