SAFETY RECALL NOTIFICATION IN MAIL

[Phall92139]

Don't know if this has been addressed here or not but I'll share anyway.  Today in the mail I received a Safety Recall Notice from Nissan regarding some 2010 model year Xterra. By VIN I was identified as the owner of an effected vehicle.

Here's the info:

Make: NISSAN  Model: XTERRA
Model Year: 2010
Manufacturer: NISSAN NORTH AMERICA, INC. Mfr's Report Date: MAY 12, 2010
NHTSA CAMPAIGN ID Number: 10V208000  N/A
NHTSA Action Number: N/A 
Component: SUSPENSION:FRONT:CONTROL ARM:LOWER ARM
Potential Number of Units Affected: 41649
Summary:
 NISSAN IS RECALLING CERTAIN MODEL YEAR 2010 TITAN, ARMADA, QX56, FRONTIER, XTERRA, AND PATHFINDER VEHICLES MANUFACTURED FROM NOVEMBER 19, 2009 THROUGH MARCH 3, 2010. THE LOWER CONTROL LINK ASSEMBLY HAS TWO CYLINDRICAL COLLARS FORMING THE INBOARD ATTACHMENT POINTS TO THE CHASSIS. DUE TO AN IMPROPER WELDING PROCESS SOME COLLARS MAY CONTAIN WELDS THAT DO NOT MEET STRENGTH SPECIFICATIONS.
Consequence:
 IF THE COLLAR WELD SEPARATES, THE VEHICLE HANDLING WILL DETERIORATE, POSSIBLY RESULTING IN A VEHICLE CRASH.
Remedy:
 NISSAN WILL NOTIFY OWNERS AND DEALERS WILL REPAIR THE VEHICLES FREE OF CHARGE. THE SAFETY RECALL IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN ON OR ABOUT JUNE 14, 2010. OWNERS MAY CONTACT NISSAN AT 1-800-647-7261.

[fleury123]

Interesting , I heard about this although I am suprised since I dont see a whole lot of recalls from Nissan. I came close to getting an 2010, I ended up with on 08 Offroad.

[Phall92139]

Dealer inspection found defective lower control arms.  Ready for the recall they had all the replacement parts on hand, did the install, realigned the front end and I'm good to go.  Of course, no charge.

While I was there I had them do the 3,750 mile maintenance, replace a blown speaker in the rear passenger door and track down a squeak in the driver's front door to a bad window motor.  It didn't want to stop pulling the window down and place it in a bind, causing it to rub on the window regulator.  Both motor and regulator were replaced.

Now, after several heated phone calls, I'll take the Xterra back in on Tuesday so they can replace gouged and scratched front driver, passenger and rear passenger door panels, the front passenger chrome door and lock latches, and touch up several paint scratches where the monkey-fisted mechanic pried stuff off with a screwdriver or other metal tool rather than using nylon trim tools.  We'll be driving a free loaner while they correct the horrendous maintenance practices.

[Paul]

There's a dealership to avoid - care to drop the location for the rest of us so we can avoid them too.

[Phall92139]

There's a dealership to avoid - care to drop the location for the rest of us so we can avoid them too.

No problem, Paul. 

PACIFIC NISSAN
4433 Mission Bay Drive
Pacific Beach, CA 92109

Specific people to avoid:

• Brian Groves, Salesman
  Chad Jones, Service Manager
  Javier, Service Writer
  Jaun, Service Writer
  and any of the especially challenged women working behind the cashier counter

It's been a three-ring circus ever since we made our purchase.  The Garmin GPS was on back order and I ordered the cargo area cover, and cargo divider too.  A week passes I get a call that my merchandise is in and ready to pickup.  Get to the parts counter and no one has a clue what I am talking about.  I get back home and call our salesman and he says he's got the stuff at his desk.  Fine.  We make arrangements for me to meet him and make the pickup.  I show up at the dealership again, at the appointed time, but no salesman and no one knows where he's at or how to contact him.  He's a freakin' employee and they are telling me they don't have his phone niumber.  Another day goes by, I finally track this yahoo down, meet him at the dealership and he's got two of the three things he owes me.  Seems he, they, someone, forgot to order the cargo divider.  I tell him to forget it, take what he has and get them to refund the rest.

Like an idiot, I figure this is just a hosed-up sales staff and take the X back in for service, waranty and recall service and run into this latest crap.  Sure, everyone is apologetic and promising to make things right but that's not the point.  It should have never happened and their wasting my time, money, gasoline, and patience.   

Well, next time I need the dealership we will give Mossy Nissan a try.

[boomer818]

The Best dealer to go to is Performance Nissan in Duarte the best by far and Ive been around had 3 Xterras in the past 8 years the service there is the best. I deal with John.

[Phall92139]

The Best dealer to go to is Performance Nissan in Duarte the best by far and Ive been around had 3 Xterras in the past 8 years the service there is the best. I deal with John.

I appreciate the suggestion and if something else major should come up, maybe I'll look into them but realistically, my house to Performance Nissan is a 268 mile/4-1/2hour round trip.  That's a long haul to get something done these a-holes should be able to do here. 

We're taking the X back in this afternoon so they can see the damages and plan restitution, whether it be new door panels or touch-up paint and cleaning grease and hand prints from the interior. 

I'll let y'all know how they handle this situation.

[classicmfk]

Just as a warning to others (registered to chime in here), I also had nothing but bad experiences when dealing with Pacific Nissan. Back in '03 when I was trying to buy a Frontier they gave me the run-around by saying that they had the vehicle that I wanted on dealer trade and that it would be in "tomorrow." This went on for about a week and every time I called to check on it, they tried to sell me on a truck that they had "on the lot right now that you can drive home tonight," but wasn't what I wanted. Finally I got sick of it and ended up going to Mossy Escondido where they hooked me up with a year-end deal with no real hassle at all.

Now that I'm in the market for an Xterra I started shopping around to see if anyone had an '10 OR with manual transmission (they don't by the way  ) and Pacific Nissan tried to get me to come down by saying they had one they could dealer trade for and have for me as soon as that night. Alarm bells and deja vu. The Internet Manager at Mossy Nissan Escondido responded by letting me know that they had nothing in manual transmission besides the X 4x2 so an OR Manual would have to be a custom order. Straightforward response with no pressure to "come on down" or anything.

Sorry to hear that they botched your repair, but I can't say that I'm surprised. Avoid Pacific Nissan like the plague.

[Blackx]

I've only dealt with Mossy Nissan in Kearny Mesa once, but my experience wasn't bad.

[FrankB]

Since this has turned into a critique of San Diego area Nissan dealers:

Back in the mid-80's (a long time ago, now that I think about it) I bought 2 Datsun/Nissan trucks from Pacific Datsun (just changing over to Nissan at the time I got the first one, it had both names on the truck). The dealership was fine to deal with back then, and they were even pretty good when the first one blew a head gasket while on the freeway doing 65MPH (the engine was gone by the time I got to the shoulder).  If they have gone downhill as much as it sounds like that is too bad, because they used to be good people, at least in my experience.

The next 2 Nissans came from what was then Escondido Nissan, later purchased by Mossy. Mossy has always been good to deal with, both in purchasing and service. Over the years I've purchased 5 Nissans from Mossy (not counting the 2 from Escondido).

I have had all of the service on my 05 Xterra done at the Mossy store in Poway (except for a little bit of work done at their Kearny Mesa store).  I also bought the X at Poway.  Poway has always been great for service, including doing oil changes with the full Shrock skids in place.  They did ask that I take the skids off for the 30K service, but I thought that was a reasonable request given what they needed to work on. 

[Phall92139]

Just a post to let you guys know I haven't whined and forgot about this.  We just got back from vacation.  Prior to leaving on July 23, Pacific Nissan ordered all new interior door replacement panels.  We called today and found that the panels are in but the service manager handling this issue is out on vacation until Friday.  We have an appointment to have the panels installed next Thursday, 8/19.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

[fleury123]

 I got a notoice here on the ship for a recall on my 08 offroad for the LCU bushing or somthing. I will be able to take it back maybe in 2011 . lol Who are the good dealer who wont bother to nitce the upgrades with a warrenty?

[Phall92139]

Update:  Thursday has come and gone.  X went back to dealer to have the interior panel on each door replaced that were scratched/gouged by careless mechanic using metal tools for removal back on July 3.   Although the dealer immediately ordered replacement parts, in all fairness, we were on vacation and out of town from July 23 to August 10.  Anyway, we take the X back in Thursday, 38 days after the fact and they can replace only 3 of 4 panels because nobody checked to see if they had received the right panels.  Once again they have ordered another panel and we'll take more our time to take the X back to them for installation .What a business.

[XterracerX]

Sorry to hear about your predicament Phil.

I bought my very first car in Pacific Nissan back in 90's. It was a 1986 Nissan 200SX but since it was pre-owned, I never had to take it back since I never really had any major issues with it.

I bought my Xterra at Mossy Nissan Kearny Mesa and although I am quite happy with the purchase, I didn't appreciate how the 2 dealer reps are fighting for the commission for the sell and kept calling me days after I drove the Xterra home. Very unprofessional.

When I was due to have my supercharger replaced, Kearny Mesa Mossy Nissan kept saying that the rattling noise was "normal" and after taking it back two times, they kept saying the same thing. I have 7 days left on my extended warranty so I knew I had to take it somewhere else. In the process, they were able to sell me an intake cleaning job, throttle body and injector flush. I wrote a nasty letter to Nissan and the service guy no longer works there.

Desperate, I took my Xterra to another Mossy Nissan in National City and within minutes of listening to the rattling noise, the service guy took the Xterra in for a warranty-covered replacement. Two days later, I got a new supercharger and heard that familiar whine under the hood again... at least it wasn't from my pocket. I was spared $3,500 for the job since it was still covered under warranty (I had about 2 days left).

I recently met a service mechanic for Mossy who would do the job on the side. As long as you have the parts, he will do take care of the labor for you at a fraction of the cost.

So far, I've had my timing belt, all fluids flushed, both exhaust manifolds and among other things taken care of.

We all share your pain Phil. Hope all goes well.

[Phall92139]

Thanks for the info, XterracerX.  I think I've decided to give Mossy, Nasty City a try when it's time for service.  I'm pretty well done with Pacific Nissan.

BTW- looking at the Member Map we've gotta just about be neighbors.  If you see an ol' fat man driving 2010 Xtrerra Off Road, Night Armor...wave, it's probably me.