2009 Nissan Versa: harsh or hard shifting

Filed May 27, 2016 · Suspension · 62,000 miles · NE

Tl* the contact owns a 2009 nissan versa. While driving 15 MPH, the vehicle made a clunking noise and began to swerve. The contact pulled the vehicle over and noticed that the front driver side frame was closer to the tire than normal. The contact took the vehicle to a certified mechanic who diagnosed that the front driver and passenger side coil springs were fractured and detached. The coil springs and struts were replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that there were no recalls related to the failure. The contact found the federal safety agency campaign number: 15v573000 (suspension) that was directly related to the failure. The VIN was invalid. The approximate failure mileage was 62,000.

Filed Apr 20, 2016 · Steering, Suspension · 70,000 miles · IL

Loud clunking/popping noise coming from front of car while driving.

Filed Dec 15, 2015 · Suspension · 119,758 miles · MA

A large piece of the front coil spring on the passenger side broke and fell off on the road, as I backed out of my driveway and turned into the street. I heard a clunk in the front and something falling on the road. The remaining spring on the car was still in place. I had my repair shop replace the springs.

Filed Sep 4, 2015 · Suspension · 22,000 miles · PA

Pulling out of parking lot after work and heard a loud clunk from front of car. Right side of care was sitting lower then left side, mechanic said spring broke. Same thing happened 2 weeks ago to other side of car and had that front spring and strut replaced and car aligned. If this is happening frequently, why no recall. Will have the rear coil springs checked when I get the car inspected but after these 2 repair bills and of course my warrantly had run out and I did not extend. Who would think that a care I bought new, well maintained and with only 22000 miles would have this happen.

Filed Jul 30, 2015 · Steering · 50,000 miles · FL

Clunk sound coming from steering column when making right or left turns.

Filed May 6, 2015 · Suspension · 83,993 miles · CT

Car was bouncing and making loud clunk noises. Front springs were found to have been broken . Both left and right front suspension springs were broken in two pieces. Mechanic stated that the broken springs had potential to puncture the tires. The springs seem to have broken on rusty part of the springs. Once they are broken they can twist on the strut and get in the way of tire and other parts near the wheels. The spring at the broken section was severed to make a very sharp edge.both springs were replaced at the cost of $702.22.

Filed Apr 16, 2014 · Suspension · 23,400 miles · OH

Althuough I'm not sure exactly when it occurred, I suspect it happened while dodging winter potholes in streets leading into cleveland, ohio for an event there. Returning home on the freeways, my wife and I noticed the ride was extremely harsh. Later I noted the drivers side was low in the front. Actually there was only an inch between the tire and the wheel cutout. I tried bouncing the front suspension but is was solid. Clunking as I drove out my driveway, I went to my dealer service manager who did a quick look at my parked car . He knew instantly it was a broken coil spring and had a set for both sides readily at hand. The new springs are only warrantied for 1 year or 12,000 miles. Which makes me think they haven't solved thier problem and I don't like the idea of paying for it while being a test driver. I never owned a car in 55 years before that I did not trust. I did buy this car new in july of 2009 but found out later it was manufactured in november 2008.

Filed Jul 11, 2013 · Suspension · 43,000 miles · PA

I drove my car to work fine that morning. Leaving work I heard strange clunks while in the parking lot. Looked the car over but didn't notice anything. Continued to drive car on my usual route. I went over a bridge and my car bounced terribly. I made it home and my boyfriend found my driver side coil spring busted. Was still able to carefully drive it to my mechanic and he found that the passenger side spring broke too. Reading online I see many complaints on this happening. There should be no reason they should break on such a new car. They are defective and hazardous. I feel very lucky mine broke the way they did and not puncture my tire or lock my steering.

Filed Jun 12, 2013 · Suspension · 72,600 miles · WV

I had hopped into my car today, started it, put it in reverse and had moved about two feet before I heard an extremely loud *clunk* that came from the front passenger side. I immediately stopped my car, put the e-brake on, turned it off and got out to see what had happened. At first I didn't see any damage, then I looked under my car and saw a cylindrical curved piece of metal. I picked it up and not knowing what it was or where it came from I didn't want to move my car again until I had some answers. My friend and I walked to the nearest garage and showed the piece to a mechanic and he quickly diagnosed the issue: my passenger side suspension coil had snapped off at the base (about 6 or 6.5 inches had broken from the bottom of the coil.) the break is very, very clean--almost like glass. There was no sign of rust or any other sort of damage to the coil, and after reading the many complaints on this website that are identical to mine I am thinking that this incident today was only caused by a factory malfunction! I do not drive over bumps or holes like a maniac, I drive over them sensibly just as I'd think many other people with this same problem do also. I am a very poor single mother & college student and something needs to be done about this! Scary to think about what would have happened had I been driving down the highway.

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 Jul 6, 2011 · Engine · 30,434 miles · MD

When I went to proceed through an intersection after being stopped for a red light my car suddenly lost power. It made clunking noises and even though I kept giving it more gas I barely made it through the intersection. I then steered into the shoulder and turned off the car, waited a few minutes and started it again. The engine started but I still had noises and no power to move forward. I had the car towed to the dealership where I bought it new and have all the routine maintenance done. They did a thorough inspection and several road tests to duplicate the problem but couldn't find anything. I have never had any problem with the car and now have a loss of confidence and am concerned that this may happen again. After my breakdown I did some research and found that others have had the same sudden loss of power and no one is able to diagnose the problem.

Filed Jun 20, 2011 · Steering, Suspension · CA

Within weeks of my purchase of a 2009 nissan versa sl, I noticed, when making right or left turns at slow speeds (5-10 MPH), especially going over a bump and when the steering wheel is turned 1- 1 1/2 times (as in going into a driveway) I experience loud clunking and vibrations in wheel, and it can be easily heard coming from the steering column. The clunk is always there at 1 to 1 1/4 turn from the full clockwise stop. I have taken it in the dealership for this problem at least 5 times; they have been unable to fix the problem. Several times, the service writer said he couldn't hear or feel the 'clunk' but the mechanic said he could. The versa does move around quite a bit at high speeds on the freeway, but I am unsure if that is caused by the above described problem or the light weight of the versa. The sound and feel of this 'clunk' is very disconcerting, and given the number of complaints I've seen for 3 years about this problem, I'm wondering if the government/automaker are waiting for someone to die before they act.