Photo: Nissan
A lot of curious faults have forced automakers to recall their cars throughout this year. It all started with the notorious General Motors ignition switch saga and then the Toyota re-recall of nameplates fitted with Takata airbags. Even BMW called back a lot of 3 Series from the E46 era, but now comes Nissan's turn to be at the bottom of the barrel.
After an internal investigation, Nissan North America deemed necessary to announce a recall that covers an estimated 220,423 examples of the 2013 model year Altima sedan built between March 6th, 2012 through February 28th, 2013. What is the problem with the previously mentioned population of cars?
Well, documents submitted and published by vehicle safety watchdog NHTSA inform an interference is the culprit here, one between the hood inner panel and secondary latch lever. That interference combined with debris and corrosion (corrosion on a 2-year-old car is unacceptable) may cause the secondary hood latch to bind, remaining in the unlatched position when the hood's closed.
Nissan notes that the primary latch may inadvertently release if the secondary hood latch isn't engaged, a condition that translates to a hood that unexpectedly opens while driving. As I'm sure you might've figured already, that makes forward visibility impossible for the driver, increasing the risk of a crash.
The remedy to this non-compliance condition comes in the form of service technicians instructed to modify the bend angle of the hood actuation lever in order to eliminate potential interference with the hood inner panel. In addition to that, Nissan dealers will clean and lubricate the latch joint as needed. If significant corrosion is observed, the entire latch assembly will be replaced at no cost to the owners.
Well, documents submitted and published by vehicle safety watchdog NHTSA inform an interference is the culprit here, one between the hood inner panel and secondary latch lever. That interference combined with debris and corrosion (corrosion on a 2-year-old car is unacceptable) may cause the secondary hood latch to bind, remaining in the unlatched position when the hood's closed.
Nissan notes that the primary latch may inadvertently release if the secondary hood latch isn't engaged, a condition that translates to a hood that unexpectedly opens while driving. As I'm sure you might've figured already, that makes forward visibility impossible for the driver, increasing the risk of a crash.
The remedy to this non-compliance condition comes in the form of service technicians instructed to modify the bend angle of the hood actuation lever in order to eliminate potential interference with the hood inner panel. In addition to that, Nissan dealers will clean and lubricate the latch joint as needed. If significant corrosion is observed, the entire latch assembly will be replaced at no cost to the owners.
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