Poor Fit and Finish

This is my first Nissan which is American made and not happy with the fit and finish

1) The charge hood does not seemed to be aligned well. The front tip when locked is quite deep and the rear is a bit up. It need some adjustment
2) Steering wheel when locked with a little pressure can be still moved up and down!! Anyone else seen that.. all other cars it is locked solid
3) The rear glass windshield has been badly installed there is a big gap on one side and the other side is less.. it may not be leaking but someone put a fat bead of glue on one side.

Need to take it to a dealer. Anyone else notice any of the above?? or something similar??

The quality of the American made models does seem to be a notch or two below the Japanese built models... But then, that has been true of just about every Nissan vehicle over the years. Their truck/SUV plant was legend for turning out some of the worst models ever seen for a number of years after it opened...

maini said:

This is my first Nissan which is American made and not happy with the fit and finish

Click to expand...

Trip to dealership yielded as below

1) All Leaf have the same fitting for the charging door
2) All Leaf's have the same kind of steering in which if you put a little more pressure it moved even in locked condition
3) Running the car through car wash if the rear windscreen is not leaking then it cannot be refitted... Hmm probably need to take up the last one with Nissan customer service.

Any inputs on 1 and 2 above??

maini said:

Trip to dealership yielded as below

1) All Leaf have the same fitting for the charging door
2) All Leaf's have the same kind of steering in which if you put a little more pressure it moved even in locked condition
3) Running the car through car wash if the rear windscreen is not leaking then it cannot be refitted... Hmm probably need to take up the last one with Nissan customer service.

Any inputs on 1 and 2 above??

Click to expand...

OK.. Nissan customer support really sucks... they believe their shoddy job is not their problem as it is functional and the Glass is not leaking. I told the supervisor no one would buy this car if they had caught it and Nissan QA really sucks as they did not catch this. I am sure if the Japanese had made this they would have caught and fixed it if they even did such a bad job in the installation. VERY VERY FRUSTRATED with this attitude by Nissan. I have had Nissans from 1999 and still have a Murano (Made in Japan) and no problems with those. They are inconsiderate and unaccomodating and not taking full responsibility of their product. Just because it functions right they think they can get by. Imagine if Apple told you the same for a brand new iPhone 5 you purchased and had the glass installed crooked or at a slant. I purchased a car not only due to its functionality but also due to its look and fit and finish. I could not have inspected the complete car when I was buying it.

Just totally frustrated.. all I have asked is to reinstall the glass competently and accurately... is that too much to ask?? I should take some pictures and post on social media.

maini said:

Trip to dealership yielded as below

1) All Leaf have the same fitting for the charging door
2) All Leaf's have the same kind of steering in which if you put a little more pressure it moved even in locked condition
3) Running the car through car wash if the rear windscreen is not leaking then it cannot be refitted... Hmm probably need to take up the last one with Nissan customer service.

Any inputs on 1 and 2 above??

Click to expand...

I have a 2013 US made, and only issue developed was hood stopped being aligned. They immediately fixed it without any argument. The rest of the fit finish is pretty ok, it is not German quality, but not anything like you describe.

Apparently the issue with US assembled is more quality control than just quality.

Allright a quick update on all the above issues seen in my new car.

I worked with Nissan Leaf customer support and initially they did push back on reaffixing the glass but then I asked for a supervisor and they agreed to help me out. They set up a time with a local dealership when the Nissan speciality visited the dealership who looked at all my issues and got them addressed one by one.

1) Rear glass removed and reinstalled correctly by a local glass shop. Tested under wash for fit and seal
2) The steering column was ordered however the Nissan reck opened it up and adjusted it. She said that Altima uses the same system and sometimes just needs to be adjusted
3) I had a trim piece on the passenger side dash near the from quarter window keep popping out. They adjusted the whole dash as it was not installed correctly and now the issue is resolved.

Overall very happy with Nissan Customer Service for communications and follow up but I had to push them hard to get this level of service. Cheers

Go American quality!

The Leaf is my first American made vehicle, and it is OK, but I do notice the variance in body gaps. Small but noticeable. None of my Japanese cars have that issue. Even my DeLorean assembled in a factory by a bunch of constantly striking Irish is put together better.