2006 Frontier Se 4dr Crew Cab 4x4 4wd Clean Carfax Alloy Wheels on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Nissan owners complain to feds about rusting floors

"You can feel it's soft right here," Jeff Talman told KSHB. "Right under his driver and passenger seats, the floorboards were rusting from the inside out," a KSHB reporter said. "This is a seven-inch area where it's actually rotted up here," Talman said. That was Jeff Talman, just one of many who have had issues with rusting floorboards in Nissan Altimas. KSHB reported the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received more than 400 complains about rust issues in 2002-2006 models. NBC highlighted a Chicago woman's 2005 car, which had rusted so much the floorboards were actually crumbling. "The hole was big enough to fit her foot through," NBC reporter Tom Costello said. "I'm not Fred Flintstone. This is not a good thing," Marie DeMaria said. While NBC reports snow and road salt could account for rust damage in some vehicles, that's probably not the cause in places that don't get snow and ice. And complaints are coming in from all over the country. Both Toyota and Ford have recalled hundreds of thousands of vehicles in the past few years because rusting underbody parts made the vehicles fall apart. Despite the number of complaints, Nissan isn't recalling the Altima vehicle models in question. "It's not a safety recall problem that's going to cause immediate death and injury if you have a hole in the floor. As a result of that, what we've seen is that Nissan has been able to get away with this problem," auto safety expert Sean Kane told WBZ-TV. KSHB reports the age of the cars is another way Nissan is able to avoid covering cost to fix them. "Once it's out of the warranty period, obviously they don't have any legal obligation. It becomes more of a customer service issue of whether they want to deal with it or not," body shop owner Bill Eveland said. NBC did reach out to Nissan for comment, but the carmaker reiterated that both it and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration do not consider the rust problem to be a safety defect. This video includes an image from Getty Images.

Carlos Ghosn's new lawyer, 'the Razor,' starts slashing

TOKYO — Carlos Ghosn's new lawyer took aim at Nissan, prosecutors and courts on Wednesday, dismissing the charges against the ousted chairman as an internal company matter and saying Japan was out of step with international norms by keeping his client in jail. "This should have been dealt with as an internal matter," Junichiro Hironaka, nicknamed the Razor, said at his first press briefing. Ghosn, who was arrested in November over alleged financial misconduct and remains in detention in a Tokyo jail, picked a new team last week with long-time defense attorney Hironaka as a key member to replace Motonari Otsuru, a lawyer who once ran the prosecutor's office investigating him. Hironaka's combative style contrasts with the low-key approach adopted by media-shy Otsuru. Ghosn's switch to an aggressive legal strategy came after his attempts to win bail failed and just before lawyers were due to sit down with prosecutors and judges for the first time to hash out a schedule for pre-trial discovery meetings, where prosecutors will reveal evidence and submit a list of witnesses. Hironaka said he didn't know why Ghosn picked him, but added that Ghosn probably wanted an experienced criminal lawyer as the case moved toward trial. The 73-year-old defense attorney is reputed for winning high profile cases, including the acquittal of a senior lawmaker, Ichiro Ozawa, on financial misconduct charges. He also helped free a senior bureaucrat Atsuko Muraki who was jailed for four months on corruption charges fabricated by prosecutors. Yet, even with greater legal firepower the former Nissan Motor Co boss faces a criminal justice system where only three out of every 100 defendants pleading not guilty are acquitted. Neither does Japan have a plea-deal mechanism that would allow Ghosn to agree to lesser charges for a lighter sentence. "The change in lawyers means a change in style, but the legal strategy will still be the same. I don't think it increases Ghosn's chance of an acquittal," said Masashi Akita, a defense lawyer at Shin-Yu Law Office in Osaka, ahead of Wednesday's comments by Hironaka. Ghosn has lost his perch atop an automotive alliance trio of French carmaker Renault SA and Japanese automakers Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. Attempts to win bail, including an offer to wear a GPS ankle bracelet and hire security guards to stop him trying to tamper with evidence, failed.

Recharge Wrap-up: Nissan 'No Charge' in Denver, A123 doubles

Nissan has introduced its "No Charge To Charge" program in Denver, Colorado. As of June 2, customers who buy their new Nissan Leaf from certified dealers in the metro Denver area will get two years of free charging. Denver is the 16th market to offer "No Charge To Charge," with a total of at least 25 US markets scheduled to offer the program by the end of the year. "EV charging infrastructure continues to grow in Denver," says Nissan EV Sales and Marketing Director Andrew Speaker, "and access to free public charging for new Leaf buyers helps make owning an all-electric vehicle even more cost-effective and convenient." Read more in the press release below. Wanxiang is investing $200 million in A123 Systems in order to double its lithium-ion battery production. The combined capacity of its three production facilities in Michigan, Hangzhou, China and Changzhou, China will increase from 750 megawatt-hours to 1.5 gigawatt-hours in the next three years. The increased capacity will help support customers building hybrids, passenger EVs, and commercial vehicles. Included in the expansion is the capacity to build 12-volt starter batteries and 48-volt microhybrid systems. "It's been a tremendous turnaround," says A123 CEO Jason Forcier, referring to the company's 2012 bankruptcy. Forcier also says the company is already planning another expansion when this one is complete. Read more at Automotive News, and in the press release from A123. The Royal Hashemite Court of Jordan is ordering 150 Zoe EVs from Renault. King Abdullah II of Jordan signed an agreement with Renault, who will deliver the cars by the end of the year. The cars will be powered completely by solar energy generated on royal property. The order of the 150 Zoes is the largest since 2013, and makes Renault the largest provider for Jordan's royal EV fleet. Renault says that further EV orders are already being discussed. Read more in the press release from Renault-Nissan. Beijing, China will exempt electric vehicles from its limits to vehicles on roads during rush hour. Current policy, designed to help alleviate traffic and air pollution, restricts cars with even and odd license plates from rush hour traffic on alternating days. The exemption for EVs runs from June 1, 2015 until April 10, 2016. It is the newest in the list of perks meant to encourage EV adoption, despite the troublesome lack of charging infrastructure. Read more at Green Car Reports.