NHTSA Complaint #11112390 — 2008 NISSAN VERSA

THE CONTINUOUSLY VARIABLE TRANSMISSIONS ON NISSANS ARE UNSAFE. FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS, OUR NISSAN VERSA WOULD BRIEFLY LOSE POWER WHEN WE STEPPED ON THE GAS PEDAL, BUT IT ONLY HAPPENED OCCASIONALLY AND TEMPORARILY. THEN ON JULY 15, IT GOT MUCH WORSE. WE COULD BARELY DRIVE THE CAR BECAUSE IT WOULD CONSTANTLY LOSE POWER. THE PROBLEM STARTED WHEN WE STARTED THE CAR AND CONTINUED AS WE WERE TRYING TO DRIVE THE CAR A COUPLE OF BLOCKS ON THE CITY STREETS. I AM THANKFUL THAT WE WERE NOT ON A HIGHWAY WHEN THIS HAPPENED BECAUSE WE WOULD HAVE CAUSED A TERRIBLE ACCIDENT. WE LEARNED LATER THAT IT WAS THE TRANSMISSION AND THE CAR WAS TRYING TO START IN A HIGH GEAR INSTEAD OF A LOW GEAR. OUR 2008 NISSAN VERSA IS 6 WEEKS PAST THE EXTENDED WARRANTY ON THE CONTINUOUSLY VARIABLE TRANSMISSION. DESPITE THE FACT THAT WE ARE BELOW THE MILEAGE REQUIREMENT OF THE WARRANTY AND DESPITE THE FACT THAT THE TRANSMISSION HAS LIKELY BEEN GIVING US PROBLEMS FOR YEARS, NISSAN WILL NOT HONOR THE WARRANTY. I BELIEVE NISSAN SHOULD BE ORDERING A RECALL ON THE CVT TECHNOLOGY, ESPECIALLY FOR THE OLDER MODELS. THEY KNOW THE TECHNOLOGY IS FLAWED AND UNSAFE, THAT'S WHY THEY CREATED AN EXTENDED WARRANTY. BUT IF YOU'RE JUST OUT OF THAT WARRANTY PERIOD, THEY WON'T HELP YOU OUT AS A CONSUMER. IF THEY PUBLICIZED THE CVT PROBLEM AND ORDERED A RECALL, THEY WOULD PREVENT HAVING UNSAFE CARS ON THE ROAD.