NHTSA Complaint #10279194 — 2003 NISSAN MURANO

THE SOLENOID PRESSURE VALVE IN MY 2003 NISSAN MURANO FAILED AT 81,100 MILES. IT RUNS FINE ON THE HIGHWAY BUT WHEN YOU TRANSITION TO CITY DRIVING AT EACH STOP IT WILL LOOSE POWER AND THE CAR WILL BARELY COAST THROUGH THE INTERSECTION, THEN IT WILL CATCH AND ACCELERATE VERY QUICKLY. THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT WAS NOT ON WHEN THIS OCCURRED. I CONTACTED THE DEALER WHO SAID THEY COULD DO NOTHING SINCE THE SERVICE ENGINE LIGHT WAS NOT ON. I TOOK IT TO 2 OTHER AUTO REPAIR PLACES WHO WERE ABLE TO RETRIEVE INFORMATION STORED ON THE COMPUTER, WHICH STATED IT WAS THE SOLENOID PRESSURE VALVE (THE LIGHT WAS STILL NOT ON AT THIS POINT). I LEARNED FROM SEVERAL MECHANIC SHOPS THAT THIS IS A COMMON PROBLEM WITH THIS VEHICLE BUT THEY DO NOT MAKE THE PART THAT NEEDS TO BE FIXED, THEY ONLY SELL A "VALVE BODY KIT" AND QUOTED ME $2000 FOR THIS REPAIR. HOWEVER, THEY ALSO STATED THAT THERE IS A 25-50% CHANCE THAT THIS REPAIR WILL NOT BE EFFECTIVE AND I WOULD THEN HAVE TO FULLY REPLACE THE TRANSMISSION FOR AN ADDITIONAL $5000+. LUCKILY THERE WERE NO INJURIES BECAUSE OF THIS PROBLEM BUT I FIND IT UNACCEPTABLE THAT NISSAN KNOWS ABOUT THIS PROBLEM BUT ONLY REQUIRES AN ABSURD AMOUNT OF MONEY TO FIX IT. I MADE A LARGE INVESTMENT IN NISSAN BASED ON THEIR REPUTATION FOR RELIABILITY AND HAVE BEEN GREATLY LET DOWN. *TR