I have an 06 Murano that I love. Until I went on long road trip. After a few hours of high speed driving (like on a turnpike) when accelerating to change lanes, the RPM will go up but I’ll be losing speed. After a few moments, it will “catch”. Luckily I don’t usually go on long trips. But the 3 I have gone on, it has happened everytime. I’ve taken it to the dealer, they can’t find anything wrong. I’ve seen others have had the same problem and printed those up for the dealership, but they say they have checked those things out and still can’t find a problem.
I’ve started a new business and will be traveling more, and I’m scared of driving the vehicle!
Has anyone heard of the Murano’s having acceleration problems?
This “acceleration” problem is actually a transmission problem. The Murano has a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT), and unfortunately, these CVT units are not currently repairable–at least in the US. That means that these vehicles need a new transmission when problems develop, and Nissan is reluctant to spend the many thousands of $$ for warranty replacement of your CVT, as well as all of the others that have been reported to be defective. Either your dealership doesn’t have the expertise to diagnose CVT problems, or they are reluctant to get involved in the replacement of a CVT that they know to be defective, or Nissan is trying to get dealers to drag their feet on these problems until warranties expire–and none of these scenarios are good for you.
I strongly suggest that you do two things:
*Report this to the National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA) as a safety defect, via their website. Since the inability to accelerate on a highway is a genuine safety defect, this needs to be reported to them. If sufficient reports of a similar nature are made, this can spur a govt mandated recall that will benefit you and others.
*Get the Nissan factory Zone Representative involved. Contact info is in your Owner’s Manual. These people have the expertise to guide the dealership through some complex procedures, and they have the clout to order repairs that a dealership is reluctant to do.
For your sake, I really hope that your Nissan is still under warranty. Bear in mind that if it is not under warranty, a govt mandated recall in the future can result in a refund for repair costs that you personally incur at this point, so the report to NHTSA is really important–for a variety of reasons.
Please report back to us on your progress.
Good luck!