Nissan, Toyota, Infiniti and Lexus all seem to have developed this same issue at the same time.

I am involved in manufacturing, and it would not surprise me if a certain chemical, that stabilizes soft plastics, became no longer available to the industry to use. Possibly due to environmental and/or health issues.

Plastics are a complex recipe, if they are not made from a good "recipe" with good quality substances, these problems will creep up over time.

For example, ever wonder why lead was in kids toys? Because lead is a cheap, and very effective plastic stabilizer. When toys are made by low-bidders, even if the bid calls for "lead-free" shady manufacturers will use lead to drive their costs down.

To me it appears that certain manufacturers were using similar plastics (Toyota, Nissan and Subaru, our 2006 Impreza had sticky dash) and something happened in the industry that affected them.

Nissan/Infiniti will ignore you. Without a doubt. Toyota tried to ignore also, but their reputation is much better than Nissan so I feel they felt compelled to address it, eventually.

Anecdotal ideas like window shade, alcohol, dish soap, window tint, keep in garage won't prevent the ultimate fate of these dashes.

 

Rubbing Alcohol seems to work the best so far to temporarily removing the shininess and stickiness, but it always comes back in direct sunlight just from driving short trips. Thinking about using AT 303 to see if that helps any in delaying the decay. Kind of a pain to come back from a drive and then have to scrub the dash down each time.

 

Try using a product named "sticky dash fix". They make a product specifically for the G owners.

 

My car has been garage kept since I bought it; I have 2010 G37. Two years ago, my dashboard started to shine. It goes away during winter and comes back during summer. When ac is on, it dries up a little but when I touch it it shines. No cracks, its’s not soft, just greasy! Is this the symptom of melting dashboard?

 

I have a 2008 coupe that has been garaged 98% of its life. My car has the same symptoms as yours with no cracks. I took the car out this week after it sat for 5 weeks. I noticed a little slickness on the dash pulling out of the garage. After driving it for 3 hours in the sun, the upper half of the dash looked like someone marinated it with a solution of olive oil and Aqua Net. Over the years, I noticed the dash is feeling less pliable and more rigid. The sticky dash began in year 7 for me.

Infiniti/Nissan better own up to this soon. They are probably delaying as long as possible until there are fewer Gs on the road to minimize loss when they finally acknowledge fault.

UCLAg37

 

Nissan owning up to something?


A little apropos entertainment whilst we wait for that miracle to happen...

 

2010 convertible,bought used and noticed dash cracks about 2 months later. Then I started detailing my car myself and noticed my dash felt sticky like it was almost melting. I live in Katy Texas so its hot 8 months out of the year, and the dash in the sun whenever I'm running around but I use a sunshade when I park it. Now several years later it is cracking around the front console where the radio and screen is. The dealership in Houston told me there was no recall due to it not being a safety issue and that my only choices were to pay a little over $2300 to have it replaced or put a cover over it. It's 10 years old so I am not spending $2300 on a part that isn't for performance or mechanical reasons! Any other suggestions on resolving the dash issue??

 

Technically, it is a safety issue as the glare/reflection when the sun hits the dash can be very blinding. Still, all of our complaints go ignored. As for possible fixes, many are choosing to have the dash recovered Possible Fix or are replacing the dash with used parts from eBay, etc. Just don't expect Nissan to do anything.

 

Has anyone tried the sticky dash fix product yet? My dash board isn't sticky; just greasy.

 

Just a quick update since my last one. It's now about 3 years later from when I first reported a shiny dashboard which I have been knocking down for 3 years with alcohol and AT303 protectorant, but today, the dashboard has decided start cracking around all the vents. Specifically, below the side vents and above the center vents. Only real fix is complete dashboard replacement unless you like dash covers which will just cosmetically hide the blemishes (underneath, the dash will continue to deteriorate). If you see Nissan and Infiniti cars with a shiny or sticky dash, you have been warned that it's the beginning of the end and most likely not someone who put too much dressing on the dashboard! Sadly, Nissan will not step up in anyway, as they are not interested in customer retention or repeat buyers, but more focused on sucking in new people thinking they make a "luxury" car. For sure, I will not let anyone I know buy one and will gladly show people my car interior and / or pictures once I get it address to warn others.

 

I just want to remind anyone having issues with this of a few things:

This is NOT a Nissan/Infiniti defect. This is a defect from environmental mandates that have been removing the kinds of chemicals from many products that usually improve longevity. It is also why paint becomes weaker every few years, new mandates keep eliminating or reducing the % of certain components that improve durability.

We have a 2003 Acura TL in the stable. The door panels and both airbag covers get shiny and sticky, but the dash is still good. I guarantee that the dash is either previously replaced, or the door panels and airbag covers had already begun using new formulations in manufacturing while the dash used older formulas. The 2004+ have ridiculously bad interiors, our 2003 fortunately doesn't present issues on the dash.

Toyota and Lexus have this exact same problem in the same model years too.

Applying topical products does nothing to delay the degradation. But, it will clean-up the issue until the cracks begin. Topical products are not able to combine with already finished plastic products, besides, these materials are missing critical components that weren't included at time of manufacturing. You can't go back and add them.

 

Just wanted to add my 10 cents here.

I have a 2008 coupe with 52k miles, garage-kept its entire life. The only time it sees the sun is when I wash it or briefly take it out on a brisk run around town.

Years ago my dash started getting sticky like everyone else's here. Then came the cracking. Cracks around the air vents, cracks where the dash meets the door jam, and cracks around the single center speaker on the dash. I couldn't have kept this car any safer. As others have said, it is just a defective dash, and that is very disappointing.

 

What up G twin! Also same story as you with the car only being garage kept and stored/covered during winter. Past 2 years the dashboard has a chalky white substance on it when cold then turns to the shiny sticky substance in the sun. No visible cracks yet but I'm going to try cleaning with alcohol and conditioning with the 303 method come spring to see if it helps.

 

Thanks for the feedback as this makes alot of sense. A close friend of mine worked for 3M a few years back, and explained that they employ a team of people that were constantly evaluating environmental restrictions against optimal adhesive chemistry. Since the "stickiness" is the adhesive that holds the padding to the dash material leaking through to the surface, I'm assuming that the cleaner is really just a solvent which works to dissolve the residual adhesive? The cracks can be repaired, but you need to find the right person with experience. I found my guy via the CPO department at Honda/Acura. He can fix almost anything in the interior (scratched kick panels and door panels, cracked dash and seats, even steering wheels that have eroded). I buy my kids 10+ year old used cars because of the lower insurance costs, so I have used him alot (my OCD extends beyond my car to theirs).