Owners of Nissan Maximas whose headlights were stolen between December 2002 and November 2003 will share in part of a $325,000 payment the company is making to New Jersey to settle a lawsuit the state brought over the thefts.
March 2004, the state sued Nissan North America alleging the automaker failed to warn customers that the super-bright xenon headlights on its Maximas were hot targets for thieves. More than 750 car owners were victimized by thieves trying to steal the moon-blue lights from 2002 or 2003 Maximas. That lawsuit was dismissed, but the state appealed...
This is lukewarm news for members in the Forums who first started discussing the Maxima stolen headlights issue in July 2003. Some owners had headlights stolen numerous times.
tryan says:
04:12 AM, 01/23/06
I can see it now, somebody will bring a lawsuit against Honda/Acura for the same thing (early TL HID lamps were direct replacements for pre-2003 Accord lamps and as such were stolen frequently).
Honestly though, is it really the automaker's responsibility to warn people that their product, or a component of their product, is a hot commodity for thieves? If this is the case, I guess Honda should start putting out public releases that the Accord and Civic are two of the most stolen vehicles on the road....
tirthankar_b says:
11:36 AM, 01/23/06
I don't get it. Can we start filing lawsuit against the state for parking in a place where our car gets stolen? I did not see any signs..
ateixeira says:
12:14 PM, 01/23/06
I think the argument was that the lights were unusually easy to steal, and that's what made them a specific target.
tryan says:
04:29 AM, 01/24/06
The positive spin on that is that they were easy to fix and maintain because they were so accessible. Anyone who's ever tried to change a front low-beam lamp on a '02+ Altima will appreciate that.
Regardless of how you spin it, I think some people still need to learn a fundamental truth. That is, that you can rarely ever make something theft-proof, rather you can only slow the thief down. If somebody wants something bad enough, they'll figure out a way to get it.