Car Will Not Start problems of the 2009 Nissan Cube

Engine will not start after turning off. Car cannot be moved because shifter will not come out of park and vehicle will not move. Steering column;.

Car would not start. Electronic steering column lock.

Car will not start. Sitting on a residential street. Electronic steering control lock defect.

Vehicle was parked in a downtown parking garage while my wife was at work. She came out of work after dark, with no access back into a banking building, and the car would not start. After calling me and trying a couple things, we called our roadside assistance and I got in my car to drive 45 minutes there. My wife had to wait in the locked car, alone, until myself and the tow truck arrived. This was an unsafe situation. We had it towed to a dealer and found out the next day that the escl (electronic steering control lock) had failed, which prevents the car from starting. After spending $650 to have it repaired, I did some investigation and found that this is a very common problem not just on the Nissan Cube, but with altimas, maximas, 370z and Infiniti vehicles. After our repair, Nissan had extended the warranty on the part, but we were past the mileage and they would not reimburse us. They still have an open service campaign for the altimas and maximas, but not the Cube or other affected vehicles. This is a sever safety concern. My wife was alone in a dark parking ramp for almost an hour in the inner city. Imagine if this happened to others after Nissan has acknowledged it as a problem, and someone gets mugged or killed while in an unsafe area and cant get their car started. Nissan should issue a 100% recall on all affected vehicles and provide reimbursement for owners who have already paid for the repair.

The transmission range switch (commonly referred to as a neutral safety switch) will sometimes fail to make proper electrical contact. This condition results in two of three conditions. One condition is a failure of the prndl indicator on the dashboard (as opposed to the prndl indicator at the shifter control) to illuminate. The next two conditions are much less benign; they can be much more frustrating or dangerous. The very frustrating condition because the switch fails to indicate the shifter is in park or neutral, the engine cannot be started. The very dangerous condition if before the switch fails to maintain proper contact the engine has already been started, then the idling engine (as usual) is sufficient to get the vehicle into an intersection; however, the engine will delay acceleration by quite a few seconds, regardless of the accelerator's position, as the driver attempts to get through the intersection. My recommendation for an efficient recall is to recommend Nissan develop redundancy into this switch. Nissan could easily redesign this switch to double (or even triple) then switch's sliding contacts. Doing so would allow the multiple, identical "poles" and "throws" to be connected parallel to each other before they are electrically routed toward the eight-pin connector. This redundancy would easily, quickly, efficiently, and certainly reduce this infrequent but very problematic condition to an issue which ought (statistically) become so infrequent it's no longer a concern. The transmission range switch is Nissan part number: switch assy 20150227 31918-1xcod and is very likely used on more vehicles than just the Cube models.