Hey guys, I'm very new to this place and am hoping for a solution to my problem:

I bought my Rx8 just over a week ago and everything on it is great and it's helluva fun to drive, but about two days ago the latch mechanism to open the glove box broke and now I can't access it. I kind of need to since all of my legal documents, owner's manual, etc. are in there. I was wondering if any of you guys knew how I might go about removing it. I asked the guy at the dealership when it had just broken and he said he could do it in a few hours for about $350 (not to mention downtime for the shipping of the replacement part). Honestly, I would rather fix it myself for that much. Also, any diagrams of how the actual latching mechanism works for the rx-8 would be great. There is a tiny plastic guard that obscures my view when I try to observe the mechanics of it; it also prevents me from using a wire coat hanger (or something similar) to just engage the latch and open it manually. I have a feeling I will have to remove the actual dash trim and whatnot around the glove box first to get to it, but that makes me wonder if I should be mindful of accidentally triggering the passenger airbag and really messing myself up. So....what're your thoughts?

 

After looking at my glovebox:
Look behind the tab that you normally pull to open the glovebox. On the driver's side is the lock. On the passenger side there is a slot. Inside that slot is the mechanism that unlatches the door. When you pull the glovebox lever, it works an arm that pulls down a spring loaded part that almost looks like a little flag. Part of that flag comes down and sticks out of the slot when the glovebox door opens.

It looks like you can fashion a tool from a coat hanger in the shape of an "L". The "L" tab part should be about 1/4 inch long - maybe less. Stick the 1/4 inch "L" tab into the slot and fish around to see if you can snag the unlock flag and pull it down. If you can do that, the door will open. You'll have to depend on some luck to snag it.

 

same exact thing happened to me last night.. i fiddled with it this morning and found the mechanism the latch pushes to open the box and easily opened it..

anyone know if I can get mazda to warranty this?