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Nissan details 326k-vehicle Takata recall for US and Canada

Nissan is recalling 326,000 vehicles in the US and Canada as an expansion of its Takata inflator campaign. Of those, 263,692 are in the US. Nissan's broadened campaign in the US covers 250,967 examples of the 2004-2006 Sentra and 12,725 units of the 2004 Pathfinder to replace their passenger side airbag inflators. The 2005-2006 X-Trail is also included in Canada. Customers should receive official notification of this recall by mail in June. Nissan and Toyota announced a 6.5-million vehicle global expansion of their Takata recalls recently. At that time, Nissan was still working with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on the details of what models were affected. This latest release outlines those figures. Related Video: Nissan Statement "Nissan Group today notified The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Transport Canada that it will be recalling 2004 to 2006 Sentra, 2004 Pathfinder and 2005 and 2006 X-Trail vehicles throughout the United States and Canada to replace Takata SPI Passenger Air Bag inflators. This recall expansion is intended to address vehicles equipped with SPI inflators that are not already subject to previously announced recalls. More specifically, this includes vehicles located outside the high absolute humidity areas manufactured between early 2004 and end of production. Customer notification will begin in June." Vehicles Affected Approximately 326,000 in U.S. and Canada Market Model Model Year(s) Population Total USA Sentra 2004-2006 250,967 USA Pathfinder 2004 12,725

Nissan Xterra's fate hangs in the balance

The Nissan Xterra might not be long for this world, according to a report from Edmunds. The rugged SUV, which has always been a bit more of a hardcore, purpose-built vehicle than the rest of the Nissan SUV range. But it has also suffered from slowing sales, low fuel economy relative to the competition and general neglect, as Nissan has focused on other offerings in its range.
"There are plans to replace it, there are always plans, (but) I am not sure it will happen. I would say in the next six months to a year," Pierre Loing, vice president of product planning for Nissan Americas told Edmunds. Part of the problem, he added, was that the Xterra is a US-only vehicle, which makes it a hard sell in a world where automakers are increasingly depending on global cars.
Besides the economic forces working against the Xterra, it's just a vehicle that hasn't been a huge sales success of late. Customers are more conscious of fuel economy and a body-on-frame SUV that only nets 16 miles per gallon just isn't good enough; arguably why Nissan barely sold 17,000 units last year. We can hold out hope, as the Xterra remains a fun off-roader that we'd hate to see go, but unless Nissan finds a business case or some global partners, this is a vehicle that is on its last leg.

Nissan: We lose money on each Leaf replacement battery

Nissan has been playing its cards pretty close to its chest when it comes to the production costs for Leaf battery packs. The company recently put a price on replacement batteries for customers at $5,500 plus the requirement to return the old battery. If the decommissioned battery is worth $1,000 to Nissan, as they have stated, that means the battery costs about $6,500 to make, right? Maybe even less if Nissan wants to turn a profit, as automakers are wont to do? Wrong.
Green Car Reports spoke to Nissan about these battery costs, and found that the automaker actually loses money on selling the replacement battery for the Leaf at the current price. Jeff Kuhlman, Nissan's vice president of global communications said, "Nissan makes zero margin on the replacement program. In fact, we subvent every exchange." All you English majors will know that "subvent" is a fancy way to say "subsidize." Kuhlman added, though, "We have yet to sell one battery as part of the program."
The fact that Nissan offers its replacement batteries for less than it costs to manufacture them is telling of a company both cares about what its customer needs and is dedicated to the success of its product. In this case, both of those things encourage people to give up fossil fuels and adopt electric mobility, which is heartening. As more people switch to battery-powered driving, though, battery technology should become better and cheaper, and the scale of production should cause manufacturing costs to decrease. Eventually, Nissan could easily see itself breaking even selling the Leaf battery replacements.