Nissan Recalls 140,582 Altimas

[Flybrian]

Nissan recalls 140,582 Altimas because air filter may ignite

By Greg Bensinger | Link to Original Article @ The Chicago Tribune | Published July 9, 2007, 12:26 PM CDT

Nissan Motor Co. is recalling 140,582 of its 2007 Altima cars, the automaker's best-selling U.S. vehicle, because the air filter can catch fire if a hot object is drawn into it.

The recall affects Altima cars with a 2.5-liter, four- cylinder engine, the Tokyo-based automaker told the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Nissan told the Washington-based agency it began notifying owners July 3. Four fires were reported in February and March, the company said.

The filter will be replaced because it can ignite if something hot such as cigarette ash enters through the vehicle's fresh-air intake valve, Nissan said. An air deflector also will be installed to prevent a buildup of debris at the filter.

The Altima accounted for 140,253, or 26 percent, of Nissan's U.S. sales this year through June. The car was ninth in sales among all cars and light trucks in the U.S. during the period.

The recall affects Altimas built from Sept. 25 through May 11 at its plant in Smyrna, Tennessee, and those produced from Oct. 30 through May 11 at its Canton, Mississippi, factory, Nissan told the agency. The vehicles are under warranty, the company said.

Fred Standish, a spokesman for Nissan's Nashville, Tennessee-based U.S. unit, didn't immediately respond to a message seeking a comment.

[Drew Dowdell]

This is such non-news.

"A part of the car can catch fire if fire is dropped on it!"

NO WAY!!?!?

[regfootball]

LOL nissan sucks

[FAPTurbo]

www.Nissan Altima.justgotowned.com

[eldiablobanshee]

This is such non-news.

"A part of the car can catch fire if fire is dropped on it!"

NO WAY!!?!?

Yea who hear hasn't seen a brand new car smoldering on the side of the road. It such an everyday thing, totally not news worthy. :AH-HA_wink:

[eldiablobanshee]

www.Nissan Altima.justgotowned.com

The images on that site are just plain wrong

[prototype66]

No joke , I saw a Car B Q at 9:30 this morning on 127 south by the 69 ramp!

2007 Nissan Altima

--------------------

[toesuf94]

I wonder if "4" is Toyota speak for a lot of fires that we are not going to talk about - and I am not going to sit here and say that I like any Japanese car maker's cars, but I think GM has it's shares of fires - Supercharger BBQ anyone? We should understand a bit more that this is a man made machine and it can have it's faults. Hell, go to Wrecked Exotics and check out the Lambo's, Ferrari's and other exotics that burn down almost daily due to sticking breaks, poor heat shields, ect. GM is not perfect - no automaker is - so let's be a bit less scathing with the baby in the microwave photos and just take the news as a knock against the high perch the japanese makers have been placed and get on with life.

It is hipocracy like this that makes us look like the Toyota Kool-Aid drinkers...GM is not all roses either. We cannot sit here and blast Nissan for it's fires, and not think about the recent talk about the fires in GM's supercharged cars. If we do that, we drink from the same well as the guy who says his new Tundra will out tow a Ford F450 Super duty...and it will make us look just like him - a big bunch of jackasses.

[cletus8269]

can we compare nissan to the ford Exploder fiasco with Firestone then? hehe

as for wrecked exotics, that site turns my stomach whenever i go there... 70% of the cars wrecked are a case of too much car, not enough driver... in my opinion.

[toesuf94]

can we compare nissan to the ford Exploder fiasco with Firestone then? hehe

as for wrecked exotics, that site turns my stomach whenever i go there... 70% of the cars wrecked are a case of too much car, not enough driver... in my opinion.

Yeah, we can use the Ford Flipper /firestone debacle as well. And you are 100% correct about the cars on Wrecked Exotics, just because you can afford such a car does not automatically mean you can drive it! Hell, I have had my 'Vette for three years now and I am still scared of it!!

I probably was a bit harsh in my opinion of others mocking the burning Nissan's. Hell, it is good to see, but I just felt it might be a bit harsh when our own home team gave us such goodies as the 2M4 Fiero and the Supercharged fires of recent.

[Intrepidation]

Man that sucks for the owners...Nissan had better replace the cars or refund their money.

[grandmarquis]

So let me get this straight... these four (yea, right. only four) Altimas ingested, say, a smoldering cigarette into the air cleaner intake and FOOM!!! up they went. I would say the odds of that being the cause for these fires is astronomical.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

I hate Nissan, but this is just ridiculous.

Of course the filter will catch fire if you basically light it on fire.

[caddycruiser]

I hate Nissan, but this is just ridiculous.

Of course the filter will catch fire if you basically light it on fire.

Exactly...which just makes this all the more baffling. Either there's something else obvious that's exacerbating the situation (no idea what), or it REALLY is just ingesting something burning off the road that then really makes a fire. If the latter is the case, there's a lot of other cars you'd think it might happen to, but...just weird...

[DenCo]

The fact that they have a recall going and that it's considered to be a problem makes me think that there's something about the design of the intake on those Altimas that's a problem. You don't hear about that kind of stuff happening to other cas, which makes it kinda weird and causes me to suspect some fault in the design of the Altima's airbox or something.

I wonder if we're getting the whole story here and I'd be curious to know all the details behind this, since they don't go very much into detail.

[cire]

I guess I am in the minority; I like the exterior design of the 2007 Altima. How unfortunate that this great looking car (for a mainstream midsize sedan) has such a disturbing defect.

I do agree with many of the posts on this topic: I believe there is more going on than what has been released to the public. I hope Nissan isn't covering up something more complicated with what I think has been a pretty lame explanation so far. Can any of these corporations be trusted?

[grandmarquis]

I guess I am in the minority; I like the exterior design of the 2007 Altima. How unfortunate that this great looking car (for a mainstream midsize sedan) has such a disturbing defect.

I do agree with many of the posts on this topic: I believe there is more going on than what has been released to the public. I hope Nissan isn't covering up something more complicated with what I think has been a pretty lame explanation so far. Can any of these corporations be trusted?

In a word, no. Guaranteed they're hiding something...

[CARBIZ]

Nissan's build quality has always been "spotty." The power of Japan Inc's spin machine is such that even Nissan, Mazda and Mitsubishi bask in the glow that is Japanese "quality" when in reality, only Honda and Toyota have built reliable vehicles over the years.

Fires are never fun. This could potentially be a major catastrophe for Nissan, and as much as I feel for those hapless people who bought or leased those vehicles, it is unfortunate that it will take a few more incidents like this and the Tundra's snapping camshafts to wake up the general public that imported cars are not infallible.

[Drew Dowdell]

Here is a strange one. I commented on that Kicking Tires article..... and some guy started e-mailing <mistakenly> me asking me about my Altima problems and e-mailed me pictures of his Altimia on fire!

[Flybrian]

Share! Share!

[Drew Dowdell]

[Drew Dowdell]

maybe it's just the silver ones?

[Delta Force79]

Look how much of that front end melted away, including the hood....boy recycled plastic really does get put to good use...

[Cory Wolfe]

The hood is aluminum. Aluminum melts.

[Intrepidation]

Judging by the last photo, the flames engulfed the entire car...that's incredible and very scarey. Poor car, I do like them.

[Drew Dowdell]

ok... so.... maaaaybe it was a bigger deal than I initially thought....

[Delta Force79]

The hood is aluminum. Aluminum melts.

I know that, I was making a joke

[Cory Wolfe]

I know that, I was making a joke

Atleast I use smilies when I joke.

[Delta Force79]

I was trying to be subtle

[grandmarquis]

Interesting. Nissan reports what, 4 fires, yet we have pics of 2 of them? What do you suppose the odds are of that? I'm tellin' y'all, this is gonna get interesting real soon... Ain't NO WAY that's caused by a cig getting sucked into the air box tract.

[Drew Dowdell]

I was wondering the same thing. How odd is it that 1 out of the 4 people affected by this e-mailed me randomly?

[aaaantoine]

I was trying to be subtle

It worked.

Subject at hand. Note that both of those fires are in the same location. How often does this happen to cars that are not named Altima?

[aaaantoine]

By the way, if the driver didn't leave as soon as he did, he'd be pretty much trapped.

The occasional necessity for an alternate exit suddenly makes bench seats more appealing to me.

[Drew Dowdell]

It worked.

Subject at hand. Note that both of those fires are in the same location. How often does this happen to cars that are not named Altima?

How can you tell they are in the same location?

edit: Whoops, I thought you meant the cars were in the same location....

Edited July 12, 2007 by Oldsmoboi

[aaaantoine]

How can you tell they are in the same location?

edit: Whoops, I thought you meant the cars were in the same location....

'Salright. I meant to specify front left (driver's side) quarter.

[grandmarquis]

I assume that Altimas are probably mass-air fuel injection, makes me wonder if mass air flow sensor has a part in this...

Edited July 12, 2007 by grandmarquis

[grandmarquis]

IIRC, this isn't Nissan's first fire related recall, seems to me back in the 80's they had one for their minivans, those boxy crude heaps would burn up with no warning. As I recall, Nissan ended up buying them all back (roughly 33,000 of them)and scrapping them, although I highly doubt the Altima problem needs measures THAT drastic.

Edited July 12, 2007 by grandmarquis

[Lamar]

Are there no reports of this occurring in the 3.5 models?