NHTSA Complaint #11322382 — 2013 NISSAN ALTIMA

THE VEHICLE GEAR SHIFT WOULD NOT MOVE FROM THE PARK (P) POSITION WHILE DEPRESSING THE BRAKE PEDAL. APPARENTLY THIS IS A KNOWN SHIFT LOCK ISSUE BASED ON SIMILAR COMPLAINTS ON THE NHTSA WEBSITE AS WELL AS NISSAN OWNER TESTIMONIES. THE FAULT AS IT WAS EXPLAINED BY A NISSAN TECHNICIAN WAS THE SHIFTER SHORTS-OUT THE SHIFT LOCK SOLENOID WHICH ENGAGES THE UNLOCK FOR THE SHIFTER WHEN THE BRAKE PEDAL IS DEPRESSED. COST TO REPAIR THE ISSUE IS ROUGHLY $800 BY REPLACING THE SHIFT HANDLE ASSEMBLY AND THIS "REPAIR" IS DUE TO A FAILURE OF A LOW COST SOLENOID SWITCH. THE CONSUMER SHOULD NOT BE ACCOUNTABLE OF FAULTY DESIGN. ACCORDING TO NISSAN, THIS IS NOT A SAFETY OR DESIGN ISSUE, BUT WEAR AND TEAR OF THE VEHICLE. HOPEFULLY NHTSA WILL REVIEW THE FACTS OF THESE COMMON OCCURRENCES AND DETERMINE IF IT IS INDEED WORTHY OF RECALL REPAIR.