According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), it has officially closed its engineering analysis of more than 2 million Nissan vehicles after determining that no further investigation is needed into rear suspension control arm failures.
The review covered 2,038,307 vehicles, specifically the 2013-2018 Nissan Altima and the 2016-2018 Nissan Maxima, due to concerns that the lower control arm in the rear suspension could separate from the chassis due to corrosion.
Although the NHTSA notes that Nissan acknowledged a crack could develop in the affected control arm through normal use, and that exposure to road salt, commonly used for snow and ice, could exacerbate the corrosion, thereby accelerating the damage.
In response to the issue, the automaker introduced a design change in January 2018 to strengthen the durability of the lower control arms. Nissan has also repaired some vehicles using the updated part as part of a customer satisfaction campaign and extended the warranty for others to 10 years or unlimited mileage, which is up from the standard three years or 36,000 miles.
“With a declining trend of reports and Nissan’s actions to implement a countermeasure and extended warranty coverage, further investigation of the issue does not appear to be warranted at this time,” the agency said in a statement.
NHTSA’s decision brings closure to the multi-year probe, which focused on whether the defect posed an ongoing safety risk to drivers.
