NHTSA Complaint #11459829 — 2017 NISSAN ARMADA

The engine is failing on many Nissan vehicles with the Nissan VK56VD (gasoline V8) engine. Cylinder 7 on the engine has significant scouring, and there is a Nissan Technical Service Bulletin (NTB19-057a) indicating this problem is widespread among 2017-2019 Nissan Armada, NV, Titan, and Titan XD models. This is a major safety concern. When there is a problem with the engine, the vehicle may stall, lose power, or even catch fire. If a driver loses the power from the engine while driving, or is unable to accelerate as expected, the vehicle could be at risk of getting hit, seriously injuring the occupants of all vehicles involved. The problem has been diagnosed, reproduced, and confirmed by Kline Nissan in Maplewood, MN. The vehicle was inspected by Kline Nissan. Diagnosis details attached, along with borescope photo showing significant scouring in Cylinder 7. Repair action is a new engine short block. My vehicle was outside the 60000 mile powertrain warranty window at the time of inspection. My service advisor at Kline Nissan contacted Nissan Consumer Affairs to submit a Factory Goodwill case, but was informed by Nissan Consumer Affairs that they would not be assisting in the replacement of their defective engine. The concern I share with NHTSA is the cost I was quoted to repair this problem is $9203.70. This problem is so widespread, among 3 years of Nissan's vehicles, I expect very few vehicle owners outside of the warranty window will be investing this level of repair in their vehicle. As a result, many of these engines to fail on the road, putting the public highways and roads at major safety risk. There are no warning lamps or messages for this problem, simply a tick noise that gets louder over time as the cylinder continues to get scoured, worn and damaged. This will eventually lead to damage significant enough to unpredictably blow the engine while driving which would be a major safety concern putting the vehicle occupants and others on the road at risk.