Problems with 2009 Nissan Altima STEERING

Steering lock repair.

The electronic steering control lock disabled the starter so that i could not move my car. i was in a wal mart pharmacy parking lot when this occurred. my wife is undergoing chemo-therapy for breast cancer and we had to wait about an hour before we could get a ride home. the wait made my wife feel worse considering her condition.

Within the last month i've had problems with the steering wheel lock 3 times and it's very frustrasting. when i bought at the dealer they told me it was a very reliable car. this past saturday i had to get it towed because it failed to turn on while i was grocery shopping. this problem occurs when i want to start the car.

My stationary car would not start when i inserted the key. i was stranded. nothing would happen. i had to have my car towed to the nissan dealership where i had no choice but to pay 1000 for my electronic steering lock to be replaced. it is very frustrating because this is a known issue with 2009 nissan altima that the company is not taking responsibility for.

While out shopping, i returned to the car and the intelligent key warning light came on when i tried to start it. the car would not start at all. it was dark out, and i had to have the car towed because it was in the store parking lot, in addition to it not starting. when towed to dealer, they said the steering lock unit was broken and needed to be replaced. after looking online, i noticed that nissan knew the steering lock unit was defective because they issued an extended warranty, which expired in november 2014. my problem is the same problem that they fixed for hundreds, if not thousands of other altima owners for free, but since mine happened later that 11/2014, they refused to fix it. now, i am out almost $1300 dollars for the repair. defective is defective, regardless of when it happened. they knew it was defective, or they wouldn't have extended that warranty in the first place.

I have nissan altima 2009. my car was parked at home and just would not start. able to open doors with key fob but not start with the push button. found the electronic steering column lock was the problem and needed to be replaced. cost me $1100 to fix it. nissan has known about this problem and had extended warranty on this part to 6 years, without informing the customers. i realized this when the part had a problem in the 7th year and nissan denied to cover the costs. thank fully this happened at my home. would have been extremely dangerous if i was travelling with my family had the problem at an isolated place.

My steering wheel locked up and now it will not start...... i have researched this and it is a huge problem with the 2009 altima and i was told this is not coever under warranty

Car will not start due to escl issues headlight turn on door locks and unlock , red and yellow key icon flashes

Tl* the contact owns a 2009 nissan altima. when the contact attempted to start the vehicle, it failed to start and the steering wheel locked up without warning. the contact received an email that informed her of the failure; however, the vin was excluded from the recall. the vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the steering wheel locked. the push to start button failed and needed to be replaced. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure. the nhtsa campaign number was unknown. the failure mileage was 91,000.

The 2009 nissan altima has a defective steering lock" which causes owners to be unable to start their vehicles. this defect can affect owners of the 2009 nissan altima without warning and without cause. when this issue occurs the only way to resolve the issue is to have the car towed to a nissan dealership to have the faulty steering lock replaced. the car cannot be started at all. thus, owners of the 2009 nissan altima continuously find themselves stuck in very inconveniant circumstances with no ability to drive their car. this can be very dangerous for drivers who are in remote or dangerous areas." this was exactly what happened to my 2009 nissan altima on oct 10, 2016. i was further disappointed to receive a phone call from nissan to the effect that they knew this but their extended warranty expired last year and they will not even cover the cost for this defective product that imposes great danger.

Nissan altima steering lock issue i called nissan customer service on monday (oct.9) and explain that my car did not start. i already knew what the issue is, since it is written in nissan booklet(the symbol that on dashboard) they told me to go to nissan shop, and we will see what we can go to resolve the issue. so i was thinking they will cover or partially cover the cost to fix the problem. on thursday(oct.13) i am getting phone call from corporate office and they give me the whole speech. so basically they told me, you need to fix it yourself. the guy name rod give me excuse that i am not loyal customer, since last time i went to nissan service was 2 years. but i try to explain that i have my own mechanic in different body shop and you are welcome to call him and get my history of taking care of my car. plus pep boys can pull my history as well. but i was not sure what loyal to nissan has to do with defective part. so bottom line i need to pay $1007 or i am without car. rod told me if you would go more often to nissan service, they would catch the problem earlier, not sure how. i told him there are at least 3 ways to get in touch with me and most of the customers by phone, email, text message, and mailing address. no one letter came, so how any of us with this problem should know about steering lock recalled. so we are little people, can't really fight with such a big corporation like nissan, unless government can get involved with this problem. it is clearly nissan fault that steering assembly is malfunction

Steering lock switch failed, which prevented the steering wheel from locking when parked, and the car from starting. battery is in good condition. required towing for repair. nissan is aware of the steering lock issue, but has not issued a recall although this seems to be a frequent part failure.

After leaving a doctor's apt on 4 oct, i get to my car and it want start. the intelligent key warning is lit up o the instrument panel and when i hit the push start button, the lock light is illuminated and i cannot push the brake pedal down. the steering column is completely locked. i recalled getting a letter from nissan extending the warranty on the escl fro 6yrs/unlimited mileage. nevertheless, i had to have my car towed to nissan and as of today they are telling me that the extended warranty has expired. how is that possible when i got the letter a year after i purchased the car. so now i am stuck with paying $900-1200 to get this fixed. nissan should be ashamed of themselves and should do a recall. i am so disappointed in nissans response and service and i was looking at buying a new car at the end of the year from them. but they will not get my business.

My 2009 nissan altima won't start. i had to get it towed to the dealership and they have stated that the steering lock assembly has failed and will need to be replaced for $1,000!! i soon found out that this is a common problem with nissan altimas and that there was an extension for this problem but only for cars under 120,000 miles. what are the chances that a 2009 car will have less than 120,000 miles; not very likely! at one point it looks like they are doing something in good faith until you realize wait this doesn't even apply! i have been a loyal customer to nissan and have really loved my altima up to this point but this is really turning me into a critic more so than an enthusiast very quickly. i would at least appreciate nissan at least paying for the part in good faith and showing some sympathy. had i not been taking care of my car with routine maintenance i could understand but this is a known manufacturer problem that should be addressed for all people affected not just a certain mileage group of people. apparently nissan removed this part from the 2010 altima. i assume there was some knowledge of the parts failure (apparently there was a recall for the same part in the nissan 370zs).

Electric steering column lock (escl) failed and left me stranded at work. had to wait 2 hours for someone to come get me.

The push button start will not recognize the key "fob". i can still unlock and lock my doors with the fob, pop open my trunk, but the system that is supposed to recognize my key and unlock my steering wheel is faulty. reading up this has been a problem for many '09 altimas and nissan even extended a warranty on this part, unfortunately that warranty is expired and my car now has the problem.

The electrical steering column lock (escl) failure which wouldn't allow the car to start is the most stupid thing i've ever heard. and that nissan wouldn't recall it is a big shame on the manufacturer. on top of that, they charge ridiculously expensive to have the part replaced ($600+labor)??!! this is super unsafe for drivers in the northeast as we may get stuck in a cold winter freezing to death for what? there is even no mechanic problem with the car. just a little wedge-like thing that wouldn't drop to where it's supposed to be???? ridiculous!!

I tried to start my car on a rainy cold night& it was dark out. my car would not start so i called tripe a & waited an hour & they could not start it. it wasn't the battery. i waited for a ride & waited another hour after they left. i was 45 mins away from home. i got a ride back the next day & paid for a tow. they towed it to the closest nissan dealership on sunday. i spent most of my day waiting & had to wait at the dealership for them to unload cars before the tow truck could put the car there.the next day i called them. the service department said that it would be 119.95 to diagnose then that would be put towards the repair. the dealership called me and told me that they needed to replace the faulty steering lock controller. i called back an hour later & the price was more. 1120.85. i picked up the car in tears. i questioned the invoice & then questioned the dealship & they said it wasn't covered under a recall. i feel like they took advantage of me. also i asked why didn't you put the diagnose charge of 119.95 towards the repair ? please look into this and help me .

Ignition lock cylinder fail. common with 2009 nissan altima's

Steering wheel won't lock there for im not able to turn on my car

A few months ago i was left stranded at work, had to have my car towed, the car would not start. a yellow key appeared on dash board as if the car was not sensing the key fob evident. i called the dealership and turns out to be the steering wheel lock issue. there was a recall on this part however i purchased the car used, and was never sent a recall notice. i called nissan corporation but was never got a response. i need the vehicle fix and this can be a dangerous situation if i am ever stranded in a remote area.

The steering lock has now become completely incompetent, did my research and found there was a recall for the 2009, 2010 models. yet for some reason i was never informed of that. also, now finding out that the recall extension was cutoff in january of 2016. i was lucky enough that this had happened a mile away from my house, if this would have happened on the highway, there would have been a huge issue.

Ecsl went out and my high school daughter was driving the car at the time as we were out of town, this could really be a hazard and definitely was costly as far as towing, thank god we have an extra vehicle but she had to find transportation, had the stress being 17 and not really knowing what to do, the car sat until we got home to have to towed to dealership, missed some of school. this part definitely should be recalled and put back out there indefinitely to be warrantied. i had heard nothing prior but good things about this vehicle and then after reading about the same year and model of vehicle i am praying after the fix this will be the only time it happens!

Tl* the contact owns a 2009 nissan altima. while the vehicle was stationary, the steering wheel locked and the vehicle lost power. the contact stated that the vehicle would not start when prompted. the vehicle was towed to a dealer. the vehicle was repaired. the manufacturer was made aware of the issue. the failure mileage was 68,000.

Steering wheel lock control i have been stranded 4 times do to me car not starting with my child in car i researched and nissan has had alit of complaints on it just want it fixed before i go any further.

Takata recall steering lock control unit malfunction

Escl - electronic steering column lock i went to the store far from home and when i tried starting the car it did not start. the door locks worked but nothing else would come on. i checked online and it stated that it was escl. i put in a used one and it worked. i would like nissan to replace that part with a new part. i was stranded for hours and had to leave my car in the store parking lot for 3 days.

The steering lock is causing the car not to start at all. i have been stranded many times and this is not safe. i have been at my house where it hasn't worked, i have been at work.

Intelligent key light would come on but the car wouldn't start or do anything, but the lock/unlock feature would still work. apparently the steering lock mechanism is defective

After routine drive, car "froze-up" door would not open, car would not start, wheel did not turn, car would not start, car dead. after some research found many complaints about this, it has something to do with "steering / engine locking-up" and can happen anywhere at anytime without any warning. nissan at one point had extended the warranty on this indefinitely, then arbitrarily ended it in mid 2015. this is incredibly dangerous....can leave you stranded anywhere!!!

Nissan has refused to recall their faulty electronic steering lock unit that is needed to turn the vehicle on. if it does not lock the wheel in place it will not allow the push start ignition to start the vehicle, thus leaving their occupants stranded with no option other than to have their vehicles towed to a nissan dealership and forced to pay upwards of $1200 for the replacement of a defective factory part. they offered a extended warranty to address this issue, but neglected to inform consumers of this. they are clearly trying to get out of paying for their mistakes and are passing the cost on to their unsuspecting customers.

Tl* the contact owns a 2009 nissan altima. the contact stated that the steering wheel seized without warning. the vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the steering wheel lock failed and needed to be replaced. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure and stated they would get back in touch with the contact. the failure mileage was approximately 85,300.

Malfunction with the steering lock that won't allow the car to start. when i push the brakes to start the car the car it is stating that there is a malfunction with the steering wheel lock.

After sitting i cannot start my car,steering seems to be stuck and brake is very hard to press down.car has only 50.000 mi.

Notice a key indicator light on dash... vehicle wouldn't start! i was in a very dark area by myself and didn't know what to do! i was scared for my life because i was alone and didn't know what would happen!!

My steering wheel lock is defective, my sister got stuck after a pit stop traveling from boston to new york. after doing some research online i came across informations showing it was a factory default. i purchased the car in 2013 and was never told about this at the dealership

Car will not start. steering lock mechanism malfunction. car parked on street in front of our house. at least i'm not on a trip. nissan won't fix under a recall. they had an extended warranty to cover this problem, but it expired. owners of pre-owned cars were never notified.

My car would not start. the car battery is fine and the intelligent key fob is also working fine and was even tried with a new battery. pushing the start button does nothing and the two key lights on the dash both light up when in the car. after checking the manual, calling the dealer, and checking the internet, it is clear that my steering lock mechanism has malfunctioned. this seems to be a very common problem as nissan extended the warranty on it indefinitely and then went back and shortened it to run out in january of this year! they even tell you to call the dealer in the manual if you encounter it and it is then a $1000 repair. i'm just glad this didn't happen over the weekend while i was camping and potentially stranded!

Tl* the contact owns a 2009 nissan altima. the contact stated that the steering wheel seized without warning. the vehicle was inspected and diagnosed by an independent mechanic who was further testing the vehicle to determine the cause of the failure. the vehicle was not diagnosed by a dealer. the manufacturer was notified. the vin was not available. the approximate failure mileage was 130,000.

I was driving the children to school and a "key" indicator came on. after i dropped them off and went to leave again, the car wouldn't start. i could lock/unlock the door with the key sensor; but nothing else would work. i had aaa check the battery and everything was fine. the technician called into the office and learned that this model is one of two cars that have an issue with a faulty steering wheel lock. the car would not start and it had to be towed into the dealership for a $979 repair. i also had to rent a car for two cars while this was fixed. i'm a social worker and i could have easily been trapped at a client's house in a bad situation and had no way to leave. this is a dangerous fault that should be at the cost of the manufacturer and not the customer. why were these vehicles not recalled since this is a known defect?? we should practice prevention; not wait until a "magic number" of lives have been compromised. *tr

My mother-in-law drove the car to work in the morning with no issues. when she went to leave at the end of her evening shift, the car would not turn on when the push button start was pressed. thankfully a co-worker was still with her and able to drive her home, otherwise she would have been stranded in a precarious situation waiting for a tow truck for who knows how long. the car was parked in a parking lot of a bank branch (where she works). after researching the behavior, we learned about the steering lock module failure. after having it towed to the dealership, they confirmed our fears. unfortunately, the repair was grossly expensive. upon filing a claim for payment assistance or reimbursement with nissan, we were denied as they said it was not a recall/safety issue, their "customer satisfaction warranty extension" offered has expired, and the nhtsa did not feel the issue was tied to customer safety therefore it wasn't a recall. i believe this is unreasonable. my mother-in-law, or any driver, could be stranded with a useless vehicle, unable to start the car, due to a known failure in a nissan part. at a minimum, nissan should have been required to notify owners of this known and the possibility of being left stranded should the car fail to properly turn on.

The car was sluggish driving in to the driveway and went dead. it would not start and could not depress the brakes they were locked. had to have the car towed to the dealer. if this would have happened while on the driving on the street or freeway my son could have been hit from behind since it just went dead without warning. after 3 days the dealer determined it was the electronic steering lock. found out that there was a 6 year warranty added to this part on the car but i was never informed by nissan. unfortunately we did not have the problem until the 7th year, 1 year beyond the warranty. nissan knows about the potential of this part failing and added the 6 year warranty but if outside of that time period you are responsible. this is a defect not something cause by an owner for lack of maintenance and should be a part of a recall not a limited warranty.

2009 nissan altima. consumer writes in regards to vehicle would not start, towed to dealership and diagnosed as, electronic steering column lock problems. consumer states problem should be considered a recall issue. *smd

The altima is equipped with an electronic steering column lock (escl) unit that locks the steering wheel when the vehicle is parked and the ignition is turned off to help prevent theft. escl may malfunction after the vehicle is locked and could prevent the engine from starting. this condition, should it occur, will only occur when attempting to start the vehicle, and not while driving. i turned on my car and took my 6 month old daughter to the doctor as she was running a high fever. upon leaving the doctor's office at 12a.m. i pushed my start button to turn on my vehicle and it was unresponsive. i was left in the dark unable to operate my vehicle in the middle of the night with my 6 m month old baby. the parking i was in did not allow for overnight parking and i was alone with my baby. upon researching nissan had extended the warranty to the electronics steering column lock to 6 years unlimited miles from 3 years 36,000 miles warranty. i no longer fall on that and i am having this issue. nissan says i am out of warranty and there is nothing they can do for me. according to their annoucement this is a 'manufacturing irregularity' that now i have to find a way to pay. i have no savings to pay for such part and the towing already cost me a handful and put my baby in a dangerous situation. i am a single mom and truly upset with the situation. this should have been a recall! please see link: regarding the warranty http://web.archive.org/web/20150219214832/http://www.nissanassist.com/web/escl_warranty_extension/programdetails.php?menu=61

Car will not start due to steering lock on vehicle malfunctioned x 4. towed to dealership for diagnostic only to be told repair is 900.00. contacted nissan who is going back on their word to pay for repair. car also has airbag lights that come on while driving. car is always in parked positioned when there is a problem.

Car will not start with key fob . called tow on three different occasions. last tow was told to knock on steering lock box to start car. car was towed due to inability to get car running. unable to pay for diagnosis at dealership because of cost of 100. unable to pay for tow because of 65 dollar cost. stuck out in the middle of no where and now my car is useless . will not be buying another nissan or recommend to anyone. i am afraid i am going to lose my job because of no transportation thanks to nissan.

This problem is occuring in 2009-2011 nissan altima and maxima vehicles. when turning off vehicle, the steering locks and when you go to turn it back on, the steering wheel will not unlock after turning key on. vehicle will not start due to steering wheel being locked. there are numerous complaints regarding this on the internet and the dealers want 1200.00 to fix problem. this should really be a recall item.

I have just learned that i have a problem common to 2009 altimas. the steering lock is defective and left me stranded. i was on the side of the road, and depending on the area and time of day, this is extremely dangerous. i need a car that works properly and i believe there should be a recall on this clearly defective part.

Steering lock is stuck on my car and it will not start. the key light came on randomly and the car is locked down and wouldn't start. i was stranded in a very scary part of town that i had to wait at forever for someone to come get me.

I got gas at a station in havana, then tried to start the car and nothing. the key symbol came up on the dash. my husband brought the extra key fob and still nothing. brakes were locked, no power to the engine. key fob worked for locking but not for power. aaa towed my car to krafft nissan where i was told of the problem. i googled the problem and saw that it was common with the 2009 altima. i was glad to be close to home with no grandchildren in the car. i need a car i can depend as i approach 70.