Hood of Nissan Altima flies open on Mass. highway after recall fix
There were terrifying moments for Erica Salvato of Stoneham after the hood of her 2015 Nissan Altima flew open while she was driving on Route 93. Salvato says she heard a loud boom, and then couldn't see anything. "My life flashed before my eyes," she told the I-Team.
Her brother was in the passenger seat. "I thought someone hit us from behind to be honest," her brother Danny said. "Then I looked in front of me I can't see anything just the hood."
He was able to help Erica move over to the breakdown lane by putting his hand out the window to stop cars.
The siblings were not hurt and were able to close the hood. But, as they were driving to the dealership to get help, the hood flew open again.
Their mom, Michelle, says "I expect Nissan to be responsible for this. Hoods don't just pop open."
Since 2015, Nissan has issued three safety recalls for the hood latch, after finding, "...the hood could unexpectedly open while driving, increasing the risk of a vehicle crash."
Unfixed recalls in Massachusetts
Em Nguyen is with Carfax and tells the I-Team recalls are free to fix and failing to do it is not only a problem, "for your car or your wallet in the long run, it's a serious safety hazard. Just imagine having a defective component in a two-ton machine going 60 down the highway."
Erica Salvato fixed the latch with the recall in 2022, but many car owners do not. A recent Carfax study found in Massachusetts, 1.1 million cars have at least one unfixed recall and 238,000 have at least two open recalls.
That same study found manufacturer recalls rose nearly 20% in 2022. Nguyen says it is hard to say why recalls have increased, telling the I-Team, one reason may be that "problems could go undiscovered potentially before a car is released. In general manufacturers do want to make sure the car you're buying is safe to be on the road."
Nissan Altima complaints
The 2015 Altima has a five-star safety rating with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It also has 891 consumer complaints, 53 mention problems with the hood latch, and some of those complaints, like Erica's were made after the recall fix.
Salvato says the experience was traumatizing. "I thought I was going to get seriously hurt," Salvato said. "The centerpiece of where you put your sunglasses, and the lights came flying down and nearly hit me in the face."
Erica never found out why the hood opened, and her car is now a total loss. Michelle still has questions and is grateful her kids are OK. "It could have been so much worse. This could have turned into a pile up. The fact that nobody was hurt is a miracle," she said.
Nissan offered Salvato a slight discount on a new Nissan. The company tells the I-Team:
"The safety and wellbeing of our customers are extremely important to us. In 2020, Nissan issued a recall for certain model year 2013-2018 Altima vehicles to address a potential hood opening issue if the primary hood latch was not secured. Customers were notified of a free repair and provided instructions for maintaining the latch mechanism."
To check on open recalls, visit the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website.
