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Infiniti M45 sedans recalled for fuel gauge failures

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has announced a recall of certain Infiniti M45 sedans over a concern that the fuel gauge might be reading incorrectly – possibly causing the vehicle to stall due to lack of fuel even though the gauge would indicate that there is plenty of fuel left in the tank.
The 2004 Infiniti M45 sedan

This Infiniti M45 recall pertains to sedans from the 2003 and 2004 model years built between March 7th 2002 and June 3rd 2004 – with 8,120 vehicles affected in total. In these vehicles, there may be a faulty circuit board that controls the fuel gauge which may cause the fuel gauge to read high. In other words, the fuel gauge may be reporting higher levels of gas than what is actually in the tank which could lead to stalling when the tank is empty even though the gauge tells the driver otherwise.

TorqueNews reported in December 2011 that the NHTSA had opened an investigation into the 2003 and 2004 Infiniti M45 sedan after receiving 43 complaints from owners of these luxury sedans of fuel gauges reading incorrectly, with 26 of those cases leading to the car stalling while being driven. The fact that these cars could sporadically stall without any previous warning, leaving them dead on the road, presents a clear safety risk so the NHTSA has decided that a mandatory recall is necessary. Click here to read our report of the original investigation.

Owners of the 8,120 2003-2004 Infiniti M45 sedans will be contacted beginning in mid-April 2012, at which time they will be asked to return to their local Nissan/Infiniti dealership where a certified technician “modify the circuit board” to fix the fuel gauge issue. This service will, of course, be provided free of charge as part of the recall procedure. Due to the vague description of the repairs, it is hard to estimate just how long it will take the dealership to fix the newly recalled 2003 and 2004 Infiniti M45 sedans but until the recall has begun – it would be a good idea for the owners of these Japanese luxury sport sedans to make sure that their fuel tank is filled rather than relying on the gauge (which may not be correct).

Luckily for the automaker, the Infiniti M45 wasn’t a particularly strong selling vehicle so they only have to deal with as many as 8,120 vehicles to fix around the US. Also, with what sounds like an issue that can be addressed by fixing a current component rather than replacing something – the cost of the recall should be relatively low for Nissan Motors.

Owners of the 2003 and 2004 Infiniti M45 sedans who would like more information can contact Nissan Customer Service at 1-800-647-7261.

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