Front Seat Heater/cooler problems of the 2005 Nissan Murano

Broken welds in the driver's seat base frame. First broke abound 4/9/2008. Aftermarket seat heaters had been installed by a vendor previously. Took vehicle to vendor, found broken welds in the driver seat base, causing the base to drop down and to the left. Vendor removed the driver seat, aligned, reinforced , mig welded the affected areas. Vendor reassembled and tested seat, appeared to be solid. 9/15/2010. Driving vehicle at moderate speed (35-40 mph) , loud "pop" , then left rear side of drivers seat dropped down. No loss of control , but now an obviously unsafe situation. 9/22/10. Took vehicle back to vendor (see above), vendor pulled off access panels and verified that welds performed in 2008 were solid and that the frame had broken in another spot. Declined to even attempt a repair at this point for safety concerns and advised contacting dealer for new part. 9/22//10 visited Nissan dealer, seat inspected by technician, stated that the rear lower drivers seat frame was broken and would need to be replaced. The service dept quoted a price of $750. 00 parts, $275. 00 labor, for a total of $125. 00 plus tax. This is a serious safety problem in my mind. The car has 44,000 miles, was purchased in, and spends much of it's time in florida. There is absolutely no rust or corrosion anywhere I know of. I believe this is a defect and should be covered by Nissan.

The contact owns a 2005 Nissan Murano. While driving less than 70 mph, the entire driver's side seat completely collapsed. The contact was able to drive to his residence; however, the seat continued to slide back and forth. The dealer stated that the entire frame failed and could not be repaired for less than $1,000. The VIN was unknown. The failure and current mileages were less than 60,000. Updated 03/17/09 the consumer also stated the heated seat stopped working after 1 year. Updated 03/17/09.