NHTSA Complaint #11667785 — 2019 NISSAN KICKS

Component/System Involved: Infotainment system / radio head unit (including display, CarPlay integration, and volume control) Incident Description: Since purchasing the vehicle in 2020 with approximately 11,000 miles, the infotainment system has malfunctioned in ways that present a significant safety risk. The most severe issue is a random and uncontrollable spike in audio volume, where the system will suddenly jump from a low setting (e.g., volume level 8) to the maximum setting (level 40) without user input. This has occurred during normal driving conditions and once caused me to startle so badly that I momentarily lost control of the vehicle and struck a light pole base while backing out of a parking lot. The car sustained minor paint damage, but the emotional and physical impact was severe, and the event could have led to a serious accident had there been pedestrians or other vehicles nearby. The display system also randomly reboots itself, emits unexplained notification-like pings while driving, and occasionally becomes unresponsive. These issues are intermittent and cannot be reproduced on command, which has made diagnosis difficult. The problem was originally reported to Nissan of Omaha, who failed to order a replacement unit or retain records of the complaint. I later transferred service to Cornhusker Nissan of Norfolk. In 2023, while the vehicle was still under extended warranty (under 70,000 miles), Cornhusker Nissan replicated some symptoms but stated that since no error codes were present, no replacement or repair would be performed. On 6/9/2025, with the vehicle now at 122,000 miles, I brought it in for a Master Warning Light. The dealership retrieved several stored fault codes, most of which were related to the radio head unit, but dismissed them since I hadn’t mentioned audio issues during that visit. However, the system's behavior had never changed — only my willingness to continue reporting it had. Despite multiple attempts to resolve this iss