NHTSA Complaint #11185466 — 2009 NISSAN CUBE

THE CUBE WILL FREQUENTLY STOP WHILE DRIVING AT ANY SPEED. IT IS POSSIBLE TO PUMP THE ACCELERATOR AT THE MOMENT THIS HAPPENS AND SOMETIMES THE ENGINE WILL CATCH AND CARRY ON. IF THIS DOES NOT WORK, THE CAR MUST BE SHUT DOWN FOR A FEW MINUTES BEFORE ATTEMPTING A RESTART. UNFORTUNATELY ONCE THIS SITUATION HAPPENS, IT WILL VERY LIKELY RECUR SOON AFTER. IT IS MY OBSERVATION THAT THIS HAPPENS MOST OFTEN WHEN THE AMBIENT TEMPERATURE IS QUITE HIGH (75 F AND ABOVE). ON COOL DAYS THE SITUATION IS NOT LIKELY TO HAPPEN UNLESS THE CAR IS DRIVEN OVER AN HOUR IN DURATION. AS ANOTHER OBSERVATION IT IS MORE LIKELY TO HAPPEN IF THE GAS GAUGE IS LESS THAN FULL. I TRIED TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM TWICE FOR MAUS NISSAN BUT IT DID NOT OCCUR. THERE WAS A ENGINE SERVICE LIGHT ON DURING BOTH THOSE ATTEMPTS INDICATING A CATALYTIC CONVERTER ERROR. SINCE THAT TIME (EARLY 2018) THE PROBLEM HAS HAPPENED MANY TIMES WITHOUT ANY SERVICE ENGINE WARNING BEING ON. THE FIRST TIME THE PROBLEM OCCURRED, I TOOK THE CAR INTO NISSAN IN CHATTANOOGA. THEY SAID THERE WAS A LITTLE TOO MUCH TRANSMISSION FLUID. THEY REMOVED SOME AND I CONTINUED ON THE FLORIDA. WITHIN 10 MINUTES THE PROBLEM OCCURRED AGAIN. WHILE IN FLORIDA, WE LIMIT DRIVING TO EARLY MORNINGS AND EVENINGS FOR LESS THAN 30 MINUTES AND WE MAINTAIN THE GAS TANK ON FULL.