Washington, D.C. – Feb. 7, 2017 – A Nissan recall could target certain newer Altima models over possible door latch concerns. This represents the most recent door-related issue for this vehicle in a series of several.

The Defect

This recall affects 341,005 Altima vehicles with the 2015, 2016 and 2017 model years. According to the recall acknowledgement statement submitted Jan. 18, a poorly routed lock could mean the rear door in some of these vehicles accidentally opens when the rear window is lowered. This is because the latch-lock cable in affected vehicles could interfere with the window regulator.

Timeline of Events

According to an official Part 573 Recall Report, the manufacturer noticed the defect between July and August. Although Nissan determined the cause by the start of October, it didn’t confirm the need for a recall until later in the year, making the official decision on Jan. 10, 2017. Despite early estimates that this was confined to a single vehicle, later tests showed how the production process could create the same defect again.

Resolution

As of this writing, there was no official owner notification date listed on the latest recall report. However, the initial acknowledgement did state that the fix would involve an update to the cable to prevent this issue in the future.

Last January, a different Nissan recall concerned the hood latches in 2013, 2014 and 2015 Nissan Altima vehicles. That error left affected vehicles at risk of opening hoods while driving, as the secondary latches stuck in open position. A patch will reportedly make the door’s sealing screen more effective, as the vehicle accommodates the proper cable housing.

The recall affected 846,000 vehicles subject to earlier recalls, and the 2016 recall was meant to replace the earlier efforts as dealers installed more up-to-date hood latches into these vehicles.

Washington, D.C. – October 25, 2016 – A brake fluid leak in some Nissan vehicles may cause an electrical short which carries with it the risk of a fire breaking out, according to a recall memo from the National Traffic Safety Administration. The Nissan vehicles mentioned in the report included the 2016-2017 Maxima, 2015-2017 Murano and 2015-2016 Murano hybrid. Additionally, the report mentioned that as many as 120,329 vehicles were affected by the issue. Nissan informed dealers on September 2, 2016, and began preparing notifications for the owners to go out via first class mail some time in the following 60 days.

The Defect

The vehicles that are at risk for having the defect mentioned in the recall are equipped with actuators that were manufactured outside of specified dimensions. In fact, the wrong die temperatures may have resulted in the formation of seal hardness in the vehicles with Nissan’s Intelligent Cruise Control. If this occurs, the seal will likely leak brake fluid onto a circuit board. Although an ABS warning lamp, should be triggered in response to the leak, the an electrical short can occur and a fire could break out at that location in your vehicle.

Timeline Of Nissan’s Response

Nissan recommended that if the ABS light inside your Nissan vehicle stays illuminated for more than 10 seconds, you should pull over and park your car as soon as you can. Although it took a little time to investigate the issue, Nissan has done a good job of putting together a game plan to handle the recalls. Here are a few distinct actions that Nissan took over the course of first finding out about the problem to the issue of a recall:

• June 7, 2016: Nissan was first notified of an incident involving thermal damage to a 2016 Nissan maxima. There was an inspection of the vehicle scheduled immediately to determine the cause and origin of the problem.
• June 2016: After the inspection, Nissan determined that a fire did occur and likely originated in the area around the ABS actuator. Upon further investigation, it was made clear that the ABS warning lamp was on prior to the issue. Nissan proceeded to notify the ABS actuator unit supplier (ADVICS) and continued the investigation with the supplier.
• June 2016 – August 2016: In collaboration with ADVICS, Nissan attempted to determine whether or not this is an isolated incident or one that affects a collection of vehicles. Nissan also monitored other incidents that sound similar to this one more closely.
• August 24, 2016: Based on evidence from the investigation, Nissan determined that the defect was real and a risk to driver safety. As such, the company conducted a safety recall campaign to remedy the issue as much as possible.

The Solution

Every individual who responds to Nissan’s recall can have their vehicle examined at a dealership. Your Nissan professional should inspect the serial number of your ABS actuator to see if it was manufactured during an affected time. If it was, the dealer will replace your ABS actuator at no cost to you, the owner.

Franklin, Tenn. — September 16, 2016 — A group of 1,140 Nissan vehicles may experience engine shutdown in some circumstances. According to the Part 573 Safety Recall Support, submitted July 8, the recall affects both 2012 and 2013 Infiniti M35 Hybrid models. The ones concerned were specifically produced between March 23, 2010 and September 9, 2013.

As the report described, the cooling systems in these vehicles could malfunction, leading them to possibly overheat. While this would set off the warning lamp, the source said that occupants could ignore this sign, putting themselves in potential danger. This would not affect the brakes, but it would possibly stop the engine, leaving passengers and drivers at risk of an accident.

Nissan has investigated the issue since April and is having dealers reprogram software in affected vehicles free of charge for owners. The campaign’s Aftersales Retailer Support document went into further detail about this action, describing exactly how the vehicles in question are distributed: The majority (1,130 units) are in the U.S., with 94 in Canada, six in Puerto Rico and four in Guam.

This notice also said that the affected vehicles were manufactured in Tochigi, Japan. No parts are apparently necessary for the repair other than the software, already available through ASIST. Though the advisory said that dealer repair times could vary, it also estimated that the repair process would take “approximately 1 hour.”

All authorized Infiniti dealers are supposedly able to conduct this service, but they are cautioned to update their software and turn off external devices before preparing to fix the issue.

Earlier this year, other Infiniti vehicles, including different years of the QX60 and Q50 models, were part of a different recall for possible Occupant Classification System issues. All together, 3,177,645 were potentially affected.

Franklin, Tenn. — July 19, 2016 — Vehicle owners around the world could be affected by the new Nissan recalls affecting thousands of Infiniti vehicles.

Reuters reported on this new effort, which could affect vehicles in China and Canada as well as the U.S. A steering-related software glitch could reportedly trigger a malfunction, resulting in more difficult handling for drivers trying to use the adaptive steering functions.

At the time of this writing, few official details about the recall have been released. The manufacturer will include around 60,000 Q50 vehicles in the total from all impacted countries, as the company works to address the risk level.

Reuters spoke to Roland Krueger, president of Infiniti Motor Company, Ltd. and senior vice president of Nissan Motor Company, Ltd., about upcoming plans for new steering systems. Nissan and Infiniti apparently want to integrate autonomous driving functions at some point in the future.

“With this (steering) function, we can offer what we call partial autonomous drive already, so the car above approximately 60 kilometers per hour on the highway can be driven hands free,” Kreuger said.

While no remedy was listed, Autoblog guessed that the concern could require a software update at dealerships as the manufacturer starts notifying owners.

Previous recall: Occupation Classification System issues

It’s the most recent recall to affect the brand, months after an unrelated concern prompted a different action. On April 26, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration posted information about a wide-reaching Nissan recall concerning the Occupant Classification System. According to the Safety Recall Report, the OCS could potentially wrongly suppress the airbag by misidentifying whether a seat is occupied.

Although the report described this case as “rare,” it did say that the misclassification could stay in place until up to 13 seconds after the vehicle has stood stationary. The system could misread a seat occupied by an adult as either containing a child or not occupied at all. In the latter case, the Passenger Airbag Indicator light will not turn on, leaving owners with no way to determine if the glitch has occurred.

The preliminary information in this report said that 2.6 million vehicles were potentially involved in this recall. In addition to 2014-2016 Infiniti Q5 models, the action also included two other ranges of Infiniti models: the 2013 Infiniti JX35 and the 2014-2016 QX60.

Another Q50 recall for steering problems

Reuters also mentioned another recall including the Infiniti Q50, this one from 2013. Other NHTSA documents confirm that the company recalled 23 model year 2014 Q50 autos, also for an adaptive
steering problem.

The Defect Information Report on this action said that freezing temperatures could disrupt the normal flow of electrical current within the steering setup. Vehicle occupants could then be at higher risk of a crash, since the mechanical backup system would take longer than usual to engage.

Nissan’s investigations into this problem dated back to 2013, when it started identifying the possibly affected Q50 vehicles. Within six days, it had decided to submit a report to the NHTSA in response to the safety defect. A later Quarterly Report showed that all of the remedies for this recall were completed by Q2 of 2014.

The future of adaptive steering

Other manufacturers are paying attention to the future possibilities of adaptive steering. Last September, Ford announced that the 2016 Ford Edge would harness this technology for both low and high speeds.

The system is said to be housed in the steering wheel, a press release from the company said, though it also adjusts the turn ratio based on the vehicle’s speed and the current conditions. The maker’s Edge Sport and Titanium were slated to use this feature, as well as the Ford S-MAX and Galaxy in Europe, before expanding to other Ford brands.

Franklin, Tennessee — July 6, 2016 — Some Nissan owners may notice a problem with the brake lights in their vehicles. Because a switch in certain 2013 and 2014 Pathfinder vehicles may not have been properly installed, the lights could stay on when the owner isn’t currently activating the brakes.

As an official report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration noted, this could inadvertently lead to a crash if other drivers mistakenly assume that the affected Pathfinder is slowing down. As of  June 1, no crashes were yet attributed to this issue, though there were also no specific indications listed for owners to look out for.

In addition to this concern, the same recall addresses a related problem in the same vehicles. A badly installed brake light switch could also disrupt the shift interlock and accidentally move the vehicle out of park when it is left stationary. As such, the remedy will address both the brake lamp switch and the stop lamp relay.

Nissan officially decided to conduct this recall May 19, more than six months after it addressed the possible problem in a December 2015 Technical Service Bulletin. A total 79,853 units are potentially affected, although only 2 percent are estimated to have the defect.

Last month, a similar concern prompted a different recall, this one from Fiat Chrysler. According to the Detroit News, that manufacturer recalled 2,185 trailer light modules because of a possible software error. The article stated that these units could potentially fail to light up when the driver presses the brake pedal, also creating the chance of a crash.

Franklin, TN — May 18, 2016 — Brake fluid issues are the source of a new series of Nissan recalls for Murano and Maxima model vehicles, with 2016 or 2017 model years. Only the 12,622 vehicles included in this effort are subject to the recall since they contain a specific type of anti -lock braking system actuator. As with a Toyota recall announced earlier this year, the Nissan action concerns vehicles with weakened O-rings: this condition could lower brake pressure to dangerous levels.

The Part 573 Recall Safety Report stated that the efforts behind the recall go back to January 2016, when a Nissan plant operator discovered a possible issue within a pair of actuators. Nissan officially decided to enact the voluntary recall on March 30, with a plan to notify owners within 60 days, with the recall proper beginning on June 6. Affected vehicles could violate the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.

Dealers can help owners by replacing any actuators that fall within the range of the recall. Though there is reportedly no field information related to this issue, the company began looking for any relevant field data between February and March. The affected parts come from the supplier ADVICS North America, based in Lebanon, Ohio.

The similar Toyota recalls were announced on April 6, with the company warning of damaged actuator components. This case involved 12,400 ES350 vehicles, among others, and only concerned 2016 model year vehicles.

Dealers were instructed to use the serial number to find whether or not a brake actuator is included in the recall. The actuator in this case doesn’t just control anti -lock braking, but also traction and vehicle stability control, posing possible larger issues for drivers when something goes wrong.

Franklin, TN — May 03, 2016 — According to a recent National Highway Traffic Administration report, March 7 found saw an accident at a Nissan plant that would later lead to a recall. Further investigations revealed that a starter wire harness terminal had been installed incorrectly on a 2016 Nissan Frontier. After further inspection, the manufacturer officially launched a voluntary recall action, including 1,554 Frontier pickup trucks.

Because of the way these harnesses were installed, the report states, affected Frontiers with a V6 engine could experience an electrical short, eventually causing a possible “thermal incident.” To fix the issue, dealers will reorient the harness to meet safety standards. Only 18 percent of the recalled vehicle population is believed to have the defect present. A short could lead to a possible fire in affected vehicles.

In a bulletin for dealers, the manufacturer provided more specific instructions on the repair procedure. The remedy does not require additional parts, but it does demand that dealer staff look closely at the motor wire area to improve harness alignment.

In particular, the wire eyelet needs to be facing the correct position: If not, the person conducting the repair has to reposition the wire so it’s at the right angle before reconnecting the battery. The original owner notification date was listed as some time in early April.

On the other hand, if the eyelet is already in the recommended position, no further action may be necessary. What’s more, mechanics only need to replace the heat shield if there are signs of damage. The same document also stated that the recall has expanded to now include 1,680 Nissan Frontier vehicles. Out of this number, the majority (1,543 vehicles) were in the United States. Other countries/territories included in the new action are Canada, Puerto Rico, Guam and Saipan.