NHTSA Complaint #10279217 — 2004 NISSAN MURANO

NISSAN MURANO CVT TRANSMISSION CAUSES DELAYED ACCELERATION. AFTER 65,000 MILES THE VEHICLE DID NOT IMMEDIATELY RESPOND WHEN THE ACCELERATOR WAS PUSHED. IT WOULD INCH FORWARD THEN SURGE. AT ONE TIME I BARELY AVOIDED A MAJOR ACCIDENT WHEN MERGING INTO TRAFFIC AND THE ENGINE DID NOT RESPOND TO THE ACCELERATOR; THEN SUDDENLY SHOT FORWARD A COUPLE SECONDS LATER ALMOST CAUSING A COLLISION FROM THE DELAY. WHEN I TOOK IT IN THEY SAID I NEEDED A NEW TRANSMISSION; BUT I NOTED THAT THERE WAS NOT A RISE IN RPM'S WHEN IT DID NOT ACCELERATE AS WOULD BE THE CASE IF IT WAS SLIPPING. WHEN I ASKED ABOUT THAT THEY SAID IT WAS PROBABLY THE SOLENOID SWITCH THAT KEEPS THE ENGINE FROM REVVING WHEN THERE IS A TRANSMISSION PROBLEM. AFTER CHECKING ON THE INTERNET I FOUND WEB SITES WITH MANY PEOPLE REPORTING THE SAME PROBLEM. MANY SAID THEY FOUND IT WAS THE SWITCH GETTING DIRTY AND THEN SHUTTING DOWN THE RPMS. I TRIED A TRANSMISSION FLUID CHANGE AND IT SOLVED THE PROBLEM FOR ABOUT 30,000 MILES THEN STARTING DOING IT AGAIN. I CHANGED AGAIN AND IT IS ONCE AGAIN RESOLVED. BESIDES THE FACT THAT NISSAN HAS A MANUFACTURING ISSUE HERE THIS PROBLEM IS VERY DANGEROUS. WHEN YOU STEP DOWN ON THE GAS AND THERE IS A DELAY IT CAUSES YOU TO DIVERT YOUR ATTENTION FROM DRIVING; TYPICALLY YOU AUTOMATICALLY PUMP THE GAS AGAIN. THEN THE SUDDEN SURGE FORWARD IS UNEXPECTED AND MAY PUT YOU IN A PLACE YOU DID NOT NOW (AFTER THE DELAY) WANT TO BE; ESPECIALLY IF MERGING INTO TRAFFIC. *TR