pictures aren't showing up for me...

 

I haven't seen anything like that before. Personally, I would get it fixed. It seems kinda dangerous just to leave it like that. That's just me though, hopefully someone else can chime in.

 

[quote author=cyclonesworld link=topic=193483.msg4071280#msg4071280 date=1310675926]
So this is a strange one. I went to put my key in one day and noticed that my ignition looks like this:

I've had no problems with starting the car or anything and it's been like this for about a month. Has anyone seen this before and is it something I should actually worry about?
[/quote]

Mine did the same thing! I get on here every now and then to search for others who've had this problem. Have you looked into it yet? I was thinking about tearing my ignition apart to see exactly what broke.

 

Do you guys have a heavyass bunch of other shit hanging on your keychain? I've seen it happen to someone who had like 30 keys on his keychain and it just made the ignition sag from the weight of all the crap.

 

Actually, no. I carry very few keys with me. It's not like the entire ignition is falling out. The internals are just fine. What you see is a cap that has come loose but doesn't fall all the way out. Once you slide your key in, everything is aligned.

 

Take the steering column shroud off. Likely what has happened is that the grey/white ring has popped lose from the ignition immobilizer. Unless it is broken it should just snap bag in place holding the ignition lock "cover plate" that is at a skewed angle back in.

If it is broken good luck getting a replacement ring/trim piece. The one on my wife's Mazda 5 broke both tabs on the back that hold it to the immobilizer. Guess what, Mazda doesn't have a parts listing for it! It is not included with ANY of the ignition or steering column trim pieces either. My local dealership AND Mazdausa couldn't figure out what the hell the part is. They acknowledged which part was broken, but couldn't find it in any of their parts databases and my local dealership ordered every ignition and steering column trim piece and it wasn't in any of the parts boxes.

Way to fucking go Mazda.

I eventually super glued the trim piece to the steering column shroud it is is "fixed" other than seeing a small bead of super glue, and having making it hard to remove the shroud in the future.

PS I checked the Mazda 3 and 6 as well out of curiousity and neither of those have parts listings for this ring trim.

 

I have the same problem, i had my car serviced and the idiots didn't know how to take the key out and busted it all up. I went to my local Mazda dealer in SRQ and they said they would have to order a whole new ignition key stalk, which would be about a few hundred dollars to fix. I Dont really have the money now, to fix it, but if you turn the key a certain way you can take it out with ease. man i really miss that stupid little button, made me feel so special to have a manual car, haha