NHTSA Complaint #10081323 — 2001 NISSAN ALTIMA

I PURCHASED A NISSAN ALTIMA WITH 17,000 MILES ON IT WITH WARRANTY LEFT ON THE CAR. ABOUT 8 OR 9 MONTHS OF OWNING IT, WHILE DRIVING IT WOULD JUST LOSE POWER DOWN TO ABOUT 10 MILE PER HOUR. THE INSTRUMENT PANEL WOULD GO DEAD,,NO SPEEDOMETER, GAUGES, NOTHING. I TOOK IT THE DEALER, THEY COULD NOT FIND ANYTHING WRONG WITH IT, THEY JUST REPLACED A TIMING CHAIN TENSIONER UNDER WARRANTY. I FINALLY FIGURED OUT THAT BY PLACING THE GEAR SHIFT IN NEUTRAL IT WOULD RESUME BACK TO NORMAL SPEED, BUT THE INSTRUMENT PANEL WOULD NOT COME BACK ON. THE PANEL WOULD COME ON SOMETIMES IN 10 MILE MOSTLY 30 TO 40 MILES DOWN THE ROAD. THE SAME PROBLEM WOULD OCCUR DURING MY DRIVE MANY TIMES, I WOULD JUST PLACE THE SHIFTER IN NEUTRAL AND THAN BACK TO DRIVE AND I WOULD BACK TO NORMAL SPEED AGAIN. ALSO, THIS PROBLEM WOULD NOT HAPPEN IF SPEED IS HELD OVER 70 MILES PER HOUR. THE AFFECTED SPEED IS BETWEEN 35 TO 70 MPH. I NOW HAVE OVER 81,000 MILES ON THE ALTIMA. *JB