NHTSA Preliminary Evaluation PE15019

In a letter dated September 10,2015, Nissan North America,Inc. (Nissan) notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of a safety defect that may result in coil spring fracture in approximately 218,019 model year (MY) 2007 through 2012 Nissan Versa vehiclesproduced from May 8, 2006 through November12, 2012 and originally sold or ever registered in the following 22 states and the District of Columbia: Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington D.C., West Virginia and Wisconsin (NHTSA Recall 15V-573).Nissan indicated that the recalled vehicles may contain front coil springs that received inadequate phosphorous coating, have low residual stress, or a combination of both.Surface imperfections resulting from coil-to-coil contact when the spring is compressed may lead to crack initiation.Exposure of the surface imperfections to road salts, in regions with heavy use of road salts for snow and ice control, may promote crack propagation in the spring that could result in spring fracture.If the coil spring fractures it may puncture the front tire and possibly the brake line while driving, which may increase the risk of a vehicle crash.ODI's analysis of complaints it has received from the public (VOQ's) and Nissan complaint data submitted in response to the information request letter for PE15-019 identified a total of 468 non-duplicative reports alleging coil spring fractures in the subject vehicles, including 142 VOQ's and 367 Nissan complaints (41 of the incidents reported to ODI were also reported to Nissan).While the recall region accounts for approximately 43 percent of vehicle sales, the analysis found that 94 percent of the complaints involved vehicles sold or operated in those states.Approximately 27 percent of the VOQ's reporting coil spring failures in the recalled state