2010 Murano Why Is Pass. Side Air Intake Blocked?

[rrraider]

I just changed out the battery in our Murano which requires the removal of the fresh air intake that covers the majority of the battery. What I found upon the removal of that part of the intake system is that the plastic casting is blocked by the factory on the passenger side even though the piece it connects to is made so that fresh air can be supplied from that side just as it is from the driver side. I didn't think to much of it at first suspecting that the driver side inlet was deemed to supply plenty of air for the engine. When I went to reinstall I wanted to clean the assembly out and when doing so found that the intake runner from the passenger side had a lot of dirt in it. That indicates that the engine is wanting more air, in fact creating enough vacuum in the chamber that it is sucking air past the factory foam seal on the passenger side. (That is where the dirt comes from in that intake tract). I may not be the smartest guy on the block, but that indicates to me that the engine is needing additional air and would benefit from the additional air supply that the factory must have planned upon. I started to just remove the blockage of the opening, which would be very simple, but decided to inquire here to see why the factory did that and also to see if anyone else has noticed the problem and corrected it. If so, what were your results? My suspicion would be and increase in gas mileage; not uncommon with an engine that is wanting more air.