Class Action: Nissan Versas Have Dangerous Suspension Defect

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Nissan North America, Inc. was hit with a class action lawsuit by a California man, who claims that some Nissan Versa vehicles are made with a suspension defect, which poses a serious safety hazard.

Plaintiff Mesrop Shirinyan claims in his Nissan class action lawsuit filed in a California federal court on May 22 that he purchased a new 2008 Nissan Versa from a Nissan dealership in the Golden State in December 2007. He claims that his vehicle suffered from the alleged suspension defect both during and after the warranty period, which is supposed to last three years or until 36,000 miles.

“The suspension defect poses a grave safety hazard and is unreasonably dangerous to consumers,” the Nissan Versa class action lawsuit says.

“While the Class Vehicles are in motion, the Defect can suddenly and unexpectedly, at any time and any speed, cause front suspension failure resulting in compromised steering and/or the snapping of one or both front coil springs and/or front suspension collapse, thereby preventing the vehicles from traveling in a straight line; shredding, shearing, or puncturing the tires; damaging brake lines and wheel bearings; locking up the steering wheel or causing it to pull to one or both sides; and causing fishtailing and spinning,” Shirinyan explains in his class action lawsuit.

As a result of these potential side effects, caused by the alleged suspension defect, it “can result in a catastrophic loss of control of the vehicle while in operation at any time and under any driving conditions or speeds,” which puts drivers at risk for a serious accident and injury, according to the Nissan class action lawsuit.

Broken coil springs from the suspension defect can also fall onto the road, creating a hazard for other drivers.

The California man claims that Nissan knew or should have known about the suspension defect, but the automaker has tried to conceal the problem from Nissan Versa owners. If he had known about the defect, Shirinyan says he and others would not have purchased the vehicle or would have paid a lot less for the cars.

Due to consumer complaints about the defect from 2008 to 2011, the class action lawsuit explains, Nissan “issued several Technical Service Bulletins (TSBs) to only its dealers in which it acknowledged the existence of the Suspension Defect and implemented various repairs in attempt to fix the Defect.”

However, despite the complaints, warranty data and numerous repair orders caused by the suspension defect, Nissan never recalled the vehicle to fix this problem, the class action lawsuit says.

When Shirinyan first began experiencing the suspension defect, he took his Nissan Versa to the dealer in December 2011 when there were about 21,713 miles on his vehicle, “complaining of a clunking noise coming from the front of the vehicle while making turns or traveling over bumps.”

“The dealer confirmed that the vehicle was suffering from suspension problems and determined that the 2011 TSB (NTB11-032) applied to his vehicle,” the class action lawsuit explains.

The dealership repaired the vehicle by replacing “both side strut mounting bearings and inserted tubes on the coil springs.”

However, he claims that he was charged almost $400 by the dealership for the repair.

The Nissan Versa class action lawsuit cites several complaints filed by Nissan Versa owners and lesses with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) about the suspension defect.

The NHTSA announced on May 18 that it is investigating 120,000 2008-2010 Nissan Versas over the alleged suspension problems, after receiving 93 complaints about the alleged problem, The Detroit News reported.

Shirinyan is looking to represent a nationwide class and a California sub-class of all purchasers and lessees of any 2007 through 2011 Nissan Versa vehicles.

The California man is charging Nissan with violating California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act, California business law, with fraudulent omission, with breach of implied warranty under the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, with breach of written warranty under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, and with beach of express warranty.

The plaintiff is represented by Mark S. Greenstone and Lionel Z. Glancy of Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP.

There is no attorney information available for Nissan at this time.

The Nissan Versa Suspension Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Mesrop Shirinyan v. Nissan North America, Inc. in the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California, Western Division.