NHTSA Complaint #11466830 — 2010 NISSAN CUBE

I was washing my car by hand and I was washing the driver's side rear view mirror and pivoted it away from the normal position so I could clean it better. When put it back to it's normal position, the hinge broke. When I looked closely at the hinge, I noticed that the hinge pretty much disintegrated, so it was just a matter of time before it broke. It could've broken off on the highway and been blown off, possibly damaging the vehicle or another vehicle, as the mirror was only hanging by the wires at that point. Also you can't drive a car without a driver's side mirror. I removed the mirror after I got done washing the car, so it wouldn't fall off and hit the car. I then ordered replacements for both the driver's side and passenger's side outside mirrors, including both the plain matte black covers, and the pre-primed covers, as I don't have to rush in getting the pre-primed covers painted to match the covers on the old mirrors. I attached the invoice for the replacements. The invoice doesn't include the cost of having the covers painted. I don't think the probably needs somebody else to confirm it, as the mirror is clearly separated from the bracket. The passenger's side mirror is showing the signs of starting to disintegrate, and both mirrors are available for inspection. Nobody else has inspected the mirrors. I tried to let the manufacturer know about it, but my email to them was bounced back as undeliverable. There were no symptoms of the problem prior to failure. The pictures of the mirror on the workbench are of the driver's side mirror, while the pictures of the mirror on the car are of the passenger's side mirror. I also included a picture of the odometer reading.