Within the past 2 weeks I have noticed when I accelerate there is a whirring or winding sound coming from under the hood I think? I checked the transmission fluid level and it's slightly above the maximum fill level. The fluid appears to be very clean considering the vehicle has 96k miles. I had to replace the battery at about the same time as this noise began. Also, the airbag warning light has been coming on intermittently. Some days it's on and others it is not. Checked connections under both sides of the front seat and all seems to be OK. Are all these issues related? Can you suggest a quick fix to resolve these problems or do you recommend taking car in to a Mazda Service Center?
Thanks for reading this problem. Would appreciate a response so much.
Jim

From afar, my bet is that it has to do with the transmission. ATXs are the weak link in FWD vehicles. Every 30,000 miles, the transmission pan is supposed to be dropped and cleaned, magnet cleaned, filter replaced, and refilled with Mercon V. Try getting this done and see if the problem goes away.

Your problem may be a belt-driven accessory, too.
Remove the drive (sepentine) belt from the alternator, etc and drive the vehicle again.
You may or may not hear that whine.
If not, with the belt off, rotate each pulley that you can to find the one with the failing bearing.