The fuel gauge recalls include 2005©2008 models of the

Nissan Titan, Nissan Armada, Infiniti QX56 and Nissan Frontier produced between January 2006©March 2006 and October 2007©January 2008.  The same time frame applies to the Nissan Pathfinder and Nissan Xterra.

It is admirable that Nissan is recalling these vehicles and that the company is "committed to the safety and satisfaction of their customers" according to Kevin Martin, VP of customer satisfaction.  It is a shame that Nissan has not always been this way.  In the 1990's Nissan had a minivan which caught fire while being driven, sitting in your garage, on the street or the driveway.  When this happened the doors locked and so did the windows.

Customers in Florida were so upset that they went to the local Nissan dealer to protest. The dealer very graciously started the cars on the lot, put large fans on the lot and blew the exhaust on the customers.  Another time he drenched them with water from hoses.  Regardless of how they tried to get Congress to pay attention to them, no one did.

Finally, one individual walked into a Congressional office with a video in his hands with the picture of a burned minivan with children's toys in it.  He was quite upset since he had invested in a dealership and discovered this burned van under a tarp which was scheduled to be trucked into New York and flown in the dark of night back to Japan at the cost of $20,000 a van.   Some individuals in Congress became interested in what had happened and discovered there were 156 burned vans, people had died and their court records were sealed so it was impossible to find out how many people had died.  Nissan was very quick to pick up the vans from the junkyards and to move on any reporter who tried to tell the story over television. NHTSA, as now, was no help to the people losing their vans.

Finally Nissan was willing to pay $500 or a small amount to people and finally by 1994 Nissan bought back 30,000 vans.  This whole procedure almost drove the company into bankruptcy.

What compounded this terrible story with people narrowly escaping death was one couple driving to Florida. Their van caught fire while driving and they could not get out and died.  Another one was a black heart transplant patient who had driven over to the University to pick his son up from college. Fortunately the son was alert and felt the increased heat, stopped the minivan and grabbed his dad jerking him out the door as the van went up in flames and created a crater in the highway.

Another story involved a new high school graduate from Baltimore who had picked up the minivan at the dealership where they told her it was in perfect condition.  She picked up her things from school and started home.  Fortunately a trucker on the highway saw smoke under her minivan, forced her off the road and reached in and grabbed her out of the van right before it was engulfed in flames.  He saved her life.

Unfortunately for the reporter trying to tell the story on television it was not so favorable because they were removed, sent to radio and disappeared.  Another reporter writing about this had the same thing happen.  The television station was told that Nissan would support Monday Night Football if they kept the story on the shelf.  They really cared for the safety of the American people didn't they!!!!!

Nissan, at the same time compounded this behavior by ignoring the title laws and odometer laws of the United States, which has one quarter billion, registered vehicles so it is essential we be careful on the titles because it is both a security issue and property right issue.  The odometer applies directly to the condition of the automobile so it must be accurate or it misleads people on the condition of the car.

Nissan altered the titles and odometers on a fleet of over 50 cars and put them back into commerce in 16 states which was a securities violation and constituted mail fraud, title fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, interstate fraud and is considered serious enough for jail terms if caught.  Nissan also titled a car back to a factory which violated the separation of the factory from the firm which is a violation of law. 

In addition, the investigator on the case for the state said it was the worst case that he had been seen in 40 years.  The state filed a Rico Case with a number, which is still available though the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General of the U.S. who were friends of the company and so they sat on it.  It is a ticking time bomb.  In addition, the current attorney for Nissan wrote on letterhead last year that retitling the cars without any history was common practice then.  Shame on him and he is a patent attorney and should understand the property right of owning a car.  It is a total violation of property law.

It is amazing how corruption of lawyers and officials can allow this large company to continue to operate in the United States.  For Nissan to accept the generous tax abatement from American taxpayers as they have where they have gotten states to supply them with plants then they must sign an agreement not to violate Federal, State, County or City laws and regulations.

How can they sign such an agreement since they have already broken U.S. law and in such a serious way?  How can they take 75 percent of the HUD funds provided to the State of Mississippi for two years or take $1.5 billion of TALF funds from the Federal Reserve, or $1.5 billion of Clean Fuel Funds from the U.S. Department of Energy?

It is fraudulent to take these funds.  In addition, they are taking a kickback of 4 percent of the taxes paid by the workers at their plants.  They are only paying one third the ad valorem taxes due the school districts which are essential to help educate American children. 

In addition, after breaking these laws, Nissan has also extended the benefit toward not paying any taxes to the state by receiving a $5,000 exemption for every worker for 25 to 30 years and has extended this to their suppliers.  Just think, the company had vans that burned killing people and hid it for years and then flew them back to Japan so no one would see them and now they do not pay their fair share of taxes.  They do however, take our federal funds to help finance their ventures at the expense of American industry.

It is time to make this company accountable to the American people and cancel their benefits.  The latest issue is selling cars to the military.  Nissan continues to shade the law every day it receives a tax concession and uses American money.  It is time to make them accountable and shut down the federal cash register on them.  The way the company behaves perhaps we should have called this piece "Grand Theft Auto" because that is what they are doing to the American people.

Mike Biras

mbiras64862@mypacks.net

March 5, 2010