general problems of the 1997 Infiniti QX4

The contact owns a 1997 Infiniti Qx4. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 11v244000 (steering, suspension). The contact stated while driving at 35 mph and other various speeds over bumps in the roadway, the vehicle was shaking abnormally with the steering wheel becoming difficult to turn to the left or to the right. Additionally, the contact heard abnormal metal on metal grinding sounds particularly while turning the vehicle to the left or the right. The contact stated there was no warning light illuminated. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer and was advised that the vehicle had failed a safety inspection and he would be contacted by a third party to buy back the vehicle. The vehicle had not been repaired. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The failure mileage was approximately 154,000. Parts distribution disconnect.

The rear end started to sway and shake . . . Made the car uncrontrlable, I reacted instantly and took my foot off the gas peddle and gripped the steering firmly like driving on snow. . . It came back under control as I was braking softly . . . . What a scary incident . . .

Car suspension shimmies, shakes and whole car rolls at highway speeds.

All 1997 thru 2003 frame suspension, suspension body panels were improperly undercoated to prevent rusting. Warning was issued in 2011, as third owner of vehicle, I was never notified. Causing imminent body harm and possibly death. Infinity was totally responsible for follow thru, and should be held responsible for my $20,000 loss, not to mention risk to my life. Thanks a lot you money mongers! you should be held responsible for failure of notification.

Massive rust of frame and unit body suspension components causing a sudden loss of steering, braking and control of vehicle without warning. The cause is no rust under coating, poor design, poor welds, prone to tear loose from firewall and frame causing catastrophic failure and possibly my own death. Then their refusal to compensate in any way for their design errors is unacceptable. There was a sudden drop of my vehicle height at the drivers side wheel almost causing loss of control. A warning letter available in 2011 was never sent to me, possibly making it possible to repair.

At 6:45 a. M car traveling down freezeland road, linden, va at about 30mph. Weather conditions: clear, dry. Road conditions: no defects, oil or other traction faults that would cause accident. Qx4 as described by witness to police looked at though rear of vehicle body was acting independent of body frame. At this point driver could not recover, had no time to brake, steering would not respond. Qx4 would not respond and continued straight up an embankment, hit large bolder and flipped onto passenger side. Driver was pulled from vehicle by retired emt. Driver sustained right knee injuries including fracture to lower leg directly below knee, ligament damage still being evaluated. Driver was not given citation by virginia state police, due to driver and witness statements. State police indicated that it appeared to be a major mechanical failure. Police trooper indicated that 99 out of 100 driver in single vehicle accident would have received a ticket for wreckless driving. Car has been determined to be a total loss. It is currently in impound at a front royal lot.

Side to side vehicle shake. At speeds over 40 mph any bump will send the car into a violent shake that can only be stopped by applying the brakes. I replaced struts, balanced tires and had wheel alignment, yet the problem persists.

The contact owns a 1997 Infiniti Qx4. While traveling 55 mph, the vehicle began to wobble and vibrate violently. The vehicle was taken to a local mechanic on several occasions where the front bushings, front axles, tie rods, and four tires were replaced on the vehicle however, the contact continued to experience the failure. The current mileage was 138,000 and the failure mileage was 110,000.

My husband and I were involved in an accident on January 24th 2010, while traveling n. On state hwy 87 going towards payson, az although there had been a lot of snow in the higher elevations the roads were clear and appeared dry. The incident began when I apparently encountered a patch of black ice as I began across a bridge. I felt the rear end of the vehicle quickly slide left. Because of my experience in handling this vehicle and how well this vehicle handles, I was extremely confident in my ability to recover from the sliding without incident. (I was the 2nd owner & had it 10yrs) I had complete control of the vehicle through the 1st and 2nd corrections, however at the beginning of the 3rd & what would've been the last correction I felt something break in the front driver's side wheel area. (imagine being up on all fours and your left arm collapses out from under you) at that moment I no longer had control of the vehicle because whatever happened caused the fail safes in the vehicle to instantly shut everything off! the engine shut off, there was no power for anything! no steering, no brakes, no possible way to stop the vehicle from crashing. The vehicle was propelled across the hwy from the right shoulder and as if the drivers corner was pinned to the road, it turned just enough to face the concrete median, which it hit head-on at approximately 55 mph. The force of the engine pushing through the fire wall, snapped my right femur. I was air lifted from the scene with life threatening injuries & taken to the valley. My husband who was the front passenger was transported to payson via ambulance. On the morning of the 26th he suddenly had to be air lifted to the valley, where he died just a few hours later from injuries sustained in the accident. It was 1 1/2yrs later before I found out it was the driver's side strut that broke & caused the vehicle to crash.