CarComplaints.com Notes: You don't want to get 2009 and 2010 Altima owners started about their cars. That is, unless, you know how to start their cars.
These vehicles can suddenly become impossible to start thanks to a faulty electronic steering column lock (ESCL). Nissan dealers will gladly replace it, but that will run you $1000.
More info & videos about the Nissan ESCL defect are available over at NissanProblems.com.
It's one of the many reasons this car was named CarTalk's Turd of the Week and given our Beware of this Clunker badge. Two dubious honors.
8.6
pretty bad
Typical Repair Cost:
$960
Average Mileage:
90,350 miles
Total Complaints:
467 complaints
Most Common Solutions:
replace steering wheel lock (171 reports)
not sure (109 reports)
replace steering lock controller unit (99 reports)
ESCL Service Campaign - Nissan is conducting a voluntary service campaign on specific MY2009-10 Nissan Altima, Altima Coupe, Altima Hybrid, and Maxima vehicles to replace the existing Electronic Steering Column Lock (ESCL) with an Electronic Steering Column Box (ESCB).
Steering Lock was a bad part. Nissan knows about this problem and had issued an extended warranty for the part. Unfortunately or happily for #1 Cochran Nissan Dealership, Pittsburgh, PA the extended warranty expired in June 2015, so they wanted to charge $1300 for a replacement. We contacted Nissan Consumer affairs. They said they would look into to it. Unfortunately Courtney from Nissan Consumer affairs to 5 days to decide against helping us.
Bought the car used in January of this year, now today went out to start the car and nothing. Just the key and security light on and blinking. Pounded on the box as people have said to do because it releases the mechanism that is stuck, but nothing in my case. Took the steering lock off and saw the mechanism was indeed stuck. Guess I gotta pay this crazy amount, that rightfully Nissan should!
I have encountered the "steer lock" problem. I was stranded and forced to tow to the dealership. My car was locked and would not start unless I paid $1000 to have the steer lock module replaced. Nissan recognized this problem and their fix was to extend the warranty to 6 years on this specific component. 160 past this period my car had this fail. I bought this car used one year ago. Nissan USA or the dealership I bought it from and had the repair done would provide any reimbursement.
steering column failure evident due to lit up intelligent key. Could not crank car to get home after working 12 hours. Had to have vehicle towed to my residence where i removed the steering wheel lock cover and went to work with a hammer. The silver lock box which houses the problem is what i was striking while pressing start simultaneously. Car finally cranked with no more problems but has not been fixed by a dealership.
- D E.,
Fort Worth, TX, US
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To know that this is a problem Nissan has known about and they still haven't offered a solution or a fix is embarrassing. the only solution is to pay 700-1000$ to fix is outright outrageous. I don't know what 'im gonna do for a car i just don't have that kind of money to fix a problem that shouldn't be happening!!!
I wont buy another Nissan. They have recalls and issues and dont notify anyone. They put customers at risk and then wont stand behind their product and pay for their mistakes.
Helpless feeling. Wife uses car for work so we keep all services up and use the dealer. Early morning failure at 21 degrees out. Wife needed to get to clients who depend on her as she is an LNA. Called dealer. They seemed to know immediately what the problem was. Someone indicated this failure happens at extreme temperatures. Seems to be a common problem here and dealer even had part in stock. Why was there no recall?
Nissan describes the steering lock mechanism failure as a "manufacturing irregularity." This might be believable if the irregularity didn't include the entirety of the 2009 and 2010 model years. This wasn't just a batch of cars that had the defect. It looks like more of an uncorrected pattern of behavior. It sounds a like a lot more than a simple "manufacturing irregularity."
This failure left me stranded in the rain. While sitting in my car waiting for a flat bed, I researched this, and I was surprised to find that so many others have experienced the same issue. After it was all over, I spoke to the Nissan service manager, (Chris) and he agreed with me that that this part should be recalled. He said that they always keep one in stock, and that the failure occurs most frequently when the weather turns cold.
I'm very disappointed in my car, and disillusioned with Nissan. Because this appears to be either a well known design flaw, or the result of sloppy manufacturing, I don't feel that I should have had to pay $973 to get my car back. It is unlikely that I will buy another Nissan, and I will not recommend this brand of vehicles, except maybe to people I don't like. Don't get hopeful Nissan, that is a fairly short list.
My daughter got stranded on a dark, rainy night in her 2009 Nissan Altima. Worked fine all day and all of a sudden would not start. Googled the symptoms and came to the conclusion that it was the steering wheel locking mechanism. Saw on a couple of sites that Nissan was aware of this problem and extended the warranty to cover this problem. Needless to say, the warranty for her Altima was up in May 2015.
She is a full time college student with a part-time job! She had to borrow money to pay for this repair. The Nissan regional rep called and flat out stated that they could not offer any help whatsoever. This should have been a recall and not a warranty extension. I'm going to put a note on every Nissan Altima I see to warn them of this problem and maybe alert Altima owners who have had this problem and paid for repairs without being aware of the fact that Nissan extended the warranty!!! If enough people complain then maybe Nissan will do a recall. Buy HONDA!!
Told to fix steering lock will cost $869.00. Fortunate the problem happened at night while at a store roughly 3 miles from home. I had the vehicle towed home and the car hasn't been moved since. This issue happened on 11/21/2015 around 9:15PM. I'm currently driving my Ford Expedition (gas hog) until I can come up with a better solution. After searching online, I've notice this is an ongoing issue for this vehicle. It appears my warranty expired earlier this year
I have a 2009 Nissan Altima that has had the transmission recalled, the catalytic converter recalled and most recently the infamous steering lock column where the car will not even start leaving you stranded. Apparently this has been a major problem for years and Nissan refuses to fix. I have called Nissan Consumer Affairs and spoke to the regional manager and they refuse to do anything about the issue. The part is a Nissan Dealer only part and will run you $1K to fix.
The problem with Nissan is they care more about Quantity at their plants than Quality. Seriously, I have friends that work in the Smyrna, TN plant and that is all they strive for. They are still currently putting this bad part on all push-to-start Nissan's. This is the first Nissan I have owned. I wanted to support a local plant as I have friends that feed their families off Nissan, but if they fail to fix a part that keeps failing this will definitely be my last. Should of bought a Honda frown emoticon For those of you that get stranded because of this problem, because 50% of Nissan owners will, Google Nissan Steering Column Lock and you will see good videos on getting your car started. But keep in mind this is a temporary fix to get you some place safe.
How this isn't a recall is beyond me, especially seeing how many other people are dealing with the same problem. I commute 60 miles round trip a day for work, and for something like this to happen whenever it decides to fail is total BS. Reading when others had this problem, went to the dealership, and were told they were "out of warranty" from anywhere like a day to a month, I didn't want to risk being told to shove $1000 down their greedy gullets. Luckily, my boyfriend works on cars enough to fix it for me to drive. BUT THIS SHOULDN'T HAPPEN! I shouldn't have to jerry-rig my car out of fear I'll have to pay up the butt. And what happens if someone wasn't as lucky as me to have someone "fix" it? Since this is a Nissan-only part, you're forced to go to a dealership. $400 for the part, $400-$600 for the labor. Tons of people don't have the money, or the people willing to fix these sorts of problems. If they did, they wouldn't be driving sh*tty Nissans.
Oh, and this happened a week after my front engine mount (dogbone mount, as they called it), broke. Not covered under warranty (surprise, surprise). Again, luckily my boyfriend has some car knowledge, because what ended up costing me $100 for the part, would've cost me $250 at Nissan for the part and labor.
For shelling out $26,000 out for this car, it sure has been nothing but a hassle.
I am never, ever, ever, EVER buying a Nissan again. I'm telling everyone I know NOT to buy a Nissan. Seriously, our money is more valuable than giving it to a company that is unwilling to help it's costumers.
This is my third time taking in my car for an issue. The Only good thing I can say about the other two issues is that at least it was covered under the warranty! Now this problem that apparently seems to go out just after the warranty conveniently goes out!!!! Now if I want to get it fixed its going to cost about a grand!!! Money that right now I do not have!!!!!! How is it that there have been so many complaints made about this that Nissan has yet to do anything about it!
Stranded on a cold day in November. Luckily I had a ride but it was too late to get it into the dealership. The person on the phone said this was a 'rare' problem but have read that this has happened to hundreds of people who cannot move their steering wheels.
My daughter was driving home from work, stopped a Walgreens. Got back in her car and it would not start. Key Light on dash blinking. She went back in store and bought a new battery for Key Fob,, it did not work. Called Tow Truck….They could not even get the car into Neutral to put on truck… Called a second Tow Truck. Finally was towed to Repair Shop. They said it was a Steering Lock issue. Installed new ESL Module at a cost of $773.00. So far ok. After researching this problem, it seems it happens quite a bit with this Year and Model Nissan , yet Nissan has yet to recall.
I will NEVER buy a Nissan again. I really liked my car until the steering wheel locking system went bad. My son and I were stuck in a parking lot with no help, in a not so good area. I then had to get a tow truck and get to a shop. Where then at the shop I was told they couldn't do anything because is had to be done by Nissan. We then had to find a way to get the car to a Nissan dealer. Then when I started looking this issue up on my 2009 Altima i see that is has happened to LOTS of others and Nissan won't help or make a recall for it. Then come to find out, surprise, surprise, the warranty ran out on June of this year. Nissan NEVER even gave a second glance at helping cover it when they know that this is an issue. $1000 later I have nothing than a list of crap they said needed fixed. Took it to another person and those fixes were nothing to what they had said.
I was completely caught off guard today when my 2009 Nissan Altima wouldn't start. I had just finished getting gas, had my two young children in the car with me and was getting us ready to head out to my mom's for Thanksgiving. Needless to say our plans came to a complete halt. My husband went with the car to the dealership and called me with the news - $1000 repair. I was shocked. Our car has less than 60,000 miles on it. What choice do we have but fix it? I feel completely screwed by this. And honestly, Nissan has sent so much mail offering to buy back our car. A friend of mine had a 2010 Altima and she was getting the same mail so she actually traded her car in for a newer model. Maybe Nissan wanted to get these models back to try and avoid a lawsuit?!?!? This many people with the same, pricey problem? Seems pretty fishy to me.
Good luck to everyone. I doubt I'll ever buy a Nissan again either.
I never received the recall notice on this vehicle's steering lock. Further my extended warranty expired on August 25, 2015, my steering locked on November 11, 2015. I get my oil changes at the dealer and was never told about the recalled part. How is this fair! I was stranded in a part of town I don't know, had to use my AAA to get towed to the closest Nissan dealership and was told I had to pay 1200 to repair. What was I suppose to do? The car was not drive-able!!! I filed a claim with Nissan and they declined to pay any of the repair!!!
Out of the blue with no warning our 2009 Nissan Altima wouldn't start despite doing all the normal actions. It thankfully happened at home, or we would've been stranded if we didn't have our trusty Ford Sports Trac as a second vehicle. We had to have the Nissan towed to have it analyzed and were informed it would cost over $1280!!!! What????? We've been looking at another Nissan and now are wondering if we should consider it.
We're calling Nissan in the morning because some You Tube videos indicate there MAY be a warranty. We'll soon find out. It was really shocking when I asked Suri why our Nissan wouldn't start and she provided several web pages with the issue!!! You Tube has many videos on the problem as well. Nissan better be looking into treating their customers right. This is our third Nissan and we never had a problem with them that would have left us stranded like this!!!!! This is our first car with the push start feature. We used to love it until this happened. What if we had children? Stopped on the highway to take a photo and then couldn't get it to start? We were considering giving this car to our grandson in a few years - not any more. We don't want him to have these issues!
You tube indicates this happens with a lot of Nissan/Infinity vehicles that have push start buttons. It was a selling feature and was a great convenience. Safety wise it was a great feature to not have to have keys out, but in the same vein safety wise it is unpredictable and could happen to anyone at any time! Beware!!!!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Steering Lock was a bad part. Nissan knows about this problem and had issued an extended warranty for the part. Unfortunately or happily for #1 Cochran Nissan Dealership, Pittsburgh, PA the extended warranty expired in June 2015, so they wanted to charge $1300 for a replacement. We contacted Nissan Consumer affairs. They said they would look into to it. Unfortunately Courtney from Nissan Consumer affairs to 5 days to decide against helping us.
- Cliff L., Pittsburgh, PA, US