NHTSA Complaint #10721273 — 2009 NISSAN CUBE

THE TRANSMISSION RANGE SWITCH (COMMONLY REFERRED TO AS A NEUTRAL SAFETY SWITCH) WILL SOMETIMES FAIL TO MAKE PROPER ELECTRICAL CONTACT. THIS CONDITION RESULTS IN TWO OF THREE CONDITIONS. ONE CONDITION IS A FAILURE OF THE PRNDL INDICATOR ON THE DASHBOARD (AS OPPOSED TO THE PRNDL INDICATOR AT THE SHIFTER CONTROL) TO ILLUMINATE. THE NEXT TWO CONDITIONS ARE MUCH LESS BENIGN; THEY CAN BE MUCH MORE FRUSTRATING OR DANGEROUS. THE VERY FRUSTRATING CONDITION IS: BECAUSE THE SWITCH FAILS TO INDICATE THE SHIFTER IS IN PARK OR NEUTRAL, THE ENGINE CANNOT BE STARTED. THE VERY DANGEROUS CONDITION IS: IF BEFORE THE SWITCH FAILS TO MAINTAIN PROPER CONTACT THE ENGINE HAS ALREADY BEEN STARTED, THEN THE IDLING ENGINE (AS USUAL) IS SUFFICIENT TO GET THE VEHICLE INTO AN INTERSECTION; HOWEVER, THE ENGINE WILL DELAY ACCELERATION BY QUITE A FEW SECONDS, REGARDLESS OF THE ACCELERATOR'S POSITION, AS THE DRIVER ATTEMPTS TO GET THROUGH THE INTERSECTION. MY RECOMMENDATION FOR AN EFFICIENT RECALL IS TO RECOMMEND NISSAN DEVELOP REDUNDANCY INTO THIS SWITCH. NISSAN COULD EASILY REDESIGN THIS SWITCH TO DOUBLE (OR EVEN TRIPLE) THEN SWITCH'S SLIDING CONTACTS. DOING SO WOULD ALLOW THE MULTIPLE, IDENTICAL "POLES" AND "THROWS" TO BE CONNECTED PARALLEL TO EACH OTHER BEFORE THEY ARE ELECTRICALLY ROUTED TOWARD THE EIGHT-PIN CONNECTOR. THIS REDUNDANCY WOULD EASILY, QUICKLY, EFFICIENTLY, AND CERTAINLY REDUCE THIS INFREQUENT BUT VERY PROBLEMATIC CONDITION TO AN ISSUE WHICH OUGHT (STATISTICALLY) BECOME SO INFREQUENT IT'S NO LONGER A CONCERN. THE TRANSMISSION RANGE SWITCH IS NISSAN PART NUMBER: SWITCH ASSY 20150227 31918-1XCOD AND IS VERY LIKELY USED ON MORE VEHICLES THAN JUST THE CUBE MODELS.