2017 Infiniti Q50 — Should You Buy One?

Seventeen engine complaints, the largest cluster. The pattern owners describe on the 3.0t: one turbocharger starts to fail — sometimes with no warning light at all — and the car goes into limp mode with no acceleration, once on a highway on-ramp with the engine shutting off and every light flashing. Separately, sudden coolant loss followed by a temperature spike, with one owner's engine written off for a failing main bearing and a blown head gasket that put coolant in the oil. Another needed a radiator fan assembly and module after a false low-oil shutdown on the interstate. Two of the six samples involve a CarMax car sold as certified after failed inspections, which is a reminder that a used-car warranty is not a diagnosis. The VR30's turbos are water-cooled and buried; a replacement is a dealer-scale job on each side. At the car: check the coolant level cold and again after a hard drive, look under the turbo heat shields for pink or white coolant crust, listen for a whistle or a rattle on boost, and do a full-throttle pull on a highway merge to confirm both turbos come in cleanly. Any check-engine light is a walk-away until it is read.

Repair cost (estimate): $2,500–$5,000 per turbocharger; $8,000–$12,000 for an engine — around 69% of what this car is typically worth

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the engine (17).

Recall 17V476 covers 2016–2018 Q50s with the Mercedes-sourced 2.0L turbo: the fuel pump control module's software could let the main tank run too low to feed the engine, and the engine stalls in traffic. Dealers reprogram the module free. The nine fuel-system complaints are mostly stalls — low fuel pressure on the scan, code P0090, a car that quit on the highway with the check-engine light blinking — and several are owners whose VIN falls outside the campaign but who have the same symptom and were quoted a diagnostic fee by the dealer. So on a 2.0t, confirm the recall on the VIN, and if the seller has ever chased a stall, ask what the codes were. On a 3.0t the recall does not apply, and a stall there is the turbo issue above until proven otherwise.

Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed; $600–$1,300 for a fuel pump module on a car outside the campaign

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the fuel system (9); 4 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

Two separate airbag problems. Recall 17V571 is the 2017 Q50's own: the driver's frontal airbag inflator may have been welded badly and can crack instead of inflating the bag in a crash — dealers replace the inflator free. Recall 16V244 reprogrammed the occupant classification system that decides whether the passenger airbag is armed, across 2014–2017 Q50s. The complaints are about the second one, and the awkward part is that several 2017 owners say the dealer confirmed their VIN is not on the campaign yet the fault is the same: a seat-belt warning with nobody in the passenger seat, a 'zero point reset' attempted by the dealer that fails with code B00A0, and then the passenger airbag light on and the bag disabled for good. The fix outside the recall is a new seat sensor mat or seat cushion assembly at the dealer, and owners were quoted four figures. Five SEATS complaints are the same seat-belt light. At the car: sit an adult in the passenger seat, start it, and check the airbag indicator on the overhead panel says ON; then confirm both recalls on the VIN.

Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed; $800–$1,800 for a passenger occupant sensor outside the campaign

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under airbags (10), seats (5); 4 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

Recall 24V470 covers 2014–2018 rear-wheel-drive Q50s: the driveshaft can fatigue and snap, and when it does the car either loses drive at speed or rolls away in Park with the handbrake off, because Park holds the gearbox and the shaft no longer connects it to the wheels. Dealers replace the driveshaft free; letters went out August 13, 2024. All-wheel-drive Q50s are not on the campaign. Only five owners filed under power train on this year, and one of them was told the driveshaft recall had been 'closed out' when they asked — check for yourself on NHTSA's VIN lookup rather than taking a dealer's word, and on a rear-drive car look underneath for a driveshaft with fresh paint and a recent date, which is what a replacement looks like.

Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the transmission and drivetrain (5); 4 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.