I just joined up after visiting this forum fo the past year. I have made my entry in the New Member section so you will see that I did experience the paint peel in the roff gutter and the radiator/tranny issue on my 2005 SE. (both covered out of warranty, goodwilled)

Here's another issue that I will once again be conversing with Nisan NA about. Current Mileage 77K, always garaged, well maintained.

Last week while driving on a snow covered road around town in 4wd I applied my brakes at about 30mph to slow down around a right curve and the brakes appiled fully and never let go. I was just sitting in the middle of the road in the middle of the curve. I did not know for sure if it was the brakes or tranny. I'll I knew was the engine was running and when I tried to go, engine rev'd and no movement. Tried pumping brakes, fwd, reverse, 2WD, turn off engine, turn on engine. Now, I may have messed up by deciding how much gas to apply, to get myself out from the middle of the road. I managed to force it over with the engine reving when I heard a pop(or two) from the front end. Remember, I did not know it was a brake issue yet and I thought I'd be better off on the side of the road. AAA flatbed then took me to my local dealer who has been good to me in the past and about 1/4 mile from my house.

Dealer had a hard time figuring this out. Once they realized it was the brakes they opened up the bleeders to release the brakes, but when they started it back up, the brakes went back on fully, by themselves.

They said, with advice from Nissan, I need a New ECU to resolve the "Spontanous Braking problem". They mentioned the ABS and VDC were sending the brakes a signal they could no cancel. Also the pop I heard while forcing the pathfinder to the shoulder was the front drive shaft breaking loose inside the front diff...ouch and insert curse here. I'll need to stop in the dealership on Monday and have them go over what they found again so I can ubnderstand better. I need to get more answers on Why and How this could happen? What if I were traveling 55+ when the brakes did this?

Has anyone ever experience this? Can anyone explain to me how VDC/ABS work with the ECU? and if there are fail-safes that should have release the brakes. I am not sure how much is mechanical and how much is computer.

Other than that I still loved the Pathfinder and will be happy to have it back. I plan on keeping it for another 77K+ miles is she does not let me down again.

I'll keep you posted, all parts should be in by 2/26. In the meaintime, I am currently driving a company F150 supercharged Harley Davidson edition, pretty sweet.

Thanks for listening,

Keith

Wow, I didn't that could happen. I guess you're the first person to have this happen.

Welcome to the age of Electronics.. It could have been the computer just shorting out (malfunction) and you had to be the guinee pig. keep us posted on the parts and fix.

man you must have got a path that was built on a Friday, that is the first time I have heard of an R51 automatically locking brakes up. I have replaced some seized calipers. Thats nuts that you destroyed the front diff to get it of the road, but by all means that was a safe move. I hope Nissan comes through for you again because its not gonna be cheap!

I wonder if deactivating the VDC would have temporarily relieved the problem?

Got the PF back today, much faster than promised as the parts arrived yesterday. The root cause was the failure of the Actuator Assy-Anti Skid Part # 47600. It just would not let go of the front brakes (even with the key off). I will continue to pursue this with Nissan N.A. I'd like to know whay this piece of safety equipment failed and if this could have happened at highway speeds.

The axle and front diff was the collateral damage and have been replaced. I'll post a photo of my sheared axle later. Any way the front end is nice and tight with the new parts, feels like a sports car again.

Real quick question.

Has anyone experienced an ABS brake accuater failure?

I've read some Maxima and Murano forums where there have been some ABS failures.

Overall I am still a Nissan Fan(the only brand I have ever owned), I am just interested to know if anyone else has had any issues with ABS.

I would go here: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/

File a complaint with them. This may or may not be an issue with the Pathfinder in general, but it is life-threatening in any event. If the NHTSA has it on record, the easier it will be for them to force Nissan to fix the problem.

Thanks NVSteve, I did have that page bookmarked. This weekend I'll fill in the proper forms and submit.