Nissan in the United Kingdom is coming under pressure from owners and the media for the prevalence of D40 Navaras breaking in half. Many pictures of broken Navaras have emerged online, and have collected on a Facebook group called ‘Nissan Navara Snapped Chassis Group’.
It’s understood that rust is a big part of the problem on the affected vehicles, whose chassis’ have cracked or broken completely whilst towing or driving loaded.
Models most affected by the problem are Spanish-built D40 Navaras, which are built between 2005 and 2008. The part of the chassis that seems to let go just behind the back of the cab, at the start of the tray. The chassis does start to curve upwards here to make space for the live axle and leaf spring mountings, which is a bit of a stress riser. Rust can make a situation worse, and lead to the chassis ultimately cracking or breaking.
Despite the pressure, Nissan UK is saying there are only a few isolated cases, and there is no requirement for a recall. Does this have any knock-on effects in Australia? In our opinion, not really. Furthermore, the new Nissan Navara NP300 hasn’t been implicated with the problems.
A big difference to note here in Australia is the fact that we don’t salt our roads to keep black ice at bay, meaning British vehicles are much, much more prone to corrosion. If you do drive in salty conditions in your 4X4, it’s imperative that you stay on top of your chassis condition. Thoroughly rinse off anything salty (that includes dirt and mud, you know), keep your steel under a solid coating of primer and paint, and consider something like lanolin or fish oil sprays as an additional protective measure.
There is a few cases of dual-cab utes breaking and bending chassis’ in Australia, across a variety of makes and models. The general consensus here is that it often comes down to a simple case of overloading, and not driving to conditions.
Got any more information regarding this story? Let us know, in the comments below.
