As far as I know the lights should always turn off unless the dome light switch is left in the on position or one the of the doors isn't properly closed. As far as opening the trunk I'm a hatchback owner so I'm not sure but many other car lines are putting trunk release handles inside the trunk that you can reach by climbing in through the back seat. Does the sedan not have this?

 

Look at the attachments that I have on the post. It'll show you instructions on how to open the trunk manually.

Sorry if it's small, it's just screenshots from my laptop.

If you have your manual handy, look at the pages that are indicated in the bottom right of my screenshots.

 

oh damn,,, I have a hatchback.
so I need to drop rear seats down and crawl to the back, then use screwdriver to turn lever to open the trunk?

yeah.. keeping jumper cables in the back seat mesh.
thx

 

Just pull the back seats down...

 

Ours can't pull the back seats down unless we're in the trunk. The trigger isn't there in the back seat.

 

I was gonna make a thread "HELP AN IDIOT OPEN TRUNK" but thanks about this.

Anyhow, I was messing with my aftermarket camera, unplugged the conector in the trunk and long story short, got distracted and closed it with the conector unplugged = cant open the trunk!
I did consult the manual but after finding at the begging of it the stuff how to fold seats didnt bother to search further to page 510$#"%
It got dark so I was thinking wtf, icant get my hand through inside to open and stuff like that and was on my way thinking how im gonna make some kind of thing to get to the handle....horror!

Just the other day there was one of those plane crash investigation documentary where the crew got "low oxygen" signal lamp, so they went through the manual but since they had like 15 secs to do it they didnt made it to the part that said "put the masks on" so the plane crashed.

So, in a silly situation when the only thing to save your life is getting out through the trunk of a Mz3 sedan - unless you have a screwdriver and enough time to do the procedure - YOURE SCREWED!!!

 

Prior Training Prevents Piss Poor Performance. That was the second thing I asked the salesman, when I didn't see a trunk key hole, before I bought 3MOE, how do you get into the trunk when the battery is dead.

I saw on the news about 2 years ago, a story about a man, and a dog, in Texas dying while locked inside a new Corvette. The door handles on new Corvettes are electric and the battery died after the man had closed the door. There are many puzzling things about how something like this could happen, but the bottom line is; if the man had prepared himself and learnt about his new car before driving it, he could have gotten out of the car safely. Many things are becoming keyless, learn emergency procedures before hand.

 

Note to self: Throw flat head screwdriver in the side cubbies of the trunk

 

Dont "Throw flat head screwdriver in the the trunk"!

You cant get to it if its in the trunk:crying2:

 

On the UK Mazda 3, there is a cap at the top of the parcel shelf. You remove the inner cover then move a lever to fold the seat. You can then reach into the boot and trip the boot latch from the inside - p 7-67 of the UK Mazda 3 manual refers (see UK Mazda web site).

I found another problem - how do you disable the alarm if your key batter is dead? I found if I locked the car with the key fob then tried opening with the auxiliary key (which you would do if the battery had failed) then the alarm sounds. The only way to turn off the alarm seems to be to hold the key fob onto the Start button and start the car. Is there another method since this seems to be a stupid design?

 

It would made a lot more sense to just ad a simple push lock on the seat inside, easily reachable.
This way you have those two things in the trunk that can get in the way + in case of need to open trunk from the inside you have this time consuming procedure.

 

Obviously, this needs more explaining.

Problem is in SEDAN.

You need a screwdriver with you, in the glovebox for example, since you need it to unscrew a nut to get to the leaver.
@Brassmonkey - good thinking when asking the dealer about it but im pretty sure 99.99% of people wont think about it untill there is a need to do it.

 

Obviously, this needs more explaining.

Problem is in SEDAN.

According to the instructions posted by @vieravy , the hatch requires a screwdriver for a manual open from the interior as well. I've not yet had a reason to open it manually, but good to know nonetheless!

 

Sorry you couldn't get to your jumper cables (and that your battery died of course). Every owner should read this thread because as others have said, it's very unlikely anyone would know the procedure for manually folding the seat from the inside to get to the manual trunk (boot) lid release lever.

Honestly, I am really surprised that Mazda designed something so non-intuitive. Every other car I have owned had key access to the open the trunk AND also allowed you to easily fold down the rear seats from the inside via a simple, easy to see lever. The rear seats on the 3 have to folded down by first opening the trunk and accessing the fold down levers which is odd now that I think about it. The 'secret' cover and need to have a screw driver for the manual interior procedure is even stranger in retrospect.

 

Yes, I fully agree. Why isn't there a mechanical back-up for getting into the trunk when the battery dies, or the electric trunk(boot) switch doesn't work???? I feel that Mazda dropped the ball on this one, unless it was done on purpose. I wonder if this design is only on export models!!!

Honestly, I am really surprised that Mazda designed something so non-intuitive. Every other car I have owned had key access to the open the trunk AND also allowed you to easily fold down the rear seats from the inside via a simple, easy to see lever. The rear seats on the 3 have to folded down by first opening the trunk and accessing the fold down levers which is odd now that I think about it. The 'secret' cover and need to have a screw driver for the manual interior procedure is even stranger in retrospect.

 

I've removed the screw and 'secret' inner cover permanently. I now have no need to keep a screwdriver in the car. I just raise the cover on the parcel shelf and move the lever to the left to lower the seat back.

 

So is it that the battery totally was dead (aka no juice at all)? I've never had a battery go so dead the car had no power. Only dead enough that it can't spin the engine and just clicks.

How much juice is needed to pop the trunk I wonder?

 

Note to Self regarding my 2015 Mazda 3 Sedan If battery dies and have no way of jumping it:

Keep All tools and Jumper Cables in the Black Seat.

Keep Owner's Manual in glove Box. Not in trunk!

You cannot get into the trunk if the battery is dead, even if you use the key on the key fob to open the door. Believe me, you are in for one hell of a ride trying to get the trunk open to get your jumper cables and/or tools!#$%@#$!!!!

Mazda you dropped the ball on 2015 Mazda 3.
Not sure if this has been corrected, but yeah it should be!