NHTSA Complaint #10155489 — 2005 NISSAN MURANO

WHILE ON A MAJOR ROAD WITH FOR OUR FAMILY VACATION, OUR MURANO EXPERIENCED A COMPONENT FAILURE. SPECIFICALLY, OUR ROAD TRIP ORIGINATED FROM CENTRAL NEW JERSEY WITH SEVERAL DESTINATIONS SCHEDULED FOR SEVERAL CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN FLORIDA LOCATIONS. ALL WAS NORMAL UNTIL OUR JOURNEY FROM MIAMI TO DEBARY, FL WHERE SLIGHT INDICATORS OF A MALFUNCTION BEGAN TO MANIFEST ITSELF. WHILE CRUISING ON INTERSTATE 95 BETWEEN WEST PALM BEACH AND TITUSVILLE, THE CRUISE CONTROL SPONTANEOUSLY DISENGAGED. AFTER SEVERAL ATTEMPTS TO RE-ENGAGE THE SYSTEM YIELDED THE SAME RESULTS, I INITIALLY DETERMINED THAT THERE MAY BE AN INHERENT DIFFERENCE IN THE MURANO'S CRUISE CONTROL SYSTEM VERSUS OTHER CARS I'VE DRIVEN/OWNED AND DECIDED THAT I WOULD LOOK INTO IT AT A LATER TIME. LATER IN THIS SAME TRIP (SPECIFICALLY BETWEEN TITUSVILLE AND SANFORD FLORIDA), I WAS ON A DESOLATE ROAD (ROUTE 46) WHEN THE MURANO'S 'SERVICE ENGINE' LIGHT ILLUMINATED AND IT SEEM TO BE STUCK IN 2ND GEAR. NOTE: THE MURANO HAS A BELT DRIVEN CVT AND NOT A CONVENTIONAL GEAR BOX; NEVERTHELESS, THIS WAS THE MANNER IN WHICH THE PROBLEM CAN BE CHARACTERIZED. MAKING MATTERS WORST WAS THE FACT THAT IT WAS 12:30AM AND ROUTE 46 IS SPARSELY TRAVELED, WITH NO SIGNS OF "CIVILIZATION". (NOT MEANT TO MELODRAMATIC.) FORTUNATELY, I WAS STILL ABLE TO DRIVE THE MURANO (AT NO GREATER THAN 40MPH @ 4,000RPM) TO OUR INTENDED DESTINATION. ON THE FOLLOWING MORNING, I BROUGHT MY MURANO TO DELAND NISSAN WHERE THE SERVICE DEPARTMENT PROMPTLY DETERMINED THAT THE THROTTLE BODY MALFUNCTIONED AND NEEDED TO BE REPLACED ACCORDINGLY. FORTUNATELY, THE PART WAS IN STOCK AND REPLACED UNDER WARRANTY IN LESS THAN 2 HOURS. (NOTE: THE SERVICE DEPARTMENT AT DELAND NISSAN WAS SIMPLY THE BEST SERVICE DEPARTMENT I'VE EVER ENCOUNTERED, IN TERMS OF RESPONSE TIME, PROFESSIONALISM AND CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION; I WISH MY HOME DEALER SERVICE DEPARTMENT WAS LIKEWISE.) THE REMAINDER OF OUR VACATION AND RETURN TRIP OCCURRED WITHOUT FURTHER INCIDENT. *NM