2009 Nissan Cube problems
NHTSA has received 146 complaints about the 2009 Nissan Cube, and 16% of them involve steering. Next are electrical system (15%) and drivetrain & axles (13%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 146 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Steering 16% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 4 and 4
- Injuries and deaths
- 6 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 74,000 miles 111 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 9 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 9 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 22 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 23 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 20 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 4 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 13 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 7 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 4 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 111 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 74,000 miles. For steering specifically, the median reported mileage is about 77,000 miles (20 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 4 complaints mention a crash; 4 complaints mention a fire; 6 injuries reported.
It is also covered by 3 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Was hit head on by a drunk driver and both airbags did not deflate all the way. The drivers airbag gave my mom a broken rib and broke vertebrae in her neck. Passengers side fractured my wrists. The seatbelt on passengers side almost cut me in half cause of locking up. Have sever whiplash and bruising. Prior to this airbag light was blinking on passengers side saying not enough weight was on it when it was. Cube was destroyed in wreck. The seatbelt always locked up on passenger side and almost broke my neck.
Car failed in a remote area would not restart after stopping, towed to local nissan dealership and they stated that it was the electronic steering control lock complete failure and stops vehicle from starting. Wife suffered from heat exposure directly related to situation, this part was recalled and I had the recall repaired. If a basic search on this you will find that this is a common and expensive problem that nissan ended up discontinuing this part on later cars. But this failure is a serious problem.
The electronic steering control lock malfunctioned causing me to be unable to start my vehicle. The vehicle was stationary in my driveway at the time. There were no movements or sounds coming from the car when I tried to start it. Only the security indicator light and the key light were on in the dash. No response from the car when we attempted to jumpstart it.
The cube will frequently stop while driving at any speed. It is possible to pump the accelerator at the moment this happens and sometimes the engine will catch and carry on. If this does not work, the car must be shut down for a few minutes before attempting a restart. Unfortunately once this situation happens, it will very likely recur soon after. It is my observation that this happens most often when the ambient temperature is quite high (75 f and above).