NHTSA Complaint #10246983 — 2001 NISSAN ALTIMA

I HAVE A 2001 NISSAN ALTIMA GXE WITH 89,207 MILES ON IT. SEVERAL MONTHS AGO, I NOTICED A ROUGH IDLING AT STOPLIGHTS, SO BAD SOMETIMES I THOUGHT MY CAR WAS GOING TO DIE OUT ON ME. ON SEPTEMBER 19, 2008, I TOOK MY CAR INTO THE MCCARTHY BLUE SPRINGS NISSAN AND WAS TOLD THAT I NEEDED TO REPLACE MY INTAKE MANIFOLD. THEY HAD TO ORDER THE PARTS, AND WAS ADVISED TO NOT DRIVE MY CAR AGAIN UNTIL IT GETS FIXED. SO, I HAD TO LEAVE MY CAR AT THE NISSAN DEALERSHIP OVER THE WEEKEND AND WAS NOT ABLE TO PICK IT UP UNTIL SEPTEMBER 22, 2008. IN OTHER WORDS, I WAS WITHOUT A CAR FOR 4 DAYS. IN RESEARCHING MY PROBLEM ONLINE TO SEE IF IT'S A NOTABLE PROBLEM WITH NISSAN ALTIMA'S I CAME ACROSS SEVERAL WEBSITES COMPLAINING OF THE SAME THING. MOST OF WHICH HAD TO REPLACE THE INTAKE MANIFOLD AT MUCH LOWER MILEAGE THAN MINE. THE REPLACEMENT COSTS SEEMS TO BE ABOUT THE SAME ACROSS THE BOARD, TO BE BETWEEN $700 AND $800 PLUS. IN RESEARCHING MY PROBLEM I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY THIS HASN'T BEEN A RECALL FOR ALL NISSAN ALTIMA'S. THERE ARE MANY WEBSITES COMPLAINING OF THE VERY PROBLEM OF HAVING TO REPLACE THE INTAKE MANIFOLD ON NISSAN ALTIMA'S. WHEN I TOOK MY CAR IN PREVIOUSLY (JANUARY 5, 2008) FOR THE SAME PROBLEM I WAS TOLD THAT I HAD A BROKEN MOTOR MOUNT. SO, I PAID TO HAVE THAT FIXED WHICH WAS OVER $450. MY CAR RAN FINE FOR ABOUT A MONTH, UNTIL I STARTED NOTICING THAT IT WAS IDLING HARD AT STOPLIGHTS, BUT I FIGURED IT WAS JUST DUE TO THE COLD. WHEN I CALLED NISSAN ABOUT IT, THEY ASKED ME IF MY CHECK ENGINE LIGHT WAS ON, AND IT WASN'T SO THEY JUST SAID IT WAS DUE TO IT BEING COLD. BUT IT NEVER STOPPED AND CONTINUED TO GET WORSE AND WORSE. UNTIL I FINALLY WAS ABLE TO TAKE IT BACK INTO NISSAN TO HAVE THEM LOOK AT IT AGAIN AND THAT'S WHEN THEY SAID IT WAS THE INTAKE MANIFOLD. I'D LIKE TO KNOW HOW MANY COMPLAINTS HAVE BEEN SUBMITTED ON THIS VERY PROBLEM AND HOW MANY IT TAKES FOR YOU TO CONSIDER A RECALL. *TR