Just out of warranty? that's horrendous. got to be Mickey mouse steel or something. Show us pics of the repair please. Has the body outlasted the chassis?
I don't think Mazda can be blamed for this, it's a 2003 pick up that has been massively overloaded and abused, it's a mates workhorse / farm truck.
It was raining so I nipped out to buy some gas as I'd left the bottle turned on from the last time I used it - last of my cheap CO2 gone .
It was still drizzly so I went to the pub instead, plenty of time to weld it up tomorrow!
Looks like a fatigue crack maybe...which would imply that there was some movement/flex in the suspensions mount. Personally I'd be digging a little deeper...could be that there is an issue with the rear wall of that bit of the box section. All Jap cars I've ever owned have rotted from the inside out like ripe pears!
Well 17 year old B2500 ain't like that ...you tube is full of videos of people who think a 4x4 trucks are indestructible wrapping chains around back axle and then taking off at high speed ...to pull out a massive tree stump...or felling trees with the truck as the failsafe...It's like they live in a Tom and Jerry movie were the laws of physics can be altered at will ...
The chassis is fairly solid on the outside faces, but the pickup back seems to drain onto the inboard chassis rails - both sides are rotten, the overloading over the years has stress fractured the remaining bit of steel.
It's 3/4 done now, but to finish it off I'm going to have to take the fuel tank out as it completely blocks the rail on the drivers side.
@CompoSimmonite - if you are looking at these I would check the places where this one has gone, to be honest it's an easy repair apart from the fuel tank so if the price is right it wouldn't put me off. That said I have a 04 lwb Rav4 d4d as a runabout, 4wd isn't as good as the pickup but it does what I need towing a caravan or trailer on grass + 40 ish mpg pottering about & the boot is a handy size.