Tokyo Tony Posted January 4, 2010 Posted January 4, 2010 Guys, I just wanted to let you know about a letter I received from Nissan last week. I bought a Nissan almost a year ago, and it have the so-called CVT, Continuously Variable Transmission, which basically means you don't feel the lags when you shift between gears. It works on some kind of a pulley system, and is, frankly, very cool. Anyway, apparently these transmissions are costly to repair once the warrantee period ends, and Nissan received some complaints about the cost of repair from customers. I typed a couple paragraphs from their letter: "First, to provide you with additional assurance regarding the overall cost of ownership we have doubled the warranty period for the transmission in your Rogue. The existing powertrain warranty coverage of 5 years/60,000 miles will be extended at no cost to you, for CVT repairs, replacements or related towing, to 10 years/120,000 miles, whichever comes first. This extension is effective immediately and requires no action on your part... Second, Nissan will reimburse customers who have previously paid to repair or replace their CVT, if the repairs would have been covered within the new extended warranty period. Even if you no longer own your Nissan we will reimburse you for past CVT reparis that would have been covered under this extension of the warrantee." And it goes on... I thought that was pretty cool of them. Quote
farmpond1 Posted January 4, 2010 Posted January 4, 2010 Pretty cool of them...or they are trying to avoid a class action suit. Either way, if there are problems with the tranny, they did the right thing. For that, I applaud them. Quote
Super User roadwarrior Posted January 4, 2010 Super User Posted January 4, 2010 Now, that's a great story! ;D ;D Quote
Super User Grey Wolf Posted January 4, 2010 Super User Posted January 4, 2010 That's good , no matter what reason they did it for. Quote
lazeebum Posted January 4, 2010 Posted January 4, 2010 Hello Ford, GM and Chrysler are you watching and listening? Want to sell more vehicles, build them better and back them up. Quote
Super User Fishing Rhino Posted January 5, 2010 Super User Posted January 5, 2010 Here's an article about one type of CVT with a photo of its innards. http://cars.about.com/od/thingsyouneedtoknow/a/CVT.htm Quote
Tokyo Tony Posted January 5, 2010 Author Posted January 5, 2010 Here's an article about one type of CVT with a photo of its innards. http://cars.about.com/od/thingsyouneedtoknow/a/CVT.htm I guess the technology isn't all that new then, if DaVinci sketched the first CVT design in 1490 ;D Quote
NewAngler Posted January 5, 2010 Posted January 5, 2010 Great customer service. Unexpected this day in age.. Well... with the econmy I bet we can see a rise in customer service to have customer retention. If it were American I'd look into one. Quote
Super User cart7t Posted January 5, 2010 Super User Posted January 5, 2010 My experience with any manufacturer that extends warranties beyond the original specified time frame for a specific part on a manufactured unit is usually doing it because of a high failure rate of said part(s), high cost to replace said part(s) and the probable filing of a class action suit (which they'll probably lose). They're merely cutting the lawyers off at the pass. Quote
Super User roadwarrior Posted January 5, 2010 Super User Posted January 5, 2010 Great customer service. Unexpected this day in age.. Well... with the econmy I bet we can see a rise in customer service to have customer retention. If it were American I'd look into one. Nissan has a plant in Tennessee, just outside Nashville. I have an Altima that was built there. Their facility in Canton, MS is the largest automobile plant in the world! 8-) Quote
1inStripes Posted January 5, 2010 Posted January 5, 2010 I believe Ford used a similar transmission setup in the Freestyle a few years ago. It may not be the same but similar in that it basically had no shift point, or lag in changing gears. Just kept on trucking. No doubt its nice of them to extend it, but like cart said, theres probably a bunch of problems with them if they are doing it. Quote
Tokyo Tony Posted January 5, 2010 Author Posted January 5, 2010 My experience with any manufacturer that extends warranties beyond the original specified time frame for a specific part on a manufactured unit is usually doing it because of a high failure rate of said part(s), high cost to replace said part(s) and the probable filing of a class action suit (which they'll probably lose). They're merely cutting the lawyers off at the pass. Businesses are out to make money, obviously. They wouldn't simply double the warrantee out of the goodness of their hearts. I doubt they'd be facing a class action law suit as the warrantee is in print, signed by dealership/customer. However, obviously it's in their best interests to keep their customers happy, and to get good publicity both in the news and from happy customers such as myself spreading the word. Plus, they're promoting their transmission and trying to dispel any rumors that it's not worth purchasing one due to the cost of ownership being too high. It's a win-win situation. I wouldn't go as far as to say what I think you're implying, which is that they deserve no credit for the move because they're simply trying to avoid a lawsuit. Quote
Super User Fishing Rhino Posted January 5, 2010 Super User Posted January 5, 2010 Speed changers operating on the pulley system have been around for ages. I started working in a woodworking shop in 1964. In the finish department there was a track system for staining and sealing various items. An item would be dipped in the stain, and hung on the conveyor system. Further down the line, the item would be removed, dunked into sealer, then hung on the moving conveyor. A trough was placed beneath so the runoff from the item would drain back into the dip tank. There was a speed changer consisting of two pulleys. One was spring loaded, and the other adjustable. The spring loaded controlled the tension and was self adjusting to adapt to the other pulley's setting. It would never have worked in a vehicle since it could not have handled the horsepower. Developing the materials to handle the horsepower is always the limiting factor in this type of pulley system. Quote
Uncle Leo Posted January 5, 2010 Posted January 5, 2010 I would say that is good customer service seeing that you will not have to fight with them over a warranty. This still does not mean that your reliability will not suffer as it appears they have recognized a major problem. I would think that eventually this transmission will be removed from production based on this. Good luck hopefully this vehicle will not spend to much time in the shop. KUDOS to Nissan for standing up for what is right though. Quote
christopherjake Posted January 5, 2010 Posted January 5, 2010 Wow, now that is awesome service! Kudos to Nissan. Quote
Super User burleytog Posted January 6, 2010 Super User Posted January 6, 2010 It was either that or face a class-action lawsuit. Quote
WIII-60 Posted January 7, 2010 Posted January 7, 2010 My wife has a murano. We got the same letter. After digging around, it turns out that it is in response to the probability of a class action lawsuit. Obviously, when the CVT fails the vehicle can't move when the accelerator is pressed. i.e. at a busy intersection, or railroad crossing. The cost to replace it is also around 5k-6k. Couple those factors and a class action lawsuit was coming down the pipe. I'm glad, like you tony, because it's warrantied for another 50k. That said, I'll sell it before the warranty runs out. Quote
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