Nissan announces another Ariya recall in the USA

Nissan is recalling nearly 10,000 units of its Ariya electric model to workshops in the USA because of a software error. The inverter software may inadvertently detect a short circuit and shut down the drive system.

Specifically, 9,813 model year 2023 vehicles are affected, including both front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive versions. According to the NHTSA, Nissan assumes that all recalled vehicles have the defect.

While the defect is not purely a software error, it is said to be fixed by a newly installed software version. The report by the US Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) states that “tiny pieces of conductive material from a drive motor component could briefly cause a short circuit in the slip rings”. These short circuits are apparently not a safety risk, they are “immediately burned out, causing no damage to any components” – yet they are detected by the system.

Subsequently, however, the system acts correctly and switches off the EV system – as intended. This “fail-safe mode” can be cancelled by restarting the vehicle, which allows it to continue driving. If the defect (and thus the loss of propulsion) occurs at higher speeds while driving, this increases the risk of an accident.

This is already the second US recall for the Nissan Ariya this year: In March, about 1,000 units had to be returned to the workshops because the steering wheel was in danger of coming loose.

insideevs.com, nhtsa.gov (PDF)