Story:
I drive a 2004 Nissan Titan. Last Monday when i left for work the engine stalled just as i pulled out of my parking space. It started right back up so i figured it was just result of the seasonal air being so chilly and me not letting it idle low for a few seconds. Friday it stalled out on my home from work while driving on a bridge over the local reservoir, which happens to be a 55mph road. Luckily it had enough speed i was able to coast just to the other side of the bridge and pull over (without power steering or brakes at that point :eek: ) I let it sit for a few minutes and then started it again and managed to make it the last couple of miles back to the parking lot. I called the dealership that i usually do business with and explained what happened.
The man on the phone knew exactly what was happening and said there was a recall for that problem and we scheduled an appointment. I looked up the recall and found that it was posted October 2010–2010 as in nearly a full year ago. The part that upsets me, is that this dealership has serviced my truck twice earlier this year, May and June. May was for maintenance, June was for the mass air flow sensor replacement. Neither time while there did they ever mention to me that there was a recall affecting my vehicle.
Over the weekend i called around to find towing companies and their rates. I decided last minute to use a closer dealership since towing also include per-mile charges. As of this morning all is well with my vehicle again, save for a $95 towing invoice.
Question:
Are dealerships not actually required to perform recall work unless i tell/ask them to do it? Nissan has my address, email, and phone number but i have never been contacted about this issue. It strikes me as negligent for a car company to know about a potentially life-threatening engine stalling problem and not make an attempt to contact me, nor have an authorized dealership even give me a winkwink nudgenudge to let me know that the engine might decide to stop running at any time it feels no matter what speed or road type i’m driving on.
I guess i can’t complain too much since i only had to pay $95 for what could have been a catastrophic accident if this was on an interstate or a curvy road or even a busy intersection with no brakes.
Sorry, don’t know exactly, but I expect Maryland is not Missouri is not California, so state laws may require them to do more. I would put it more on national Nissan than the dealership.
Although it sounds like you figured out the problem, any modern car does not need to be idled when it’s cold. Just start it up and drive normally, just don’t push it too hard right away.
Even when it is the dead of winter i don’t idle for very long, 30 seconds at most? I have to drive through town before i get to the highway so i end up idling at 4 traffic lights before i really get moving.
I didn’t even think about Maryland laws or what they would say about vehicle recalls. Thanks for the input though
In any dealer I have worked, we are provided with a list of chassis numbers listed as being sold by our dealership. We are expected to make to make a good faith effort to contact the owner of the vehicle.
We first make a phone call. If this is not possible, we send a registered letter with the relevant details to the address that was given at the time of sale. If this is returned by Royal Mail with the note “Addressee unknown at listed address”, then we can rightly claim we have done all we can.
If these are not answered, then we do not really have to do anything else. It is not up to us to track the ownership of a particular vehicle, and cars can be resold many times without the dealer knowing it. So the second owner of a car may not get a recall letter, though we sometimes go to the DVLA for owner details and get them that way.
We are always supposed to check for recalls on any vehicle that comes into the dealer, but in the real world, when short staffed and over worked this can easily be missed.
In any dealer I have worked, I always made a point of chasing down cars that need recalls done. Why? Because it was work for the dealer and more work means a more profitable dealer. Simples.
Yes i am the first and only owner. I brought it brand new the first year that model even hit the showroom. Now, in terms of mailing letters i could be possible that it was mailed to my old residence and the people living there could have thrown it out since it had my name on it. But i have lived at my current condo for 2 years come November. I checked the address on my Nissan account and it is my current address, so it is hard to say at this point.
I’m guessing that if it’s not life threatening (not sure engine stalls are life threatening) then they’re probably not required to notify you about it.
I remember having an Accord that had electrical issues that were covered under a recall when I brought it in that they never gave me a heads up about.
If your previous address was your address when you bought the car, then that could be where the letters are going.
I have never worked for Nissan, but some manufacturers get the dealers to chase recalls, and some will post the letters direct themselves. Perhaps Nissan have been sending letter to your first registered address, while your local dealer actually has an updated address for you. It can happen very easily.
Doesnt let the dealer of the hook though, they should be checking this at the service. (Unless of course the recall is more recent than your service, I didn’t look at the dates)
There are recalls, which the customer needs to be notified about, and Customer Care Measures which are only actioned following a customer complaint. Two very different things.
This was my thought (the OP has had his vehicle serviced twice since the recall).
If i were the OP, i’d be asking my dealer why they hadn’t picked this up the last two times i bought my car in. The guy at the dealership clearly knew what the issue was, just from an over-the-phone description, so it’s really something they should have caught when you brought the car in. At least very least, they should have asked whether you knew about the recall, and whether someone else had already done the work for you.
He may have been using “recall” imprecisely. It may have been a service bulletin, which means the dealer is alerted to watch for the problem and, if it occurs, fix it free. That’s usually in cases where the problem is not dangerous and doesn’t happen on all cars. Having the car stall is not as dangerous as, say, having the brakes fail disastrously. The dealer is only required to fix it if it actually occurs.
It is definitely a recall, see the link in my eta.
Yes, the other recalls were performed. Albeit it was by the original dealership i bought the vehicle from, and they called me to tell me that they were going to do the work while they had the vehicle for routine maintenance. Unfortunately the original dealership went out of business.
Wait, this wasn’t clear from the OP, and it is the answer to your problem.
Only the dealer that sold you the vehicle is liable to contact you about recalls. The other dealer won’t even receive notification that your particular car requires one.
It is also good business practice to check for recalls when the vehicle is in the garage, but they have no liability to do so. So you can shout at them if you want, but they won’t have to entertain you.
I assumed from the start that you were using the dealer you actually bought the car from.
Don’t forget one thing, Nissan, and the dealer itself are two different companies. The dealer has requirements as a dealer, but it doesn’t have all of Nissans obligations.
Ah, that clears it up then. I figured that with the sort of technology we have these days (ya know… databases and internet) that some sort of flashing RECALL warning would come up whenever my account or vehicle were brought up in their computer system.
It would if the chassis number were entered in the central Nissan system, but the dealer will have its own computer system for day to day tasks such as booking in services and creating invoices. Only if there is a reason would the service advisor go to the Nissan website and run the chassis number.
Thats why it is so easy to miss a recall. You have created all the relevant paperwork you need to do the service on one system. With a million things needing done, it is easy to forget to go and double check the vehicle details against a totally different system. Especially when you have had a number of services done in the past, its very easy to assume that any possible recalls had been picked up by now and move on to the next customer.
Actually, legally and strategically it depends on the facts and your state laws. Without addressing responsible third parties or up-the-chain dealers or “manufacturers” they could be liable. I have seen dealerships get tagged for this (verdict stood up on appeal) and settled cases for this reason.
IAAL, not in any state involved here. None of you are my clients, this is not legal advice.
How can a dealer who was not involved in the sale of your vehicle be liable for any faults with the vehicle? They are not party to the contract of sale, and have no liability to cover any repairs.
The selling dealer yes, but another dealer? No. Remember they are rarely directly owned by the manufacturer (At least in the UK but I doubt the business model changes much for the US)
I await my first warning since I do not have the energy to pit you.
For fuck’s sake, you are giving your opinion based on UK law and obligations?!
Stop. It is ignorant.
See, e.g., Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. section 82.001 et seq. Italics and section symbol difficult on my phone, apologies. Pay attention who can be deemed a manufacturer.