It's Not Just The Spark !

[WaltK 305]

Check out the Nissan recall http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/10/10/nissan-altima-recall-hood-open/17035189/

[Retired old Gearhead 201]

I've had that happen twice. Back in the '70's on a Plymouth Road-Runner and once in the late '80's on a BMW. Same thing..rusted hood lock sliders stuck open..easy to fix with some lube, but scary when it happened. That was before auto makers would issue recalls for stuff like that...I think we are seeing more recalls with all makes as auto-makers are more proactive as even a single death as a result of a defect can have a big monetary penalty that can offset the cost of a recall. I had a look at the Spark hood latching system and it is virtually unchanged in design from the '70's. Not a big deal to maintain...just keep it lubed and check for rust. I had a '89 Toyota that had quite a few manufacturing defects like bad carb and distributor that would short out in wet weather and there was never a recall on any of it.

[Greg_E 211]

I said in another post on the subject of hood latches, look at any 4 to 5 year old KIA in the winter salt areas and tell me how bad the problem really is. When you need to break the hood pin loose from the rust to open the hood, it's bad. The trend to go ever cheaper on all parts catches up with you in things like rust.

[Angrybird12 61]

Toyota just issued an recall afew days ago on 690K Tacoma's because the leaf springs could rust and break and cut the brake lines.....I think that they had one earlier for the same problem. I guess they didn't fix it right.

http://toyotanews.pressroom.toyota.com/section_display.cfm?section_id=639

Edited October 12, 2014 by Angrybird12