Nissan Recalls Navara Trucks

Nissan Motor Co. (Japan) announced it is recalling many of its early production Navara trucks. Approximately 5,800 Navaras, built between May 2005 and December 2005, are involved. This covers the initial build for the vehicle, which has been on sale since July. Nissan said the recalled trucks have potentially defective wheel bearings installed in the solid-axle rear end. If the bearings fail, they can not only damage the axle but also potentially cause the wheel to separate from the vehicle, resulting in loss of control. The Navara, in 2-door and 4-door cab variants, is a new pickup truck, introduced in 2005 and based on the new Pathfinder 4WD truck platform. All of the trucks involved were built in Barcelona, Spain, but were sold across Europe, the UK, Australia and other markets. Nissan had a similar problem with 143,000 Xtera trucks from 2003, where an improperly sealed ABS sensor housing could cause moisture to enter the rear axle and damage the bearings, leading to failure.