— A Nissan melting dashboard lawsuit allegedly wasn't good enough because the class action involved Altima cars only in Florida, yet multiple Nissan models are allegedly equipped with defective dashboards.
Nissan settled a melting dashboard class action lawsuit in Florida in 2017, but the Center for Auto Safety (CAS) says the action wasn't enough to protect other Nissan owners from dangers.
In a letter sent to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the president of Nissan, something needs to be done about the Nissan dashboards, especially those in warmer climates.
According to CAS, more than 1,000 Nissan owners have filed complaints about dashboards that melted, cracked and caused a dangerous glare in the sun. More than 700 complaints have been filed about 2007-2013 Nissan Altima cars alone.
However, the Nissan melting dashboard lawsuit settled in 2017 covered only 2008-2009 Altimas in Florida, and the settlement still required Nissan owners to pay part of the repair costs.
As part of the dashboard lawsuit settlement, Nissan denied any wrongdoing and said melted or cracked dashboards were cosmetic issues, not safety defects.
The Center says Nissan Altima and Maxima owners in multiple states continue to file complaints about melted and shiny dashboards, including customers in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
“For a decade CAS has regularly received complaints on degraded Nissan dashboards creating issues including difficulty driving safely due to glare, interior stickiness, and foul odors. Even a cursory look at NHTSA’s consumer complaints data raises significant concerns, as more than 1,000 complaints have been lodged with the agency, alone.” — Jason Levine, executive director for the Center for Auto Safety
According to the Center, Nissan and NHTSA need to do something about the dangerous glare caused by sun-damaged dashboards and the alleged "potential for interference with proper airbag deployment, or possible chemical exposure due to materials failure."
Owners of Nissan vehicles with melted dashboards complain about the odors that come along with melted plastic, and CAS alleges cracked dashboards may interfere with the proper deployment of the Nissan airbags.
CarComplaints.com will update our website if Nissan or NHTSA respond to the allegations.
Read about the Nissan melting dashboard lawsuit settled in 2017.