NHTSA Complaint #10469301 — 2005 NISSAN PATHFINDER

MY 2005 PATHFINDER WAS RUNNING FINE UNTIL IT STARTED DEVELOPING A CASE OF THERMOSTAT FLUCTUATION; IT WOULD ALMOST GO INTO THE RED AND THEN DROP ALL THE WAY BACK DOWN TO THE NORMAL LEVEL. I TOOK IT TO PRECISION TUNE AND THEY REPLACED THE RADIATOR HOSE ASSEMBLY. A FEW WEEKS AFTER THAT, THE TRANNY STARTED SLIPPING. AS I HAD ALREADY READ FROM OTHER CONSUMERS, I KNEW WHAT WAS HAPPENING TO MY TRUCK, AND BECAUSE THE TRUCK ALREADY HAD 120K + MILES ON IT, I KNEW WHAT NISSAN WOULD LIKELY SAY. SURE ENOUGH, ONE AFTERNOON, I GOT IN THE TRUCK AND IT WOULDN'T ACCELERATE FORWARD. I IMMEDIATELY HAD IT TOWED TO NISSAN IN APRIL AND BEGAN THE FIGHT TO GET IT FIXED; THEY QUOTED ME $5100 TO REPLACE THE TRANNY AND RADIATOR DUE TO COOLANT LEAKING INTO THE TRANSMISSION CASE AND TRANSMISSION FLUID LEAKING INTO THE RADIATOR. I CONTACTED THEIR CONSUMER AFFAIRS, AND NOT ONLY DID THEY TELL ME THEY WOULDN'T COVER IT, BUT REFERRED ME TO THE BBB (A VERY BRAZEN MOVE IN MY MIND, TO HAVE A COMPANY REFER YOU TO THEM ABOUT THEM). THEY ALREADY KNEW THE BBB WOULDN'T HELP BECAUSE IT WAS OUTSIDE OF THE WARRANTY. NEARLY FOUR MONTHS LATER, IT STILL SITS AT THE DEALER, BECAUSE I CAN'T AFFORD TO PAY THE REPAIR COST (I STILL OWE FOR TWO YEARS ON THE VEHICLE), AND NISSAN REFUSES TO FIX IT, ALTHOUGH THEY KNOW THE PROBLEM EXISTS. SOMEONE HAS TO DIE, I GUESS, BEFORE THEY PULL THEIR VEHICLES OFF THE ROAD AND FIX THE PROBLEM. *TR