Ford, Nissan, Toyota Rusting Floors In USA,

[csv8]

"You can feel it's soft right here," Jeff Talman told KSHB.

"Right under his driver and passenger seats, the floorboards were rusting from the inside out," a KSHB reporter said.

"This is a seven-inch area where it's actually rotted up here," Talman said.

That was Jeff Talman, just one of many who have had issues with rusting floorboards in Nissan Altimas.
KSHB reported the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received more than 400 complains about rust issues in 2002-2006 models.

NBC highlighted a Chicago woman's 2005 car, which had rusted so much the floorboards were actually crumbling.

"The hole was big enough to fit her foot through," NBC reporter Tom Costello said.

"I'm not Fred Flintstone. This is not a good thing," Marie DeMaria said.

While NBC reports snow and road salt could account for rust damage in some vehicles, that's probably not the cause in places that don't get snow and ice. And complaints are coming in from all over the country.

Both Toyota and Ford have recalled hundreds of thousands of vehicles in the past few years because rusting underbody parts made the vehicles fall apart.

Despite the number of complaints, Nissan isn't recalling the Altima vehicle models in question.

"It's not a safety recall problem that's going to cause immediate death and injury if you have a hole in the floor. As a result of that, what we've seen is that Nissan has been able to get away with this problem," auto safety expert Sean Kane told WBZ-TV.

KSHB reports the age of the cars is another way Nissan is able to avoid covering cost to fix them.

"Once it's out of the warranty period, obviously they don't have any legal obligation. It becomes more of a customer service issue of whether they want to deal with it or not," body shop owner Bill Eveland said.

NBC did reach out to Nissan for comment, but the carmaker reiterated that both it and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration do not consider the rust problem to be a safety defect.' My comment : I would think it is .
http://www.autoblog.com/2015/04/06/n...?ncid=webmail4

[sbcb]

The media on them not interested in fixing it is way more damaging than the problem occurring int the first place. Disgraceful.

[mik]

Maths 101 ....... Salt + steel = rust

[XR Martin]

Carpet getting and staying wet from snow covered feet wouldnt help either

[Franco Cozzo]

Maybe crappy steel from China?

[new2ford]

Floorboards?

Do they still make Model Ts over there?

[marty351]

I wonder if any cars had this problem while still under warranty?
If so, how many cars, and how bad was this corrosion? Was there corrosion in other areas, ie; chassis? Can't wait to see how this plays out.

[vztrt]

Isn't this why you buy a car that's been in California all of its life. Rust issues have always been around over in those areas. Also talking to UK expats that they have the same problem in the UK.

[XR Martin]

Floor in my XT is in better shape

[XR Martin]

Interestingly the thought is that the cars which are driven in the snow and then garaged are more succeptable to these issues than ones that are parked outside permanently.

Simple fact is if left outside in the winter the water/snow remains frozen for months, thus not causing any corrosion.

[Imolator]

This is one area where VW cream the opposition with their fully galvanized cars.

Also why they give a 12 year anti perforation corrosion warranty.

[burnz]

Originally Posted by Imolator

This is one area where VW cream the opposition with their fully galvanized cars.

Also why they give a 12 year anti perforation corrosion warranty.

I'm pretty Shure the big three in America galvanise there cars, even Holden galvanise theirs.

[XR Martin]

Sorry, my post above was supposed to have a pic.

[marty351]

^^^^ Holy crap Batman, That's bigger than some open cut mines!

[EDManual]

cars in snowy states or countries where salt is used on the roads only have a life of maybe 6 or 7 years. Bad luck to the people above. Thats just how it is.
In France its the same, in Germany its different as they have banned the use of salt so their cars would be decent well after 6 or 7 years you would think.