I've only recently discovered this forum, and after reading through some of the HID theft threads am appalled that Nissan is not doing more to protect our investment.

I have been victimized twice in the past three months. It was amazing to me at first since I've owned this car since 10/15/01, and only after an entire year did this happen (that was the first time... the second time happened 4 days after getting it fixed the first time ). I was even fortunate enough to catch the thieves on tape on the second strike (couldn't get to sleep at night). For everyone's information this PRO took no more than 30 seconds to get away with both my lights (according to the police officer's stop watch). Unfortunately, the cops did not recognize the faces, and the get-away car's license plate was not clear enough to pick up off the tape.

I understand that due to the light's design they are marketable on the street, but shouldn't Nissan take the initiative to redesign the light housing to keep the thieves from simply tearing them off the car? The PLASTIC brackets are laughable, I don't imagine it takes much force to simply sheer them off. Can anyone say USE METAL? How about a factory alarm that does more than protect your investment when the doors are opened?

I contacted Nissan, and was told (to my dismay) that Nissan is not planning any nationwide recall because these incidents are only occuring in NY, NJ and CT (Well excuse me... isn't our hard earned cash as green as the rest of the country's). When I approached my dealer about my experience, the service girl told me (flat out lie) that she has only heard of such things happening in NY (Newsflash... You can't say that anymore).

I am not out looking for a handout (even though I am out $1k in deductibles), nor do I expect a complete redesign in the Maxima's final year of production (5th Gen), but is it too much to ask for a fix to this situation when all I keep getting is denials and false propaganda?

If anyone on this forum is employed by Nissan, and has any knowledge of a fix/deterent please let us know. One poor bastard is considering removing his headlights at night like a damn Benzi Box (remember them). As for me, I've resigned myself to parking several BLOCKS away from my residence at a secured garage, which is costing me "mucho bucks", but all in all probably paying for itself... As just this morning I spied three Maxima's with missing headlights within one block of my old parking lot.

God help us all!!!

Happy New Year,
Quid

 

Sorry to hear about your loss. I'm going thru the same situation now (only my first loss, though) and I understand your frustration. I can't believe that it only took 30 seconds. In my post I had said it took between 3-4 minutes for mine but now that I think more about it, from the point the dog wakes me, I get up, walk to the window, adjust my eyes to the dark and my brain finally says "oh s*it" and I dart out the door, it couldn't be that long. How did they get into yours? Do you have pictures of the damage?


As a consumer, I don't know how we can force Nissan to do anything. I strongly believe that they don't want to do anything. Why would they when they're getting over $2000 in parts everytime a car gets hit. Multiply that by the number of people who own this car in populated cities and you can see that they would want to ignore the problem. I don't know if we have any legal ground to force a recall. I'm not even sure that we can reported it to the NTSB as it is not a safety issue (well, it is if you attempt to drive at night).

 

I got the whole incident on tape. I was losing sleep after getting the car back from the body shop, and set up a camcorder out my window. I taped each night until they came back for the second set FOUR DAYS LATER!!!

The PERP didn't even mess with my hood, all he did was stick a tool in the gap between the hood and fender and pull... Those PLASTIC TABS shattered apart. Unfortunately, because of the darkness, distance (I live on the 15th floor in a high rise) and the fact that I have a cheap 10 y/o camcorder, the shot wasn't clear enough to lift a plate off the PERP's car (which he ingeniously used to block the view from street level).

BTW - The PERPS were driving a late model BLACK AUDI A4 (w/ NJ plates). The PERP that got out to do the deed was wearing a doo-rag on his head. Looked hispanic, or light skinned black.

I realize Nissan is making a fortune on this gig, but I thought it might help if everyone (especially everyone in this forum) would spread the word to the general population (through auto reviews like epinions, and MSN's auto review section). I suspect that even though the 6th Generation Maxima is coming out soon, Nissan would not want to get stuck with all their 2003 stock due to informed consumers. That might cause them to fix their obvious design flaw. At least offer a wiring harness to retrofit the 2000-2001 lights on the 2002-2003.

I just want to be able to park the damned car!!!!!

 

Wow! I can't believe you got it on tape! That's awesome! Useless with a crappy camcorder, but still awesome! I would send the tape to Nissan with an invoice for $1000 for their flawed design. They won't pay it, but it would be a nice eye opener for them to see how easy it is to gank them.