2009 Nissan Versa: grinding or squealing brakes

Filed Aug 15, 2015 · Suspension · 23,899 miles · PA

I was routinely pulling into my driveway, and I heard a single ping/knock sound, immediately followed by a grinding noise, coming from the front right of the car. The car instantly became difficult to maneuver. Upon immediate inspection, I could see that the lower part of the coil spring had broken cleanly. The remaining portion of the spring had come away from the metal restraining plate, and was extending against the inside top part of the tire. The metal did not puncture the tire, but it is significantly indenting the rubber. The car is not driveable. Furthermore, the left coil spring, in the same relative place, shows significant corrosion, and does not look safe for driving. Coil springs are expected to last the lifetime of a car-- especially one well cared for and driven in almost ideal conditions, like mine. I have never had a coil spring break on me. This is no coincidence, as the second one appears to be faulty as well. I can only feel grateful that this didn't happen while I was driving with my family on the highway. Has this occurred on the highway, the tire would have surely blown out, and I would have lost control of the vehicle. Nissan needs to step up and recall these springs before someone loses their life! I will need to have my suspension repaired, as well as possibly my front right tire. I wholly expect nissan to pick up the tab for this.

Filed Jun 15, 2015 · Suspension · 45,000 miles · OH

Backing out of my driveway I heard a grinding noise, and when I got down to the street and put it into drive, I heard a loud pop and ping from the front end of the passenger side. Part of the passenger side spring had broken off. I pulled it immediately back into the driveway. Upon inspection, I found a piece of the spring in the road and noted that the passenger side front of the car was lower than the other. I called a tow truck, had it towed to my mechanic and they found that the spring had indeed broken off. The spring was not rusty, it is currently 6 years old and has only 45k miles on it. Since there are no aftermarket parts for this and nissan sells spring, mount, strut (not an assembly), they are forced to put on all nissan parts which makes me nervous that it will happen again. The mechanic advised I was extremely lucky this did not happen while I was driving as the spring had gone through the strut and was very close to shredding the tire. Upon researching this to see if there was a recall, I could not believe the amount of complaints I found about the very same thing happening to other people. I hope nissan steps up or is forced to do a recall and reimburses me, as I had both sides replaced and it cost me $1266, not including the $80 for towing. I am just thankful it didn't happen while I was driving, as it has happened to others. *tr ...updated 07/30/15 *bf updated 9/24/2015

Filed May 10, 2015 · Suspension · 50,405 miles · OH

While pulling out of my garage and having gone no more than 3 feet I heard a very loud snap and a grinding sound coming from the right front wheel. Having read about the spring issue I knew what it was and immediately backed up into the garage. Had this happened 15 minutes later I would have been on the highway going 55 MPH and probably rolled the car. There is no excuse for nissan not addressing this issue. They know of the problem and I see that the 2010 versas also have the problem. My dealer is well aware of the issue and stocks the springs. I replaced both springs at the same time to save further grief. There is also no excuse for the federal safety agency and dot for not forcing a recall on the springs. I guess they wish to kill a few people first.

Filed Apr 17, 2015 · Suspension · 40,007 miles · IL

Hit 40 thousand miles 3 days prior to incident. Pulled out of garage and heard an awful grind, pulled another 3 feet and the front end fell to the ground. Upon inspection both coil springs (not at all rusted) busted. I am roughly a 60 year old driver that has had this vehicle from the day it was new. I work 4 miles from home and fortunately don't really have the opportunity to go over 35 miles per hour. Can not imagine what would have happened driving at 60 MPH and having the front end at the same time come to a screeching halt? Really sad part about this, dealership bob rohrman arlington hts nissan would not stand by the gold extended bumper to bumper warranty I had recently acquired.

Filed May 12, 2014 · Suspension · 68,000 miles · IN

When backing out of the garage this morning I heard a grinding noise, pulled back in. Got out, looked for a flat tire or some object being dragged under the car, didn't see anything unusual and tried to back out again, same grinding noise. Got a flashlight and noticed the coil spring on the front passenger side was resting on the tire. Looking closer, found a large piece of the coil spring broken off and sitting just behind the wheel well on the ground. Car drove fine last night, spring broke off at some point before I left for work this morning.

Filed May 1, 2014 · Suspension · 77,000 miles · NH

I had the car in reverse to back out of garage and heard a grinding sound. I stopped to look at the car but didn't see anything obvious. I tried driving again but stopped after a few feet and called my mechanic. His garage is about a half mile away so I tried to drive slowly there but suddenly there was a loud bang and the car felt like it hit the road on the right front side. The tire was flat. The diagnosis is a broken coil spring, which I have since learned is a common defect on the versa.

Filed Apr 30, 2014 · Steering, Suspension · 66,868 miles · MN

On the 21st of april 2014 my wife left work. As she was reversing the car she heard a loud grinding noise and then a boom. The front right tire blew out. She found a large sheered off metal piece underneath the car. We took the car in the next day to a professional service. They found out that the spring was completely destroyed. The cost to fix everything including the tire was $720. The worse part is that they only had oem parts available. This means that they had to put the same defective springs back on our car. After I filed a report with consumer affairs nissan contacted me back saying that they will not honor this defective part. We purchased our car in the summer of 2010. The spring lasted only four years. Had this been on the highway my family could have been seriously injured, especially during this recent winter. This is our only car and we have three children under three years old. No one should buy a nissan versa, period, if they care about the safety of their family.

Filed Mar 14, 2013 · Steering, Suspension · 37,343 miles · NY

Within days of buying the new car in 2009, I noticed a loud, clunking squeak and a pop from around my front wheels when I would make a turn after slowing down to a stop. This had been happening during the entire 3.5 years that I have had the car, so I figured it was normal and harmless because the car was already doing it brand new (right now there are still only 37,343 miles on the vehicle, I park it in my garage, and it has had no accidents.) however, last night, the sound seemed to be louder and looser near the front-right wheel. Then this morning I drove out of my neighborhood and as I began accelerating to 50 MPH, a large piece of metal flew out violently from under my car. I was able to find it in the roadway, so I backed up and inspected the part. It is the bottom coil of the coil spring that is over the right-front wheel. Luckily it did not hit anybody behind me or cut my tire. The metal was not only broken, but the face of the break was already slightly rusted, as if it had been cracked for a while before snapping.

Filed Mar 1, 2012 · Suspension, Transmission · 63,000 miles · NC

I have a 2009 nissan versa that I had been hearing popping when I turned so I had to replace the cv axel and now I am having to replace the ball joint bushing because that is what caused my cv axel to start to go now I hear a grinding and the car has 63000 miles on it.

Filed Dec 15, 2010 · Brakes · 3,000 miles · PA

Nissan versa hatchback 2009, the brakes squeak very loudly whenever the car is warm. I have taken to be repair 5 times and the problem cannot be fixed.