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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
This Lawsuit Settlement is a joke and so are the attorneys who handled this settlement. In a dictionary the word defect means that it is something that is flawed or something that can cause weakness or failure. This lawsuit is based upon the word defect. We were sold a defective product and they refuse to have a recall for all affected vehicles. It’s a joke, they won’t change your radiator until it the damages are done, the cost of replacing a radiator is cheaper than replacing everything it would damage. This has just happened to my truck and because of the way the warranty works you can not alter the cooling system to avoid it or you void the warranty, so you are pretty much stuck under their power and when it happens you just past the terms of the extended warranty anyhow. And who wants to shell out $3000 at the age of the vehicle, it almost half the blue book value anyhow. I’d rather take the $3000 and buy a Toyota or a Isuzu. Nissan’s Chairman and CEO who I heard may have quoted just get out there. I can only guess this is why we have the falling quality of a product and refusal to fix a defective product from the beginning. It isn’t like it use to be with nissan and the original pathfinders and 240z and 280z and their premium skyline. they gave me grief over a paint flaw that was clearly a flaw as something was pressed on the the curve of the frame of the vehicle and they insisted that it was a BB gun that did it. The force that it would take it dent that particular curve would have to be really hard to penetrate more than half a BB dent and push all the paint out 1/2″ around the hole. What ever was there pushed out the paint which probably suggest it was probably pressed in during production. Besides the paint was peeling off there as well.
I’m going to fix the transmission myself and reroute the cooling system to a separate cooling system (the way it should of been done in the first place) From here on yeah a new car feel great and several miles down the road buy a nissan that can prove to be a mistake I’m buying something other than nissan they gave me a reason to do so without blinking an eye.
Forgot to mention the cost of a used or rebuilt Transmission can roughly be around $1200 to $2500 and a re-manufactured one can cost $3000 to $4000.
Lets not forget those owners of the Xterra to pay attention to the Timing Chain which you can tell is having problems when you hear whining sound from the engine. Also which is under recall the IPDM module which will shut down you car. When this happened to me I took it to the dealer and it cost me $700 and they knew what the problem was with in 1/2 hour. It was a common failure and they had a recall to fix the problem, but they would not refund me for the fix as the only thing that was the problem was a diode which they change out and cost $3.66 for the part which they were will to return. The other thing is the Oil seal at the oil cooler where the oil filter is. That is another common problem, those seals never last it’s a poor design, O-ring to fix the problem is $4 buy a couple of them if you plan on keep the vehicle for a while. Then the other thing is the A/C switch module which seems to be a common problem as well. When I say common, when I go down to the dealer I asked them to make sure it’s the correct one and they say it is they sell a lot of them and its a common part.
Summary common recalls that should happen:
1) Radiator and Transmission (I put these together because if they had recalled the radiator in the first place this issue with the transmission wouldn’t have happened.
2) Timing Chain (listen to whining sound in the front Timing chains are suppose to last a long time believe me I own a toyota with 186,000 and the timing chain is original).
3) IPDM if you haven’t already done so run down to the dealer and get this changed its under a recall.
4) A/C Switch/relay when you can’t change the blower speed and your A/C only works on one speed check this.
When I start have problems with this vehicle I called Nissan USA the answer was at that time a year after I purchased it new there are no recalls and this is our #1 selling truck that is trouble free. Liars
My daughter bought a used 2006 Exterra, guess what they saw her coming. After a year and a half, we have just put $4,000 into a transmission rebuild and new radiator. Of course it has over 100,000 miles. I drove an older Sentra for a few years and lost the timing chair twice. I don’t think Nissan is a responsible company – it will be my mission to tell people to avoid them at all cost.
I chose an 06 Nissan Pathfinder due to its horsepower advantage over the competition. However, I just recently experienced this radiator/transmission issue yesterday. I used to love it, but now I hate it! Nissan, you are failing miserably, and I aint hardly bullshittin’!
I just paid $3600.00 for my tranny, valve body, torque converter and (I flushed the hell out of my radiator) replacement/rebuild. I would STRONGLY tell anyone that has a 2004-2010 Xterra, Pathfinder or Frontier to have a external transmission cooler installed IMMEDIATELY!!! Mine finally gave out around 131,000. miles and I STILL OWE on it!! I loved my Nissan but now have a BAD taste in my mouth and will consider either Toyota or Honda for my next purchase -Sorry Nissan you lose! I have a nice little sign on my Xterra that reads this info for all to see!!
I am a proud owner of a 2006 Exterra and I owned a transmission shop . I am sorry to say that I wen true this experience and it was not a happy one yes I did rebuild my transmission and replace radiator and I have not experience any other problems with this SUB. So for that am going to buy other Nissan there are the best build vehicles and save to drive and very conferrable for trips it cost me a lot of money to fix the trans + radiator + valve body that guess what ! the dealer only will sell it but now I have 175000 miles on it and still driving it love it ,
still waiting for the settlement to come in its been a year since I send all the recites and no word on the refund will keep post on the money wen it come in
Be prepared to get a run around from the attorney regarding the settlement. I have sent them two copies of my paperwork. They keep saying they have not received it. They then say there is a research request to check my claim. I heard nothing for a month. Called them again and all they can say is they are putting in a research request to find out why the original research request was not done. Sounds like they got the settlement money from Nissan and instead of distributing it, they are keeping it. Crooks.
Own a 2007 Xterra at just over 90 thousand Miles felt a slight clunk in the transmission. Took it in an Bam radiator problem only had the car for a twelve months! $7500 dollar bill new rad new transmission and new thermostat! It was a certified pre-owened vehicle and after 12 months I have to replace pretty much the whole car Nissan says not there problem!
Is this issue just with automatic transmissions only?
2007 Xterra …diagnosed radiator leak at 92,500….same run around asking me to pay $3k. Playing phone tag with Nissan Consumer Affairs but not getting my hopes up…probably will buy new radiator and flush transmission since my transmission is fine right now.
I had to buy a new car since I cant afford 6000.00 to repair my 06 pathfinder that I still owe 10,800 on. The value of the suv is around 4500.00 so what am I supposed to do ruin my credit and life because of nissan. This is just wrong and something needs to be done. :(