What to do with a '02 Pathfinder?

My dad up in Maine has a 2002 Pathfinder. It's rusted out along the rocker panel to the point where it won't pass inspection. Beyond basic measures, he is not able to repair the damage himself. One shop said they could fix it this year for about $1k but he'd be back the next year for more repair and the next year for more. I find it ludicrous that a 10 year old vehicle that is always garaged and relatively well cared for could be in such bad shape. Heck, my 20 year old car spent its first 10 in New England winters and isn't the worse for it.

Looking for suggestions. Is there an effective solution to fix it for a non-mechanically inclined individual? (I suggested maybe he try some POR-15 and obscure the damage with spray-on bedliner or something). Class action suit against Nissan?

Thanks!

Sweet jumps then an insurance claim.

if you got enough people together it could possibly turn out similar results to what toyota just went through. they re-framed thousands of pickups due to crazy rust

I should mention the rust appears to be structural in the frame and wheel arches as well. I've seen some things on the 'net about strut towers rusting out leading to catastrophic failure, etc. Bad stuff.

Contact the Nissan zone rep and voice your concerns. The worst they can do is say nope.

I'm pretty sure the answer is still Miata.

Worst thing for a vehicle in salt country is to park it in a garage.

The warmth (heated garage or not) lets the snow, ice melt and the salt activate. They rust worse! Mine stay outside all winter.

Find a southern chassis with a bad drivetrain and swap it. Or bitch at Nissan.

Call a Nissan Dealer with the VIN, heck give me the VIN and I'll check at work tomorrow. See if the strut tower recall is active on your dad's Pathfinder. If it is take it in and have it inspected. As bad as you claim the rust is, I doubt the strut towers would pass inspection, and the dealer will have 3 options. Repair at a later date, claim it as "unsafe but repairable," they'll stick your dad in a loaner/rental until it's fixed, or simply unrepairable. Unrepairable sounds likely in your dad's case. They'll stick him in a loaner/rental until a Nissan rep comes to inspect it, and Nissan will offer to buy it back from him.

He won't make much on it, but likely more from Nissan than he would from anyone on Craig's List.

All of the above is assuming it fell under the strut tower rust recall, and it's a buyback. I work at a big dealer in OH we had a lot repaired and only 4 or 5 bought back. Wouldn't know for sure without the VIN.

• Lee

Lee, thanks for the information. I have passed this on to my dad. I don't know how bad the strut towers are, I'll have to get him to check it out or take a look next time I visit. If he opts to get the rust repaired by someone other than Nissan, will that preclude him from eligibility in any future factory recall/repair effort?

Thanks!

In reply to Armitage:

If you're dealer is like us, we've got our own body shop (collision repair center) so we did all repairs in house. Not all dealers have that luxury, and the recall is strut tower only, so I don't know if your dealer would have someone specific to do the repairs and maybe the inspection too. If he has any other issues fixed it shouldn't affect the recall, but messing with the strut towers probably would. I'd have it checked to see if it's actually part of the campaign first, then get it inspected. If it's as bad as you described, sounds to me like it'd be a good candidate for a buy back.

I can't speak for everyone, the dollar figure of the buyback is a "secret" between the customer and cooperate, dealer isn't supposed to know. However I do know one customer of ours got a little over $5K on his, I believe it was an '01. I only know because he used the money to help purchase a new vehicle from us, and we still service it, he claimed he was able to haggle a little with them to get a little more than their original offer.

I guess I should caveat all of this with the fact that we still don't know if your dad's Pathfinder is even part of the recall campaign, and if so how extensive the damage is yet.

I don't want you getting your hopes up, for a big let down, cart before the horse and what-not. Any service department can tell you if it's eligible for the recall in about a minute if you give them the VIN.

Good luck!

• Lee

Apparently he's found someone who will repair it for a good price. I guess he shopped around but isn't interested in any potential replacement vehicles at the moment so it looks like he'll try and hang on to the Pathfinder for a few more years instead of pursuing a possibly buy-back. Thanks again for the advice!

Matt D.