Roush’s Nissan Frontier Is Falling Apart Over Missing 10-Cent Parts

  • The Roush recall affects 1,217 trucks with 100% defect rate.
  • Missing cotter pins can cause total steering failure.
  • Roush blames workers and issues rare “Do Not Drive” order.

Roush is a brand that would love to go back to the heights it enjoyed in the early 2000s. Part of that plan is a partnership with Nissan on the Frontier PRO-4X R. While the Japanese brand doesn’t build its own top-end Frontier to fight things like the Ford Ranger Raptor or Toyota Tacoma Trailhunter, the partnership with Roush is supposed to help fill that gap. A new stop drive order from Roush might put a huge damper on any momentum that was building.

According to a new filing with the NHTSA, every single one of the affected 1,217 Frontier PRO-4X Rs that Roush got its hands on has a safety issue. We’re not talking about a missing sticker or a backup camera that doesn’t work properly, either.

More: Nissan Just Dodged A 2-Million Recall Bullet

The issue is that the cotter pins that should hold the suspension together might not be there at all. Nissan sells these parts, a split cotter pin listed under OEM number 08921-3202A, for around 10 to 15 cents. As a result, tie rod ends and upper control arms can simply come apart.

Roush’s Nissan Frontier Is Falling Apart Over Missing 10-Cent Parts

These are critical steering components, and when they fail or simply become detached, it’s a major safety issue. The recall documents outline multiple real-world incidents where components disconnected, including one vehicle with just 264 miles and another with about 1,500 miles. Interestingly, Roush doesn’t indicate whether any crashes or injuries occurred.

Roush’s official excuse? Installation technicians “deviated from work instructions.” That’s doing a lot of work in one sentence. Because if your process allows for something as basic and critical as a cotter pin to be skipped entirely, that’s not just a worker issue, it’s a system failure. And to Roush’s own admission, there was “insufficient documentation” to even confirm whether parts were torqued correctly.

For now, the tuner is telling owners to stop driving these trucks until the remedy is complete. The fix is pretty straightforward. Roush will add cotter pins to the situation, and all will be right with the world. Well, the brand’s reputation might not be much better off, but at least Roush Frontier Pro-4X drivers will be able to roll around without fear of their steering failing randomly.

Roush’s Nissan Frontier Is Falling Apart Over Missing 10-Cent Parts

The Auto World

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