Cougar Ace's Sea Tragedy Leads to Mazda Vehicle Scrapping

Mazda Motor Corp. announced earlier that all Mazda vehicles from Cougar Ace, a car-carrying vessel would be scrapped. Said vessel nearly capsized off the Aleutian Islands in late July this year. Said Mazda vehicles are US and Canada-bound.

Cougar Ace was reported to sit listing at more than 60-degrees for about a month subsequent to the sea tragedy before it could be towed to the nearest port in Portland, Oregon. At the port, its cargoes were unloaded and the vessel undergone repairs.

At the time of the tragedy, Cougar Ace was carrying more than 4,700 Mazdas, more than half of which are Mazda 3s and about one-fourth are Mazda CX-7s. After the incident, Mazda announced that none of the Mazdas carried will be sold as new. The automaker also added that it is possible that those vehicles which are undamaged or repairable will be made available for sale as used cars through Mazda's dealer network in the US and Canada. In addition, to avoid confusions as to the Mazdas on the vessel, the automaker also posted the vehicle identification numbers (VINs) of the concerned vehicles in its customer websites.

However, lately the automaker decided to scrap the vehicles on board. This decision was finally made despite the efficiency of auto parts for Mazda 3 and other vehicles on board. "After thorough testing by engineers from our North American and Japanese R&D centers, we decided the most appropriate course of action -- with our customers foremost in mind -- was not to sell any of the 4,703 Mazdas aboard the ship," said Jim O'Sullivan, president and CEO of Mazda North American Operations (MNAO), based in Irvine, California. MNAO is responsible for overseeing the sales, marketing, parts and customer service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States, Canada and Mexico.


O'Sullivan added, "Although some of the Mazdas aboard the Cougar Ace showed little or no visible damage from being tied-down at severe angles for an extended period, the potential for future problems led the company to reconsider its initial decision to sell any of the vehicles as used."We always put the customer first. This drove our decision to scrap every one of the Mazdas involved in this incident."