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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
Iam in Australia and iam having the same problem with a damaged radiator and auto transmission because of the leak. nissan is refusing to assist does anyone know if there is a class action happening in Australia
my email is maatoukf@yahoo.com.au
We also have a manual transmission Fontier that we had to replace the radiator at 53,900 miles due to the leak at the tank to header plate. I imagine it was the same radiator as the automatic transmission vehicles, and believe it is more than coincidental that it occurred. We tried to contact Nissan about it, but did not receive any satisfaction. My guess is that the majority of vehicles are automatic transmissions, so there have not been as many complaints regarding the manual.
I’m not the sharpest tac when it comes to cars. But, as I read this, I see most of the problems with the automatic transmissions. Is this applicable to manual tranny’s as well? I haven’t had a problem with the transmission yet. But, I do have the problems with the heat not working.
I’ve had my clutch replaced twice before my 2006 Xterra even hit 90k. Might it have been caused by this? I see everyone saying their transmissions went bad, but if I have one of the few manuals, might it cause clutch issues?
Wow. Finally, after a nightmare of a year in 2010 I got a letter about the transaction lawsuit from Nissan. This is 3 years after the fact now. In 2011, I had to file a chapter 7 bk, the repeated repairs broke my heart and bank account. No one so far has stated they purchased a used vehicle from the dealer. I purchased a Certified Used Vehicle Nissan. I had an 05 pathfinder. It first broke down 5,000 miles after the 72,000 mile warranty expired. I attempted to take the cheap route. Got a quote to rebuild for 1200, after the dealer quoted me 3300. After one month my suv broke down, the mechanic refused to fix it. I had no choice but to go to someone else who charged me 3000 to fix the radiator and the transmission. 2 months later the car stoped again. Fed up, I took it back to nissan and had to replace the valve body for 1400. All the repairs in one year don’t include the tow’s and rental that were not included or the triple A i had to purchase not knowing when my suv was going to break down and not start. Everyone, mechanics nissan told me that they felt bad but that it never happened to anyone else. I now feel relieved to know I wasn’t crazy and happy now that i kept all documenation.
Your back yard mechanics should have replaced the valve body in the first place. I went through the same scenario and purchased a rebuild kit and a valve body. Had it all put in for $300 then had my mechanic re-install it along with a new rad. It cost me $3000 complete
Hello Everyone! I will share this with all of you. My husband is a former Nissan master tech – we opened our own shop. In 2010 we started to notice the issue you are all talking about. The issue is that Nissan knew they had a defective radiator that is made by Calsonic. Nissan has used Calsonic for years. Maybe a bad build. Anyways we started noticing that the Calsonic radiators in 2005 – 2010 Frontiers, Xterras & Pathfinders were having issues with the transmission cooler pipes splitting causing cross contamination between the radiator coolant & transmission fluid. Which resulted in a failure to the automatic transmission. Those customers that had the cross contamination had to have a new transmission, transmission cooler hoses & radiator replaced. At that time Nissan had extended the warranty to 80,000 miles. A couple of our customers ended up selling their vehicles because they were over 100,000 miles. We had a couple of customers who were under the 80,000 miles so they towed the vehicle and got it taken care of. We had a few pay the over $5,500 bill to get it taken care of. From that point forward we recommended customers replace their Calsonic radiator if they had more than 80,000 miles. We recommend Koyorad radiators. We did this as preventative maintenance. Would you rather pay between $500 to $750 for a new radiator rather than $5,500. Most of our customers after seeing all the issues online did it. Even with the vehicles between 80,001 to 100,000 miles we will recommend this because that is still cheaper than the copay of $2,500. For customers over 100,000 miles I would recommend getting that Calsonic radiator out of there since you have no warranty at all. For those over 80,000 miles you might consider it to. Good luck everyone!
I have a 07 Frontier 131,000 miles no trouble yet, interested in more information about replacing radiator, trying to prevent problems.
get rid of it now!!!!!
Don’t buy Nissan!!! Stick with American!!!!!! This pathfinder 06 is problem after problem!!!!
Johnaka,
I hear you on stick with American but those damn Nissan suv/trucks are built right here on American soil…..since like, the 80’s
Where do you think Frontiers, Xterras and Titans are made??
Speaking of American, where do you think a lot of Chevrolets are made and are made of??
American cars, japanese cars. there is no difference.
Yes I think I have this issue in my 2005 Frontier but am looking at other options.
My trans went out due to the radiator.3600. Than the starter breaks off in the fly wheel than problem after problem.don’t buy Nissan. Stick with American!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was forced to buy a new vehicle after 5 years,only because my xterra transmission failed due to the defective radiator,which nissan will never own up to.So i got a couple of thousand on a trade and wrote it off,rather than spend $5000.00 to repair something that will happen again.One thing that will not happen again is me or anyone I know ever buying a nissan.This law suit or any will never benifit myself or anyone else with the b.s deductable.Nissan is the worst car company by far that I have ever dealt with.Hopefully they will under.You cannot keep fooling consumers forever.
I have a stupid Nissan Xterra 2006 ,
Never agin will I ever buy a Nissan again . My car only has 74342 miles on it . Last month the Trainsmission went on it before that I was having many Issues with it . My extended warranty what load rubbish is telling me they don’t cover the trainsimisson as it was the Radtior
That caused it . I just paid over $5,000.0 to get this all replaced and had to pay for my rental car .
I totally agree the customer service in Tson’s coner suck .
When I first got this truck had problems the first year , took the dealers many months and me going back forth for them to replace the fuse and wipers as they keeped stoping intermait .
Never again will I every recommend this brand.
Again it’s all for the arrtoneys not the customers. Good luck in all your cars with Nissan