Kari Alentola is a camera operator working for the Yle TV station in Helsinki, Finland. Last Thursday, he was driving a Qashqai+2, the LWB, seven-seat version of Nissan’s compact SUV on the way to an assignment when the steering wheel simply…dropped off in his hands!

The car was barely run-in, with only 500 km (310 miles) on the odometer when this potentially dangerous incident occurred. Luckily, the car was stationary when it happened.

“While stopped at the traffic light in front of the Parliament building, I was adjusting my position in my seat lightly and took hold of the steering wheel for support. Suddenly, it fell into my lap and was just hanging by some wires”, Alentola told Yle TV.

The Qashqai is popular in Finland, being the country’s best-selling car in July. This is the first report of such an incident for Nissan’s crossover, which is built at the brand’s Sunderland plant in the UK and (along with the five-seat version) has sold more than one million units.

Taina Erkkilä, Nissan Nordic Europe’s communications manager, told Yle: “A plant engineer came from England today who disassembled the car. He took parts off it, packed them up, sent them to England and followed then himself. This is now Nissan’s number one priority and the European plant is investigating what can cause this defect.”

Erkkilä added, “This is terribly unfortunate. We are relieved that the incident caused no harm to anyone. We are taking this really seriously. Safety issues are important to us and we want to get to the root of this matter.”

Trafi, the Finnish Transport Safety Agency, considers this “an extremely serious” incident. It has asked Nissan to provide information as soon as possible on whether this was an isolated incident, in which case, it must also identify what other vehicles could be affected.

“I assume that the reason was faulty attachment or that the steering wheel was removed at some time when accessories where installed”, said Trafi vehicle inspector Tuomas Peltokangas. “No other reason comes to mind how the steering wheel could come loose while the car was being driven.”

Nissan replied that its other cars are safe and the Qashqai’s steering wheel falling off was an isolated incident. It also stated that until Friday, August 31, it was not aware of any modifications made to the car whatsoever.

By Andrew Tsaousis

Thanks to Lauri L. for the tip!

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