2009 Nissan Cube: steering wheel locks up

Filed May 3, 2025 · Steering · CA

2009 Cube would not start. Steering wheel locked prevented me from starting the car. Called AAA and they tried to jump start and still would not start. AAA towed my car to Capital Nissan in San Jose and they confirmed it was the Steering Lock Unit. Replaced and charged me 1363.46. After researching online there was a recall (not my Cube and I don't know why) back in 2011. I also found that "recalls never expired". I feel because this incident happened at a later time the Steering Lock Unit became defective. I've noticed the warning light on my dashboard for awhile but it was off and on and have been taking my car for maintenance over the years at Premier Nissan (now called Capitol Nissan in San Jose) and thought maybe the tech would find the problem. I feel because it was defective and recalled I shouldn't have to pay for parts and labor. Also on my Invoice they wrote down the mileage as 140000 and that is not true. My Cube has 138000.

Filed Dec 11, 2018 · Electrical · 180,000 miles · CT

The steering lock has failed, and the start button no longer works on the vehicle because the "plunger" has failed within the steering electrical box.

Filed Jun 26, 2018 · Steering · 60,000 miles · RI

The steering lock column unit in my 2009 nissan cube failed, disabling the car from starting, and putting me at risk as I was stuck in a location away from my home, and unable to start my car. My car was parked on a city street. I could unlock and lock the vehicle, but I could not start the car using my intelligent key. It was towed to a nissan dealership in newport, ri where I am being charged $814.00 in parts and labor to replace a part that nissan has acknowledged is faulty not only in the cube, but also in the altima. When I called nissan consumer affairs, they said there is no current recall campaign and due to the age of the car there was nothing they will do. Consumer affairs case number is 31941337.

Filed Mar 16, 2017 · Steering · 150,000 miles · VA

Tl* the contact owns a 2009 nissan cube. While parked, the vehicle failed to start without warning. The vehicle was towed to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the steering wheel lock failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 150,000.

Filed Dec 1, 2016 · Steering · 68,000 miles · NC

The steering lock column in my 2009 nissan cube failed, disabling the car from starting, and putting me in a safety risk as I was stuck in a location away from my home, and unable to start my vehicle. It was not a battery issue- the lights worked, I could unlock and lock the vehicle, but I could not start the car using my intelligent key. It was towed to a nissan dealership where I am being charged nearly $1,000 in parts and labor to replace a part that nissan has acknowledged is faulty. Despite an expired extended warranty that was placed on that part, nissan has no recall on the part and owners everywhere are experiencing the same issue.

Filed Nov 4, 2015 · Steering · 41,200 miles · TN

The intelligent key system warning light illuminated yellow and remained on while the engine was running and while the engine was stopped. I took my cube to the local nissan dealership where it was diagnosed that the electrical steering lock system was malfunctioning. This same dealership repaired my cube 9/19/2011 for a recall on this same part. Part d8700-1fa0c lock steering was malfunctioning and had to be replace again in my 2009 cube. The dealership recommended that I call nissan to report the issue and see if they would cover the repairs. Nissan refused to cover any of the repairs and said to call back if it happened again.

Filed Mar 10, 2015 · Brakes, Engine · MD

My wife's 2009 nissan cube has had intermittent issues with the vehicle shutting off. It has happened a few times in rush hour traffic on the highway to and from work and most recently in a parking lot (luckily) it locked up completely. Most times she describes it like it is stalling, where she is able to move off to the side of the road and is able to restart the car after a minute or two. A few times however after coming to a complete stop, everything locked up. Car wouldn't start, steering wheel locked, brake pedal wouldn't even budge. After a minute, it started right back up. When we took it to the dealer, they could find nothing wrong and just ended up costing us "diagnostic fees". Reading through other complaints on here about this same exact issue, I find it hard to believe that nissan is not aware of something of this magnitude. Searching the web returns no type of help whatsoever. How are we supposed to just accept a vehicle that randomly shuts off, the results of which could be fatal? There has to be something that can be done.

Filed Feb 17, 2015 · Steering · 75,185 miles · IL

Tl* the contact owns a 2009 nissan cube. The contact stated that the steering wheel seized intermittently on more than one occasion. The vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer. The technician repaired the vehicle by replacing the electronic steering column lock. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 75,185.

Filed Feb 9, 2015 · Steering · 51,000 miles · TX

Tl* the contact owns a 2009 nissan cube. After the vehicle was refueled, the steering wheel seized without warning. In addition, the contact stated that the vehicle failed to start. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the lock steering system needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 51,000.

Filed Nov 6, 2014 · Brakes, Steering · 48,362 miles · IA

I bought a 2009 nissan cube brand new in june 2010 that has been nothing but problems. To date the vehicle has had the following problems: 1. Steering lock mechanism has failed twice 2. Rotors had to be resurfaced 3 months after purchase 3. Throttle chamber failed and had to be replaced 4. Fan doesn't work during winter months rendering the heater useless 5. Fuel filler tube replaced (recall) 6. The exhaust has rotted and the result is it separating/breaking off from the muffler. Hummel nissan in des moines wants $460 to repair the problem with the muffler. Tom at the dealer said he?s seen this problem with almost every vehicle minus the frontier. He said the way the exhaust is designed causes moisture to build up and rot the system out, and that I need to drive it more. I told him I don?t believe a vehicle with less than 50,000 miles should have to have the exhaust replaced, especially after having vehicles with 180,000 miles on them with no such trouble (not nissan). He then told me to take it to a local shop because it would be cheaper to fix. Nissan customer care on facebook asked for my VIN number so they ?could look into the issue,? And then replied back saying to work with the local dealer (hummel nissan). All in all they've been completely useless and unhelpful. Hummel nissan and nissan could care less about making sure their customers are happy/safe and continue to buy their vehicles.

Filed Jun 20, 2014 · Electrical · 94,000 miles · TN

Went to start car would not do anything. Ignition. Like it lost key reading. But steering wheel lock was causing it not to start.

Filed Jun 13, 2014 · Electrical, Steering · 46,894 miles · AR

The electronic steering wheel lock failed car wont start . The part was replaced in july 2011 on a recall the new part failed in june 2014 nissan would not replace a 2ed time under recall, with much begging they paid for part I paid for labor. This left my wife stranded in a less than ideal spot nissan extended the warranty on this same part on 2009 nissan altima but not on cube.