The 2004 Mazda6 has 12 recalls, the most serious being a well-documented airbag inflator defect affecting both the driver and passenger frontal airbags, where the inflator can rupture and send metal fragments into the cabin.
Both front airbag positions are affected: the inflators can build excessive internal pressure during deployment, and in some cases prior replacement inflators of the same design were installed under earlier repair attempts, meaning the hazard may persist even on vehicles that were previously serviced. On the restraint side, rear seatbelts on some vehicles were assembled with missing or incorrect retaining components in the retractor, which can prevent the belt from locking in a crash. On the brake side, a float inside the brake fluid reservoir can become dislodged and fail to return to its track, leaving the low-fluid warning light unable to alert the driver to a drop in brake fluid level. There is also a fuel system concern where the fuel sender unit may not be properly sealed in the tank, allowing a small amount of fuel to seep out and produce an odor or trigger a check engine light.