My 2009 Nissan Altima hybrid refused to recognize the wireless key, leaving me stranded. It was seven degrees in Chicago and the windchill was below zero, but I was able to return home taking public transportation. Who knows what might have happened if this had occurred in the middle of the road. I towed the car to a dealer, who told me that the "steering lock assembly" had failed, but they could fix it for $1170 plus tax. I found that there used to be a special warranty if this part failed, but Nissan had put a time limit on it so that cars where the defect showed up were being denied coverage as early as October of 2014. Nissan insists that: (1) this defect affects few cars, so they issued a special warranty rather than a recall, (2) the defect does not have safety implications, and (3) customers are adequately covered by the warranty. I believe all three statements are knowingly false. (1) the dealer where my car was repaired told me that they are seeing similar cases more than once a week. Multiply by the number of shops in the country and pretty soon you have thousands of vehicles affected. The NHTSA website alone has hundreds of cases reported. (2) aside from the danger stemming from being stranded in bad weather or location, if this part fails while the car is running the likely result is a failure of the steering and transmission locks. A transmission that does not lock can easily lead to a car moving by itself in an incline, causing an accident. (3) almost all affected cars manufactured after October 2008 are being denied coverage. The owners were told in writing to wait until the defect occurred, and then the problem would be taken care of by Nissan. This does not look like taking care of the problem. The solution: Ask Nissan to issue an outright recall of this defective part. The safety of thousands is at stake.

- Chicago, IL, USA