What 7 owners told NHTSA about the 2017 Infiniti QX70

Multiple incidents of car not starting or stalling in rain. 1. After a rainstorm while parked, noticed water on the driver side floor and dripping from the driver door side under dashboard, water coming from defective design of sunroof water drains/tubing which are clogged because the tube is too thin which traps common dirt and dust from rain and road water. A wider diameter tubing or requiring maintenance during oil change intervals (blowing air into the tubing to unblock the clog) would likely solve this defect and car owners money. Car would not start for 2 days afterwards until all the water was dried from interior cabin. This problem repeated itself every time it rained - I had to tape the sunroof closed to prevent water ingress as a temporary measure and ultimately had the tubing replaced by the dealership at a cost of $1326.97 which was not covered by warranty. A simple inexpensive fix of adding to the scheduled maintenance at oil change intervals, the blowing of air into the tube to clear blockage would solve this pervasive problem among Infiniti cars with sunroofs ( as suggested by Infiniti service rep). Even though Infiniti knows about this problem, they chose to not alert owners to clear the tubing now and then. Infiniti benefits from this defect with huge profits having to replace the entire sunroof drains at thousands of dollar expense for owners - Another incident 10/2023, 100 miles from home, while driving down [XXX] in a massive summer downpour led to water ingress into driver side cabin and stalling of the car on the highway and car refusing to go fast. After I turned the car off, the car would not immediately start again. After drying the driver side out with paper towels, the car eventually started. I turned on the car heater at full blast and temperature to dry the car floorboard. After it was full dry the car operated correctly but creates anxiety in no knowing if the car will stall out again. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11576216

The contact owns a 2017 Infiniti QX70. The contact stated that while driving approximately 55 MPH, the transmission was hard shifting into gear. The contact stated that the transmission failed to shift into the proper gear. Additionally, while driving in the rain, the vehicle hydroplaned on three occasions. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer where it was diagnosed that the valve body needed to be replaced. The battery was replaced. The vehicle was repaired but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 85,000.

NHTSA ODI 11529713