2009 Nissan 370Z
Complaints about this year name steering far more often than the model's other years — 63% of them, about 157× the usual rate of 0.4%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 153 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 5 |
| Involving a crash | 2 |
| Recalls | 0 |
| EPA combined | 21 mpg |
Also unusual this year
- lock — 58% of complaints, 144× usual
- start — 49% of complaints, 123× usual
- steering lock — 33% of complaints, 82× usual
What owners wrote
STEERING LOCK UNIT FAILED. CAR WOULD NOT START. DID NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THAT KEY WAS IN THE CAR. WITH THE SLU NOT WORKING, STEERING WHEEL CAN TURN BUT CAR WON'T START.
I GOT INTO MY STATIONARY VEHICLE AND WHEN I PUSH THE START BUTTON IT REMAINED IN THE LOCK POSITION. THE STEERING LOCK SENSOR LIGHT WAS ON AND IT WON'T CHANGE INTO THE ACC OR ON POSITION. THIS IS THE SECOND TIME IT HAS HAPPENED TO ME, FIRST TIME THE DEALERSHIP…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Nissan 370Z was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2009 Nissan 370Z? What happened to yours?
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