- Nissan issued a second recall notice and a stop-sale for 9-speed automatic-equipped Frontier and Titan trucks between the 2020 and 2023 model years.
- According to an NHTSA defect report, a potential transmission parking pawl defect could cause vehicles to roll away with the transmission in “Park”.
- The issue affects 203,223 trucks in total, including 58,767 Titans and 144,456 Frontiers.
- This latest campaign expands an earlier recall that covered just over 180,000 trucks.
- 2023 Nissan Z cars equipped with a 9-speed automatic are also impacted.
- Nissan is currently developing a fix, but it will begin notifying owners of the problem starting on November 1.
- Owners are encouraged to apply the parking brake whenever they park their vehicle.
According to recent filings with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Nissan is expanding its recall of 2020-2023 Frontier and Titan pickups equipped with the Jatco 9-speed automatic transmission. Due to a potential defect, these trucks may roll away if the transmission parking pawl fails to engage when placed in “park”.
The latest Nissan safety recall affects over 200,000 trucks.
In total, NHTSA documents note 203,223 total vehicles with this potential issue. Of those, the recall population breaks down like this, per a campaign bulletin sent to dealers:
- 2020-2023 Nissan Titan (A61): 58,693 (including 1,719 in dealer inventory)
- 2020-2021 Nissan Frontier (D40, previous generation): 52,213
- 2022-2023 Nissan Frontier (D41, current generation): 92,137 (including 5,601 in dealer inventory)
More specifically, the automaker says that “the investigation to date indicates that resistance between the parking rod and wedge inside of the transmission housing may inhibit movement of the wedge and parking pawl. If the parking pawl does not engage, an affected vehicle may move after placing the shifter into ‘Park’. If the customer does not engage the parking brake, potential for movement of the vehicle increases the risk of injury or crash.”
One truck in a factory lot rolled away while parked, though Nissan noted no field incidents (either accidents or injuries) related to the problem. As part of a plant audit, however, it noticed that 11 out of 83 trucks tested demonstrated the issues covered under this recall campaign. Nissan ordered a “quality hold” on August 24, and expanded it on August 29 to cover the Frontier, Titan and Nissan Z equipped with the 9-speed automatic transmission. It also initiated a hold on shipments from its Canton, Mississippi assembly plant until it could develop a solution.
Nissan’s interim solution: Make sure to use the parking brake
For the time being, there is no permanent remedy to the parking pawl issue. Nissan encourages owners to utilize the trucks’ parking brakes until it can determine a fix.
Per the NHTSA documents, the automaker says it will mail out notices to current owners on November 1. Owners can contact their local dealer or Nissan’s customer service line at 1-800-867-7669 for more information.
The NHTSA’s number for this new recall campaign is 22V-671. You can find out more through the agency’s website, or by calling their vehicle safety hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153).