Nissan recalls 16,000 Maximas, Muranos
June 12, 2009 by David Twomey
Nissan has had to recall its previous model Maxima and Murano vehicles because of a problem that affects the engine air intake ducts of 11,743 Maxima sedans and 4972 Murano SUVs, totalling 16,715 vehicles.
The recall affects all J31-series Maxima V6s produced between August 2003 and January 2008, and sold between December 2003 and May 2009, with VINs ranging between JN1BBUJ31A0 000014 and JN1BBUJ3A0 302117.
The recall also affects the original Murano, which was released here in July 2005 before being replaced in January 2009, and is powered by the same ZQ35 3.5-litre V6 as the Maxima.
The recall notice issued by Nissan says engine heat and vibration could cause the intake to dislodge, resulting in rough idling and stalling.
“The engine air intake duct may become disconnected due to thermal loading combined with normal engine vibration. If this happens, the engine will exhibit rough idling and in a worst case scenario, the engine may stall,” it said.
Nissan Australia will contact the owners of all affected vehicles by writing to arrange inspection and rectification.
Print it: 
this is the first time i have seen Nissan recall their cars. I guess thats a good thing.
Actually they recalled the Tiida last year and have recalled others as required in the past
I guess the Tiida recall wasn’t too difficult considering Nissan have only sold about 2 of them. I’m sure Sister Mary Joseph and Sister Angela had their Tiidas returned back to the convent in no time.
Well done Nissan. They recall cars due to a part that might dislodge and cause rough idling. No safety issue. No one will die from rough idling. And yet we have Ford that was forced kicking and screaming to recall Falcons with faulty brake hoses despite knowing of cases of reduced braking efficiancy. Despite this they will still not recall the Territory with similar problems as well as serious issues with front upper ball joints. As was stated in Australias number 1 newspaper recently, they need to look at their way of doing business.
This is definitely the first for Nissan. I think it’s very professional of them, it also shows that they care for their customers.
also with ford, have u noticed that alot of el-bf falcons always have the right tail light out! just something i have noticed over time. this is not a big recall it is minor, it is not like it will kill anyone.
A first for Nissan?
I beg to differ.
Look at http://www.recalls.gov.au
In October last year I was driving my dad’s Maxima and this happened to me at the intersection of Old Windsor Road and Seven Hills Road in peak hour! The car wouldn’t start again so I was stranded in the middle lane for about an hour until I could get a tow.
Nissan dealer said they had never seen it happen before. Obviously wasn’t an isolated case though..
I would be less inclined to congratulate nissan than question what has happened to their reliability in recent times. Do they not test their cars???
At least you know that Nissan will recall their cars when issues arise. I wouldn’t be so confident in Kia or Ssangyong recalling this sort of fault.
Nissan have a recall every other day… this is from 2003, but just look at the number of vehicles effected:
“Nissan Australia says it is awaiting details from its Japanese parent company to determine which Pulsars and X-Trails are involved in Nissan’s international recall of the cars, announced late last week.
The recall — one of the largest ever by a Japanese manufacturer, and involving 2.55 million cars worldwide — is to fix a defect found inside an engine sensor.”
Here’s another great example from 2007:
“Nissan is recalling 1.01 MIL March (aka Micra) and Cube models. The current recall is to fix faulty fuel tanks that may leak or crack. According to the just-auto report, UK-built Nissan Micras are not effected, only Japanese built samples.”
These are just two of the BIGGER recalls Nissan have conducted, but if you do a quick search there’s a myriad of recalls from the company; many of them effecting newer models too – so much for testing these sorts of things.
Crouchy, of course Nissans quality has gone down in recent years. They were bought and are now controlled by Renault. Its why the Tiida is so butt ugly and the quality is now average at best. It was just a matter of time!
I don’t like the Nissan Maxima we have here in Australia. In most other parts of the world its called the Nissan Teana. If you see the actual new Nissan Maxima (sold in North America and sold as the Maxima in Japan), it looks so much nicer and it also looks bigger. I don’t know why Australia is stuck with the model down really. Poorly designed and it just looks poorly proportioned. Also, the actual Maxima has a much nicer interior than the Teana. Well, at least we know Nissan cars about its customers…
Steve-Poyza, I am in the US now and could not agree more. I have a new Maxima as a rental car right now and it is so good looking, goes like a sports car, handles well, is economical and is so quiet inside. All things that American cars should not be! Last year I had an Altima and while not quite as good (its a couple of years old now), it comes close. It would give Camry/Aurion etc a good run for their money and might just get people into their dealerships. Why the heck Nissan Aust does not offer these two down under I don’t know. I think that they would sell so well. The Aussie Maxima is such an old mans car. But then maybe that is their target market.
Most japanese car makers do a recall more for customer satisfaction than a safety or quality issue, holden & ford wait till the brakes fail or the steering locks (HQ holden) before they do anything!there was another safety recall from ford only the other day and talk to any holden service manager about holden recalls there answer is “they wait and see what happens first”, the clutches in the new 6.2litre hsv’s are shit but holden will only replace them when they fail! if that was toyota or nissan they would have recalled them way before they fail!
Better late than never. Prevention is better than cure. 2 motherhood statements obviously taken seriously by Nissan. Well done.
Whats the aesthetic appeal or the sales volume of a car got to do with it being recalled? Let alone a model from the same brand but unaffected by the recall?
Really points out the lack of intelligence of some posters here on CarAdvice.
Agree with Baz….and also, a lot of other brands also have recalls in the large scales of ***million…so what? It means that they actually sell more cars than our Holden and Ford….tinnk about it…
Its probably better to do it now then later…
We have had a few little complaints about the both Murano and Maxima in the past but now in the last 2 months the complaints of these 2 cars have started to increase lately and it is mainly the air intake ducts as the article has suggested.
Took us by surprise and we have notified Nissan Australia about it they made sure that they can get it replaced for their cars.
Hey LN
Did the complaints target the air intake ducts or did you identify the air duct as the main culprit after you did you own diagnosis/check on the car?
What was the issue reported?
We did not identify it… we made reports to Nissan Australia as what problems have been occuring with the Maxima and the Murano.
We got reports back from Nissan Australia to have re-calls on these cars. And they identified it as the air intake ducts.