Weird deal this morning. I drove it Sunday morning and it was fine. Parked it in the garage. Opened the driver's door to get out and my seat and steering wheel did the automatic lift and the seat went back just like normal. All good. I didn't drive it yesterday. Got in this morning to go to work. Started it up and the seat didn't move and the steering wheel stayed up. Odd... so I moved the seat up myself back to where I would normally have it and I go to adjust the steering wheel. When I push to move the wheel down I hear a little pop and a small green cap fell out of the dash to the floor and the casing around the wheel post popped apart a bit and the steering wheel stuck and it would not go into the normal position.

I had to drive the car with the steering wheel in a highly angled position (up) to even turn the wheel. I am working on getting in touch with the dealer as it's under warranty but wondered if anyone else had heard of such a thing. Really weird.

Haven't had that (a pop), but on my 2007 I did have my memory seat now work and it involved replacing a computer module by the dealer. Not sure about the steering wheel.

The motors and switches seem to be working fine. It's just the casing around the steering wheel column that has popped apart and at a proper driving angle presses against the wheel and prevents steering. I have to drive it "up". I have an apt on Monday morning to drop it at the Infiniti dealer here and they are going to get after it. Will report back.

Infiniti dealer called. $2,700 for labor and new parts to replace this piece and fix the cover/case on the steering wheel column. Extended warranty is pushing back to not cover. Waiting on a phone call. Could get interesting.

withomps44 wrote:Infiniti dealer called. $2,700 for labor and new parts to replace this piece and fix the cover/case on the steering wheel column. Extended warranty is pushing back to not cover. Waiting on a phone call. Could get interesting.

Is your extended warranty the Elite Infiniti one or some other one? If it's Elite, I'd call Infiniti corporate. They'll give you a case number...as soon as the dealer gets news of a case number being issue they change their tune VERY FAST. I went through this for my suspension on my 2007...it quite amusing in the end. Before I had a case number, they sent some rookie (I'm talking like, I was more ASE certified than this kid) for a ride along to try and replicate my suspension issue. When it wasn't found, I was told nothing could be done. I then got a case number, went back, and they immediately (the GM of the location got involved) put their most senior tech in the car for a ride along and before we were done he said something was definitely wrong. Lo and behold, the steering rack needed to be replaced. They did it under warranty (even though mine had expired) because I brought it to their attention before it expired.

If you have the Infiniti warranty, called Infiniti USA and get a case number...or threaten them with doing so if they are playing hardball.

That's crazy man. Sorry to hear you're going through this. Infiniti dealers don't do a lot outside of warranty. You really have to push hard to get them to do anything, if you feel that you are in the right. Good luck.

Sorry to hear that man, never had that problem in the M. Hope it works out well for you.

Warranty is going to cover all but $500. I'm happy. haha. It wasn't the Infiniti Elite Warranty. Bought through a smallish dealer when I purchased the car. Based on the amount that they just covered I'm money ahead $700 already and still have 44,000 miles left on the warranty.

Infiniti said this was a very rare occurrence on the M. They said the parts should be in later today and I'll have it back tomorrow. Weird deal. Glad it didn't get ugly.

withomps44 wrote:Warranty is going to cover all but $500. I'm happy. haha. It wasn't the Infiniti Elite Warranty. Bought through a smallish dealer when I purchased the car. Based on the amount that they just covered I'm money ahead $700 already and still have 44,000 miles left on the warranty.

Infiniti said this was a very rare occurrence on the M. They said the parts should be in later today and I'll have it back tomorrow. Weird deal. Glad it didn't get ugly.

Now aren't you glad you purchased that extended warranty?

I'd be happy with a $500 bill too, but I'd still be upset that it happened in the first place lol.

This problem is not unusual for Nissan cars. When I owned a Nissan Maxima this issue was widely discussed on their forums. The design is not durable and Nissan is not doing anything about it.