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Nissan Radiator Defect Class Action Settlement Reached
By Kimberly Mirando
Nissan North America has reached a class action lawsuit settlement that will resolve claims the company produced vehicles with defective radiators and concealed this defect from consumers. If approved, the proposed Nissan radiator settlement will pay the repair costs for potentially tens of thousands of Nissan Pathfinder, Xterra and Frontier vehicles.
Nissan Pathfinder owner William Szymczak filed the Nissan radiator class action lawsuit in 2010, alleging the vehicles leaked coolant into the transmissions, causing damage and making the vehicles unreasonably dangerous. Szymczak accused Nissan of failing to issue a recall and failing to offer to repair the alleged defect for free or to reimburse Nissan owners for repair costs, despite the company’s knowledge of the radiator defect.
Under the proposed Nissan radiator class action settlement, Nissan will fully reimburse all current and former owners or lessees of a 2005-2010 Nissan Pathfinder, Xterra or Frontier vehicle that paid to fix the radiator or other damages caused by the defect within eight years or 80,000 miles.
Nissan also agreed to pay for future repairs caused by the radiator defect and partially reimburse prior repair costs up to a maximum of 10 years or 100,000 miles. Owners who had the repairs done before nine years or 90,000 miles can receive relief after paying a $2,500 deductible, while reimbursement for repairs done between then and 10 years or 10,000 miles can come after a $3,000 co-payment. This is still a significant savings for Class Members because repair costs caused by the radiator defect can cost $5,000 or more, according to the motion for preliminary approval of the Nissan settlement.
“The use of deductibles effectively caps any class member’s out-of-pocket expense for repairs and relieves the class members of the burden of shopping for the least costly repair,” the motion said. “While the acceptance of the deductibles covers some but not all of the cost of a repair, such a compromise is reasonable since the strength of any class member’s claim is reduced the more trouble-free miles the vehicle has been driven prior to the defect manifesting.”
The Nissan Radiator Defect Class Action Lawsuit Settlement case is In re: Nissan Radiator/Transmission Cooler Litigation, Case No. 10-cv-07493, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The Plaintiffs are represented by Gary S. Graifman and Michael L. Braunstein of Kantrowitz Goldhamer & Graifman PC; Howard T. Longman and Mark Levine of Stull, Stull & Brody; Matthew Mendelsohn and David A. Mazie of Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman LLC; Alan Harris and Abigail Treanor of Harris & Ruble; and Jason P. Scofield and Danny M. Sheena of The Sheena Law Firm.
Updated January 10th, 2013
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222 thoughts onNissan Radiator Defect Class Action Settlement Reached
At this very moment I am forking over 4k dollars to have my Trans REBUILT because the Nissan dealership could not diagnose the issue with my 2005 Pathfinder with only 86k miles on it. They will not reimburse me ANYTHING because I have an independent Shop (Deltrans Newark DE) fixing the issue that Nissan could not!! I would have only had to pay 2500.00 (copay) had Nissan diagnosed my truck!! I am livid it this point and I WILL NEVER own another Nissan even if it was given to me for FREE!!
Yikes! Just had the repair. 120k miles. Also had the timing chain issue. Is there anything I can do??
To think about it, most of us are not getting anywhere with this claim and has been denied for either too many miles of too low miles (like myself at 10000K)..BUT STILL FACE SAME ISSUES. I am beginning to think only 1% of us who filed a claim are being reimbursed. Sad to say but NISSAN has lost my trust in them. They are not doing anything but making up an excuse after another. Let’s see who will be THE FIRST TO POST THAT HE/SHE HAS RECEIVED A CHECK FROM NISSAN, BY DECEMBER 25 OR ANYTIME.
I am sure theses notes are not being acknowledged at all.
i just recieved an email back from the settlement administrator stating that they were sending a check out to me today. hopefully some of you other people who are waiting for some money back will get in the next few days. i have been getting the runaround for 2 and a half months now.just glad to know that nissan is reimbursing me. i will never buy another one
Were your repairs done by Nissan or by a independent shop ?
It is time for another lawsuit. Those of us with over 100,000 miles are being denied because Nissan refuses to back up products. The radiators are defective, period. The number of miles is irrelevant. Does anyone have contact with a lawyer who may willing to help? Maybe a Nissan owner.
Charles, I am right along with you! They are making excuses not to pay up! Guess what? My 2006 Pathfinder was not even at 10000k and they denied my claim. Maybe THEY should not even made anyof us aware of this action from the start.
Charles, See my post below.. are you in?
I am in the same situation as many others. My 2006 Nissan Pathfinder just stopped and it is going to cost me $4,500 to rebuild transmission and new radiator etc. Nissan Consumer Affairs 800 number tells me there is nothing they can do as I have 120,000 miles. Why was there no letter sent out to all owners warning about the problem? I would have spent $400-500 to replace a radiator if I had know. Now I am totally at a loss as to where I find $4,500 to fix a 7 year old vehicle.
My claim was denied for having 108,000 miles. Please advise how to challenge the denial as the letter I received did not detail how I could go about this. My Pathfinder has very efficiently messed up my life and expenses, I would like to at least try to contest their decision.
Thank you
2007 Pathfinder 91,000 miles started jerking, took it to dealership for a check up they said all was fine. 3 days later transmission was done. Dealership towed it to them and precedes to tell us about this recall, yet 3 days before we heard nothing about it. Telling us we have to pay $3000 for it to be fixed. HELP!!! what are others doing about this? We are angry! Never again will we buy a Nissan and we use to be nothing but Nissan family. How can they do this to loyal costumers? We also purchased the fee oil changes and service packages when we bought our Pathfinder, so it was in the Dealership every 3 months!! Why werent we told about this before it died?? UGH!
I just found out about this class action law settlement after I surpassed 132,000 miles. I own a 2007 Nissan Xterra Off Road. I now have about 135k miles – what are my options?
Dwight, See my post below.. Are you in?
I submitted all paper for my payments on my Nissian Pathfinder and have not received my settlement.
My boyfriend filed the claim form in December 2012 through the NissanATOilCoolerSettlement website which states they were mailing checks on November 1, 2013. It’s November 21st, still NO CHECK!