As we've had a couple of recalls for fragmentation of airbag bits, that have been replaced with airbags that cause fragmentation of bits, I'd suggest it's not much of a problem.

I had one recall on my previous car for the replacement of a passenger airbag that I ignored, on the basis I normally drove the alone, rarely sat in the passenger seat and after nine years it had never been triggered. I didn't want anyone removing and replacing a rattle free dashboard.

I had a recall on my current car for an airbag replacement. It was replaced with one with the same problem and guess what, the dash rattles!

According to the report, my car falls within the window (mine was built in Oct 2005), though I'm unsure if the recall only affects cars made for the US market or worldwide. I just checked the DVLA website (MOT checker) and it has no recall for my car at least - yet. I'll just have to wait and see.

Not sure I agree about the tone of the first paragarph of the magazine report, given that, aside from the diesel engines (which aren't Mazdas, but Ford-PSA back then, not the newer 2.2TD), the cars, especially the petrol-engined ones, have been increadibly reliable.

Thanks for the heads-up, groaver.