PC797 – Transverse Link May Separate From Ball Joint – 2020 Nissan Murano

March 11, 2021 NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 21V170000

Transverse Link May Separate From Ball Joint

Ball joint separation can cause a loss of vehicle control, and increase the risk of a crash.

 

NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V170

Manufacturer Nissan North America, Inc.

Components STEERING

Potential Number of Units Affected 15,223

 

Summary

Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain 2020 Nissan Murano vehicles. The left and/or right-hand transverse link may not have been manufactured correctly, which could result in it separating from the ball joint.

 

Remedy

Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the transverse link’s lot codes, and if necessary, replace them and perform a vehicle alignment, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin April 21, 2021. Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-867-7669. Nissan’s number for this recall is PC797.

 

Notes

Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.

 

Check if your Nissan has a Recall

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March 11, 2021

 

Mr. Jeff Giuseppe
Associate Administrator for Enforcement
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Attn: Recall Management Division (NVS-215)
Room W48-302
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, D.C. 20590

 

Dear Mr. Giuseppe:

 

We are transmitting the enclosed Defect Information Report in accordance with 49 CFR Part 573.  A voluntary recall campaign will be initiated and your office provided with the notices.

 

Very truly,

 

Derek Latta
Manager,
Technical Compliance

 

Encl.

 

DEFECT INFORMATION REPORT

 

1. Manufacturer:

Nissan North America, Inc., Canton Plant

 

The transverse link supplier is:

KAAP (Kobe Aluminum Automotive Products)
One Kobe Way
Bowling Green, KY 42101

Randy Phillips, Quality Manager
Phone (270) 842 6492 Ext. 251
Email [email protected]

 

 

2. Units Potentially Involved:

Certain Model Year 2020 Nissan Murano vehicles manufactured from Jul 28, 2020 to September 16, 2020 at the Canton, MS plant.

 

This issue is unique to the above manufacturing range based on production information provided by the Tier 1 supplier (Kobe) for the subject transverse links manufactured during a specified period.  Kobe only manufactures transverse links for two Nissan models, MY 2020 Murano and MY 2021 Rogue.  The Rogue is unaffected because the transverse links were not produced using the suspect equipment.  No other Nissan or INFINITI vehicles are affected by the issue described in Section 5 below.

 

The name, description and part number of the recalled components are below:

Part Name	Part Description	Part Number(s)
LINK COMPL – TRANSVERSE LH	Left-hand Transverse Link	54501-5AA0C
LINK COMPL – TRANSVERSE RH	Right-hand Transverse Link	54500-5AA0C

 

3. Total Number of Vehicles Potentially Involved:

Approximately 15,223 MY 2020 Nissan Murano vehicles

 

4. Percentage of Vehicles Estimated to Actually Contain the Defect:

Unknown.  The estimated percentage of vehicles involved with defect is unknown. However, 1% is used on NHTSA’s safety portal because it will not allow non-numeric values.

 

5. Description of the Defect:

Due to an equipment issue at the Tier 1 supplier (Kobe), the billet was formed improperly during the roll form process prior to forging.  The manipulator chuck, used to form the part, did not rotate 90 degrees before the required second pass, resulting in excess material being folded over or lap condition.  As a result, the right and left-hand transverse links may be out-of-specification.  In rare cases, the ball joint may separate from the transverse link, which may result in loss of vehicle control and increase the risk of a crash.

 

6. Chronology of Principle Events:

August 20, 2020 – Nissan was notified by the Tier 1 supplier (Kobe) of a potential issue concerning certain left-hand transverse links supplied to Nissan.  Nissan immediately began to investigate the issue together with the supplier.  Based on the LOT code information provided by the supplier, Nissan identified a list of Murano vehicles that may have had the potentially affected left-hand transverse links installed.

 

August 2020 through September 2020 – As part of the investigation activity, the Canton plant inspected the potentially affected Murano vehicles in inventory and conducted a retrofit activity at the supplier’s direction to replace all potentially affected left-hand transverse link parts identified by LOT code.

 

October 2020 through November 2020 – Nissan coordinated with Kobe to assess the issue.  Kobe shared their initial findings that the subject condition was caused by an equipment issue in production, where the billet was formed improperly during the roll form process prior to forging.  Based on the two (2) additional LOT codes provided by Kobe and the fact that billets formed on this equipment were used to produce both left-hand and right-hand transverse links, the list of potentially affected vehicles was updated by the Canton plant to include right-hand transverse links as well.

 

Concurrently, Nissan conducted a review of available field information and found no reports of incidents involving the subject condition.

 

November 2020 through January 2021 – As part of the investigation, Nissan initiated a dealer action to conduct a warranty parts collection activity and analyze the returned parts.   In addition, Kobe performed bench testing to re-create the subject condition using varying roll forge lap conditions and a ball joint pull out test, to understand the failure mechanism and potential extent of the issue.

 

January 2021 through February 2021 – Nissan met with the supplier several times to discuss the results of their bench testing analysis.  The supplier’s testing could not rule out the worst case scenario of ball joint separation, which may result in loss of vehicle control by the driver.

 

March 4, 2021 – Out of an abundance of caution, Nissan decided to recall all potentially affected vehicles to inspect the LOT code, and replace all potentially affected parts.

 

As of the date of determination, Nissan is not aware of any warranty claims, accidents or injuries related to the subject condition.

 

 

7. Description of Corrective Action:

Owners of all potentially affected vehicles will be notified beginning on April 21, 2021 to take their vehicle to a Nissan dealer where they will inspect both the left-hand and right-hand transverse links for the affected LOT codes.  If the LOT code is identified, the dealer will replace the affected transverse links and perform an alignment.  Dealers will be notified on March 12, 2021.

 

Nissan will not include a statement in the Part 577 owner notification concerning reimbursement for the cost of obtaining a pre-notification remedy for the subject vehicles because they are still under warranty.

 

8. Copy of Notices:

Copies of all notices will be provided to NHTSA as they become available.

 

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1 Affected Product

Vehicle

MAKE	MODEL	YEAR
NISSAN	MURANO	2020

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3 Associated Documents

March 11, 2021 DEFECT INFORMATION REPORT

RMISC-21V170-7594.pdf 47.236KB

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Defect Notice 573 Report

RCLRPT-21V170-7904.PDF 213.787KB

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Recall Acknowledgement

RCAK-21V170-4789.pdf 645.216KB

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Latest Recalls Documents

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/documentList.xhtml?docId=21V170&docType=RCL

For the most up to date documents from NHTSA for this Recall, click the lick above

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Last update on 2021-04-23 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API