Sup everyone, I bought my car used at about 20,000 miles about 4 months ago and I havent received any recall letters at all. I am wondering if I will still get the letters even though I bought the car used (I bought it from a toyotal dealer down in Florida and I live in CT, a very very snow filled state) ....any thoughts?

 

You will have to call Nissan cust svc and tell them you own the car. They sent the letter to the original owner. 1.800.Nissan1 is the number.

 

You know, I see alot of complaining about the quality and craftmanship of thier Nissan. I have to admit I have had some issues with mine also but all have been adressed and fixed. If you want to see poor craftsmanship buy a Cadillac Escalade. Try spending $56,000 for a plastic POS that falls apart, now this is just the Escalade most other Cadillac products are pretty good (CTS).

 

let me just say nissan quality is not the same as it was back a couple of years.

 

Not at all. Sorry to say it but all the nissans on the consumer reports not recommed list are all US built nissans. Titan, maxima,Altima. The 5 gen max was the last half decent maxima built in terms of quality

 

GM products tend to use "fisher price-like" pieces for their interior.. they're all crrap..

 

just like i said it is not the same as it was a couple of years ago aka a couple of years ago is when the 5th gen came out.

 

Here is a copy of the official letter.

http://www.nissanhelp.com/Ownership/.../NTB05-114.htm

Update - This is only the first few pages of the entire recall bulletin. The full service procedure is actually 56 pages long.

 

boondoxmax - Your statement that US built Nissans are not recommended by Consumer Reports mystifies me.

I am looking at the April 2005 Consumer Reports Annual Auto Issue, and find (and I already knew this) that the Maxima, Altima and Titan are not only ALL THREE RECOMMENDED, but the 2004 Altima and Maxima were rated higher in reliability than their 2003 counterparts. There was, of course, no Titan in 2003.

In fact, CR said if it weren't for the torque steer (my 04 SL has no torque steer), stiff ride (that is what the SE is all about; my SL ride is very smooth) and large turning radius, the 6th gen Maxima would (quote) 'BE AMONG THE BEST IN EITHER THE UPSCALE OR FAMILY SEDAN CATEGORIES'.

More specifically, the reliability scores for the '04 Maxima, as determined from problem reports filled out by owners and returned to CU, show the highest reliability score possible (orange ball) for 11 of the 14 rating categories, and next to the highest score available (half an orange ball) in the other three categories.

I am one who is very impressed that the 'double whammy' of a total redesign, and moving assembly to the US at the same time, was overcome, resulting in as fine a product as it has.

I absolutely love my '04 SL. Of course, I still love my very reliable 2000 SE, also. These are the two most reliable (and finest) vehicles I have owned in 55 years of driving.

 

Those who have not gotten the letter from Nissan should note that in the official letter jvitale linked above, it says there are over 400,000 vehicles involved, so the work will obviously be done in very gradual stages.

The first stage will involve 2002 and 2005 vehicles in 'salt' states (salt states are listed in the letter). This is because 2002 vehicles have been on the road longest, hence are most likely to need repairs, while the 2005 vehicles are most unlikely to need any repairs, hence will take almost no time to handle.

The letter also states the problem does not affect handling or safety.

Because of the very large number of vehicles involved, it will probably take a year or two for Nissan to properly handle them all. Our criticism of Nissan in this situation is not justified. They not only admit to the problem (more than some companies would do), they extend the coverage of the involved parts for 13 years (very generous coverage), and have already set up an orderly system of fixing the problem.

I don't see how we could reasonably expect a better response than this.

 

Very well put light

Sure I was negative in my post but I have all the TSB's for the repairs and I finally got the back seat to go down thanks to the input from this site. As I was an engineer in the automotive business for too many years, those that I did work for (so called big 3 which are soon to be top 10 only) certainly would have not had a recall and extended the warranty period.

Hats off to Nissan and I still love the 6th gen more than any previous version.

 

i called nissan directly earlier this week and they said there were NO recalls or anything like this for my 2004 maxima. I told her that many people on this forum were getting these letters and she told me it depends on when the car was manufactured because not all of the cars are affected even if they are the same year model. I even asked her about the heated seats recall and she said this also didnt apply to my car spefically.

 

Killah Kane - I am a little surprised your car is not included in this recall, as you seem to be in a priority group for immediate recall. The most logical reason your car may (as Nissan told you) actually not be part of the recall, would be if your vehicle was built later in the 2005 model year than the point at which updated parts began being installed on the assembly line. I hope that is the case.

For owners not included in this first recall, here is how I would guess things might go:

Per the letter discussed in the second post before this one, It says Nissan will recall only the 2002 and 2005 vehicles in snow states at this time. I would not expect the recall to be issued for 2003 and 2004 vehicles immediately.

This procedure is natural, in that there is no way Nissan service departments can process almost half a million vehicles in a month or two. Even if they could, Nissan may not have the hundreds of thousands of replacement parts that may be required ready and waiting.

I can't predict how the recall will go forward, but I would guess the next recall will be very soon, and will be for the 2002 and 2005 vehicles in non-snow states, as those dealers will not have been greatly impacted by this first snow-state recall.

Within a few months (or more), as the snow-state dealers get past the heaviest part of the first recall, Nissan will probably recall the 2003 and/or 2004 vehicles in snow states. Next, after dealers in non-snow states have gotten past the larger portion of the 2002/2005 recall, Nissan will recall the 2003s and/or 2004s in non-snow states.

This may sound convoluted, but is actually a very logical process.

In a nutshell, 2003 and 2004 owners may not have their vehicles recalled for this problem until the 2002s and 2005s have been handled.

 

I wouldn't worry about it, don't want too get wrapped up about problems that Nissan has officially taken ownership for. All either quit sweating or buy duct tape to keep your cars together.

 

Looking for the chrome duct tape now

 

Agree, all duct tape should be color coordinating.

 

I was at my stealership yesterday, and the service manager went over the fix with me. I haven't even received my letter yet. He showed me a big box of sub-frames they had already received and told me they had already done a couple of Altimas (but no Maximas yet). As you know, both vehicles share the same platform.

He told me it would be an all day affair to get it fixed. They have to drop the exhaust, rear suspension, lots of other parts, then replace the rear sub-frame (shape of an "X") and put everything back. (A mechanic later told me he did an Altima in about 3 hours, and it was pretty straight forward).

The good news is that he said he would put in my Cattman rear stabilizer bar for free when they changed the sub-frame, since they have to take the old one off anyway.

 

Canadian letters were just sent out. I received my yesterday.

 

PWNT

well stated. I figured the delay was due to such common sense reasons. but there are still non-salt letter recipients already. When I glanced the online note, most cars are just receiving and undercoating, not replacement. So I guess it's good I didn't receive one yet. I'll wait till after this "salt season" is over.

 

lucky me my 2005 Vech id number Does not fall under the recall, but i wonder what they did to fix the porb on the ones that are supposedly ok and not in the recall?

 

Oh Snap I got mine today..

 

Here is a copy of the Service Bulletin

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze71tog/w...clemotorsports

 

Same here....I'm in Columbus. Have not seen either notice. Hmmm, I better make a call.

 

Now help me here...Are ALL these recalls that I need to get addressed??

http://nissanhelp.com/Bulletins/Maxima/2004/1.htm

I just talked to Nissan and they said the subframe issue starts off as an inspection. More than likely it wont need to be replaced, but if it does, it could take a few days.

 

Well I just this week purchased an 04 Maxima from North Carolina... southern car but it'll be making its new home up north with me in the rust belt. It's nice if this rear subframe corrosion issue will be covered under warranty, but rather than taking a chance against corrosion (difficult, I know) I'd like to see if there's something I can do to help prevent it. More frequent underbody washes at the car wash? Maybe a trip to Ziebart? I still have a 94 Altima (1st gen) that I've taken care of over the years... regular waxing, paint chip touchups, etc and the body has held up beautifully. I'd like to think that my "new" Maxima will have the same luck (with some help from myself, of course).

Thoughts from you fellow salt region owners?

 

this is very true, at our dealrship, we have a little over 600 altimas alone to do, and we got only 8 techs to do them. with regards as to how long it takes, one guy did it in 2.6 hrs, while another did one in 6 hrs. mostly cause he doesn't want to buy the car.

 

I got my letter the other day and basically it stated that my state was not one of affected areas being I live in Florida. However, as much salt air and water we have around here on some of the local streets, I am surprised they are not concerned with the corrosion. I do think it is great they are extending the warranty on the affected assembly but do they think that people who don't live only where it snows won't travel to these areas or possibly move to one someday with their car? To me if the part is destined to fail from a corrosive enviroment then shouldn't they replace them all?

 

Got my letter Saturday. Definitely going to be a problem in NYC where salt is used every winter. If a new Supra comes out in 07 or 08 I won't need to worry about it.

 

Got mine yesterday. Lets see where this leads.

 

I received my letter a couple of weeks ago. I took my car in for an oil change today and the work order came up on the computer regarding the rear subframe. They are working on it now. There was another work order regarding the lumbar support. Don't know anything about this one.

 

Hole-y rusted metal Batman! Nothing can rot like a 67 Chevy! How dare you!

 

Ok, I have a question. I just got my 04 max new years eve. I'm reading about all of this, should I call my dealer to see if any of this needs to be done to mine? I want to make sure that i get notified ofall recalls and problems that will need to be fixed.....

 

read the Stickies

 

thanks. I did after I posted the message and I'm up to date.

 

Received mine yesterday. I am in New York with tons of salt. Best to get it in for a oil change and see what happens.

PEACE
04WHITESE

 

This is Nissan territory, on a quiet night, you can hear Chevy's and Ford's rust!

 

Just got my letter today. I don't think this will be a major problem for me, especially when the letter categorically says that it would still be safe to drive my car, with or without this problem. Bottomline: Im still happy that Nissan has the ***** to issue this potential problem! Happy driving everyone!!!

 

Well.....finally got mine also........

 

I got the letter last week. Seems a bit later than some of the others who received them.

 

I got mine in today with a sticker I'm suppose to attach to my vehicle warrenty book, it states:

"The coverage period of the Nissan New Vehicle Limited Warranty applicable to all model year 2002-2005 Nissan Altima and 2004-2005 Maxima vehicles is extended to 13 years from the original in-service date/unlimited mileage for the rear sub-frame due to corrosion only. The Warranty, including all terms, limitations and conditions, otherwise remains unchanged. Nissan North America WB/05-038 December, 2005"

So I'm not going to sweat it, I keep the car really clean, including the sub frame and my ride is garage kept. If weather gets too bad, I take our SUV anyway. ****, 13 years from now, I will definitely be in something else anyway, no need having a panic attack over it...