Filed under: Recalls/TSBs, Nissan
Nissan recalling 650,000 Altimas and Sentras
NIssan has issued a recall for over 650,000 MY 2002 and 2005-06 Altimas and Sentras sold with the company's 2.5L four-cylinder engine, which may suddenly stop running. Automotive News reports that the problem lies with the crankshaft position sensor, which can overheat and stop sending signals to the car's computer brain. If the signal break is too quick for the ECU to diagnose the problem, it stops the engine, which obviously could be extremely inconvenient depending on what the driver's doing at the time. All it takes to fix the problem, however, is for Nissan dealers to reprogram the ECU, which they'll do free of charge, of course. If you've got an affected vehicle, expect a notification from Nissan around December 10th.[Source: Automotive News, sub. req'd]
_opt_thumbnail.jpg)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
James 3:36PM (11/21/2007)
Wow. About time Nissan (attempted to) fixed this problem (again). I had the engine cut out on me several times when I owned my SE-R, even after the initial throttle position sensor recall.
Reply
James 10:07PM (11/24/2007)
wow. is all i could say also. that will cost them a good penny, and they r not doing well.
paul34 4:07PM (11/21/2007)
Last year they did this same exact recall, but for 2004 models.
I guess this doesn't help Nissan's already poor image.
Sandy 1:40PM (1/28/2008)
Although I was initally overjoyed to hear of this recall in Nov 07 because I had just had the crankshaft position sensor replace in our 2005 Nissan Altima because the car didn't want to start and I hoped to get reimbursed for the repair. I have now been told by by Nissan that they are not recalling the crankshaft position sensor on our 2005 Altima, they are only asking people to bring in their cars to have the ECM reprogrammed. Seems to me like they are not wanting to pay for fixing all the problem. Has anyone else had to have the sensor replaced?
TBlueMax 3:41PM (11/21/2007)
Not sure I'm surprised given that I had the crankshaft position sensor replaced under a recall campaign on my 2002 Maxima several years ago. Didn't take long to replace and I even got a free oil change to go along with the service visit. I wonder if this is a supplier issue with the part or if there is an engineering/design flaw. Aside from this one part replacement, the car has run flawlessly since purchase.
Reply
DJB 3:43PM (11/21/2007)
It's just cheaper to get the cars burning gas than to spend the money on R&D and vendor diligence.
'Quality' is now a very blurry subject.
Consider my neighbors new Lexus IS 250awd that had two quality issues in the first 90 days. They came to the house and picked it up on both occasions and returned it to her door. In exchange for a perfect score on her survey, she received a high tech coffee maker and a cappucino machine. So neither issue showed up in JD Powers Initial Quality reports. Hmmmm.
Reply
Takeo 7:00PM (11/21/2007)
To me that says while the car isn't perfect, the customer service is outstanding! Compared to Merc-Benz, BMW and Audi I can see why Lexus is doing so well then.
Paul P. 3:48PM (11/21/2007)
Recalls for everyone!!!! Toyota, GM, Nissan..who's next?
Reply
paul34 4:09PM (11/21/2007)
Everyone - humans aren't perfect.
chuck 5:57PM (11/21/2007)
well, the interesting thing (tho totally superficial) is to search the Autoblog site for the word "recalling" and sort articles by date. Just look at all the manufactures doing recalls recently. Toyota, GM, Nissan, VW, Ford, BMW...As you say, "everyone".
The only difference is the what, why, & how (-many, -quickly, -old, -serious).
ebm14 12:08PM (11/22/2007)
I haven't really heard any recall about Mini or Subaru...
I am considering one of them along with the Rogue.
Willem B 4:17PM (11/21/2007)
how come there's not as much flaming here as in the other GM recall thread? And this is 8 times as many vehicles? And this is a major issue, compared to the GM ones!
hm...weird..
Reply
far jr 8:55PM (11/21/2007)
You don't consider a timing chain failure as a major issue? funny I would prefer to have a quick reflash of the ECU over a broken timing chain.
However Nissan should have fixed this problem long before now. 650,000 and a similar recall on 2004 models? This does not help Nissans recent poor quality showing. Oil burning 2.5s anyone? How about Titan/ Armada owners?
R.Autry 6:07PM (11/21/2007)
With the kind of money that cars cost today they could all do a much much better job of stemming out of box failures. Shameful!
Reply
Alicia 5:20PM (11/26/2007)
I agree! As Paul34 said above "Humans aren't perfect". That is correct, but at the same time this is my thousands of dollars i'm spending a car and because of their poor choices and mistakes my hundreds to thousands i'm spending to have the car repaired. Come on now. What a waste.
WillDaThrill 8:01PM (11/21/2007)
After changing the oil in my 2002 3.5 Altima, the engine started acting all sluggish, like it wanted to shut off. Went in and they replaced it with another crankshaft sensor, but it wasn't the new one because they were on back order. Maybe I should take it back to get it done.
Reply
Ronald 9:51AM (11/22/2007)
that would be smart...
Alicia 1:19PM (11/27/2007)
My car is a 2004 Sentra which I purchased new in the beginning of 2005. In the middle of 2006 (June 2006) 40 miles from home my car wouldnt start. I had asked more than enough times if it was normal that my car wouldn't start on the first and sometimes the 2nd try. This time it wouldnt start at all. The car wasnt even 2 years old. I had to have it towed to the dealership and repaired. It still does the same thing, but it hasn't not started again. They still tell me it performs the way its suppose to. Ridiculous! When I take it to have the wheels changed or an oil change and the car is brought back around to me when done, the employee always tells me not to shut it off because they were able to get it started. That's horrible. This is honestly my 1st and last Nissan.
whofan 8:10PM (11/21/2007)
Its taboo for an American company to have a recall.
Its just fine for Japanese company to have a recall or companys who call a recall a recall.
Got to love bias.
Reply
Ronald 9:53AM (11/22/2007)
thats what im saying! everyone flames the hell out of Ford, Chrysler, and GM. But Nissan, Honda, and Toyota simply smile and everythings fine!