NHTSA Complaint #10489550 — 2008 SUZUKI FORENZA

ONE DAY, WHEN I PUT MY CAR IN REVERSE, IT "CLUNKED" INTO GEAR, THE GEAR DISPLAY WAS SCRAMBLED, AND THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON. I SHUT MY CAR OFF AND STARTED IT AGAIN, THINKING IT WAS A FLUKE. THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT REMAINED ON AND IT ALSO "CLUNKED" INTO DRIVE. WHEN I WENT TO ACCELERATE, THE RPM'S WERE 5-10 HIGHER THAN NORMAL AND IT TOOK A LITTLE LONGER TO "GET UP AND GO." SOMETIMES, MY CAR WILL INITIALLY RUN FINE UNTIL A FEW MINUTES INTO THE DRIVE, WHEN IT FALLS INTO NEUTRAL WHILE DRIVING, THEN GOES BACK TO DRIVE, THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT COMES ON AGAIN, AND THE PROBLEMS RESURFACE. I TOOK IT TO ADVANCED AUTO PARTS AND THE MACHINE SAID TRANSMISSION CONTROL SYSTEM BUT THEY SAID THAT COULD MEAN ANYTHING AND WOULD BE FINE TO DRIVE. AFTER TAKEN OFF THE MACHINE, THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT WENT OFF, ONLY TO COME ON AGAIN THE NEXT TIME I DROVE IT. MY BROTHER (WHO HAS MECHANICAL EXPERIENCE) CLEANED THE TRANSMISSION SENSOR AND FILTER, HOPING IT WOULD HELP, BUT IT DIDN'T. AS I GO TO A SMALL TOWN COLLEGE THREE HOURS AWAY FROM HOME AND MAKE A 3 MINUTE DRIVE TO AND FROM CLASSES EVERYDAY, I LET IT BE FOR THE SEMESTER, INSISTING THAT IT WOULD EVENTUALLY GO AWAY. WELL, IT'S CHRISTMAS AND IT NEVER WENT AWAY; EACH DAY I DRIVE MY CAR IT PRESENTS ME WITH THE SAME PROBLEMS. MY BROTHER TOOK MY CAR BACK TO ADVANCED AUTO PARTS AND THE MACHINE READ THE SAME ISSUES AS BEFORE, PLUS A POSSIBLE WIRE SHORT. THEY DIDN'T SUGGEST ANY FIXES SO HE CHECKED FOR SHORTS IN THE WIRES AND FOUND NONE. IT APPEARS IT MUST BE THE TRANSMISSION RANGE SENSOR. AFTER READING UP ON THE TRS, IT SEEMS THAT THIS IS AN ONGOING PROBLEM THAT MANY OWNERS ARE EXPERIENCING AS EARLY AS 30K MILES ON CARS SOME BOUGHT NEW. I FEEL AS THOUGH THIS ISSUE HAS ALSO CAUSED OTHER PROBLEMS WITH MY CAR (REDUCED GAS MILEAGE/BATTERY FAILURE) AND IS CAUSE FOR A FACTORY RECALL, AS ITS APPEARANCE IS WIDESPREAD AND THE EFFECTS ARE NUMEROUS. *TR