Did anyone receive a tow hook with their vehicle? I see a slot in spare area where the jack and the lug nut wrench is, but it's empty.

 

My question would be, can you even install the tow hook on the 8th gen? If you can't then the foam insert was left overs from the 7th gen models.

 

There's a square cover that goes over where you put the tow hook into correct? It's on the black portion of the front bumper on the passenger side most. I've never taken it off, but that's what I was assuming would be the tow hook cover.

 

A little square cover about 2 by 2 inches is what's on 7th gen, but most have no threads in the bumper frame behind the cover to thread in the hook. If you have threads then the dealership should give you the hook.

 

I'm going to try to remove that to see if I have the threads. Any reason why it would be only be on some rather than all?

 

I have removed mine - no threads. I think it's only access for sensors(radar?) or something.

 

How did you arrive at that conclusion?

 

Missing equipment that should have been there when the car was delivered.

 

How did you conclude that the car is missing equipment? Just because you think it is?

Have you gone to your dealer and asked for your "missing tow hook"?

 

If the car was sold with a threaded hole behind the removable bumper access cover then the car should have been equipped with the hook so it could be used. There is a foam block next to the tire jack in the trunk that stows the hook when not in use. If there is no hook in that block of foam Nissan should owe you a hook as that is equipment that should of been there. If Nissan didn't continue this feature with the 8th gen, then why the access door in the front bumper and why the foam insert in the trunk to stow the hook?

I have not asked for the hook from the dealer as I do no have the threaded hole behind the access cover, no use for it. This feature was discontinued by Nissan early on during the 7th gen build. Some 7th gen cars came fully equipped with an operational tow hook. I am surprised that Nissan continued this feature of a tow hook on the 8th gen when it was fully abandoned years ago for the 7th gen Maxima.

 

I have not checked mine if there is an attachment for the tow hook. I only noticed that there was a cover (assumed it was for the tow hook) in the bumper as well as having a slot in the trunk. I don't see any reason why Nissan would design a bumper to have that cover and then not have the threads behind. Doesn't really bother me, but I guess i have to throw my plans of getting a license plate bracket that attaches to the tow hook slot.

 

This may be related to the thread we have going. The original intent was to have the 8th gen out as the 2014 model, and the initial design work for the 8th gen Maxima was underway back in 2010. But with the recession getting worse, things began to slip. I have heard that the plans changed because of the recession, and the 8th gen was slipped from the 2014 model year to the 2015 model year.

But early results from the redesigned CVT Nissan would use on the 8th gen Maxima ran into trouble when released on the Altima in 2013, and Nissan decided to delay releasing the 2015 8th gen Maxima until the CVT problems were fixed. But the fixes took longer than anticipated, so the release was slipped to the point that the 8th gen had to be released as the 2016 model. By that time (summer of 2015), it was too late to change plans for the ending of production of the 7th gen, so there is no model year 2015 for the Maxima.

The point here being that, at the time design work for the 8th gen was underway in 2010, it may be that the decision to delete the tow hook may either have not yet have been made, or that there may have been reason to think that decision might be reversed, so Nissan decided to cover the issue by having the opening available in the 8th gen front bumper design.

As info, we need to keep in mind that Monte informed us over a year ago that Nissan is changing the generation plan for the Maxima (and several other Nissan products), and it may be 2022 to 2024 before we see the 9th gen.

Auto companies sometimes work in mysterious ways, and we may never know the actual full story on the towhook opening, but it is easy to see how things probably evolved.

 

Or maybe they said "we built such a solid vehicle that it will never need to be towed" and decided not to add it.