2 Transmissions in 71,000 miles
 

I bought a new 2000 Protege LX w/1.6 automatic for my daughter. I researched this car & determined it to be reliable & of low maintenance. At 29,800 the OD light came on & stayed on...Mazda replaced the transmission under warranty. Two weeks ago, with 71,000 on the odometer & 41,000 on 2nd tranny, her car suddenly began to slip in 'drive' & then would not shift out of 2nd gear. Towed the car to closest Mazda dealership who later informed us that the transmission needed to be replaced. I contacted the selling dealership, who contacted Mazda, who later informed me that since Mazda had already replaced one transmission & that the car was out of warranty, they would not help in any way with covering/sharing cost of replacing another transmission. I then called Mazda myself & was informed that once the area Mazda rep made a decision, that was the end of the line. So.....I fixed the car for my daughter, but am extremely unhappy with Ford/Mazda. I don't see how 2 transmissions could fail in 71,000 miles w/o some engineering/manufacturing defect being present. And yes, I routinely checked her transmission fluid level...it was NEVER low or too high.

Did you follow the maintenance schedule for the transmission? There should be a section in the manual that states any maintenance that should be done on the automatic transmission. I know that the manual transmission should be flushed after 30k miles and replaced with new transmission fluid. For an automatic tranny, I would imagine that the tranny fluid should be flushed about on the same schedule, or even more often depending upon the type of driving and driver. If the car is run hard, often, there is more of a need for mantenance (same as oil). Beating on any vehicle with an automatic transmission will definitely kill the life of the AT, so I'd definitely try and find out how your daughter typically drives her vehicle (not that she'd probably tell you if she were beating on it).

Sorry to hear about your luck. I understand your frustration since you just want a reliable car for your daughter so she doesn't have to worry about breaking down at the side of the road.
Its possible you just got the bad luck of the draw with the original and replacement trannies.
I've not heard of any rrecurring problems with the Protege automatics.
How has the rest of the ar held up??

Update on 2 failed transmissions (Protege)
 

Thanks for comments... 'except' for the 2 failed transmissions, the car has been fine. So based upon that record, I'd have to retract my comment and say it has been very unreliable.
Vielster: Transmission fluid does not need to be changed at 30k (unless car is run hard). Changing occurs at 60k...in the manual. I trust my daughter that she does not race, doesn't know how to manually shift an automatic, thus does not over-rev the engine. She does admit to driving up to 80, but not on a sustained basis. Besides, the fluid would have had a foul, burnt smell if overheating had occurred.

I have since had the transmission repaired. I have a written statement from the transmission shop that states: "Upon inspection, it was found that the Protege's transmission had too much endplay, resulting from a MISPLACED roller thrust (bearing). The 2-4 band was broken due to excessive endplay, resulting in the transmission failure." And on to say, "the transmission was doomed from the beginning because of the incorrect placing of the roller thrust (bearing) inside of the transmission."

So, I'm taking this information back to the selling dealer (who replaced the first failed transmission at 29.8K with another defective unit that failed at 41K) and will see what response I get from Mazda. I bought this car in good faith based upon favorable reviews pertaining to safety and reliability. Two failed transmissions in 71K does not meet either criteria.

I realize that in any mass production product, failures will occur. And if I was unlucky enough to get a defective replacement transmission also, I can get over that event if Mazda will accept their responsibility. More to come.........