When I had my wife’s Sentra CVT replaced under warranty, they said that the only units dealer gets for replacement are re-manufactured units.
It gave me so much confidence in the brand, that I traded that car almost immediately after getting it repaired and got rid of all our other CVT-based Nissans soon after too.
All of them showed signs of CVT pre-failure condition shortly after 100K miles on the clock, BTW.
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fwiw . . .
My mom’s 2014 Civic has a CVT
The severe service schedule calls for services every 25K
Guess what . . . I service the fluid every 25K
And I use genuine Honda fluid
An ounce of prevention . . .
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Not all transmissions are created equally. Possibly Honda is a better build.
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Nissan’s design flaw is exposed minutes 35 to 41
as far as I know, Subaru uses splines, so not subject to this problem
not sure about Honda
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Thank you all for your guidance and advice. I have a bit more info to share, to close off this conversation. The “new” transmission that was installed at 105K miles was indeed a remanufactured part from Infiniti. I have spoken to the dealer who did the work this morning, and they have reiterated there is nothing they can do, and that their quote of $8600 still stands, to put another transmission in. They claim they have not seen a tran fail so soon after install - but given the information out there on this flawed design, I highly doubt I am alone on this. They are essentially telling me I’m on my own now, and told me to call Infiniti Consumer Affairs. I had already done that last week, and despite my flowery, complimentary tone about how much we love the car, I was told they can’t offer any financial relief due to the fact the car is out of warranty, and now at 140K miles. The car is still driveable, it’s only starting to show signs of failure by stalling out or not moving - but the end is near. My plan is to sell it (with full transparency about it’s condition), and buy something else (not Infiniti, ever again). Thanks again for the input - it was helpful.
Since that represents a potential safety issue, I think that you are wise to cut your losses and get rid of it. All-too-many people conceal serious problems with cars that they are dumping, so I salute you for your pledge of full transparency.
You were correct - there was a 12,000 mile warranty on the reman trans they installed. Not much use to me, but it was there.
The “new” unit installed at 105K was indeed a reman from infiniti.
Great video, now I understand Nissan’s CVT problem. Previous threads had folks speculating that it was caused by slippage between the belt and the variable pulleys. This shows it to be an under-designed system that moves the pulley back and forth.
Like you, I’m not sure about Honda, but this helps to show how the design of Subaru’s CVT is very different from that of Nissan’s units:
I don’t mean to rub salt in an open wound, but the fact is your first CVT lasted beyond the stated warranty period and you were still given substantial assistance in replacing it. Your second replacement CVT lasted beyond the stated warranty period. It seems Nissan has done their part to stand behind the products they sell.
In a different vein, we bought a high end washer and dryer. They were warrantied for 12 months. 15 months in the washer needed repairs, come to find out that it is a common failure for Maytag washers, enough so that the parts are on back order. But the washer worked without fail for the 12 months Maytag guaranteed it would. I’m not entitled to any further coverage or remedy for my washer, you’re not entitled to any remedy for your CVT.
Subaru CVTs seem durable, but there does seem to be a pretty high incidence of electronics failures. The shop I used to work at has replaced probably half a dozen valve bodies in the last year or so.
By the letter of the paperwork provided, you are correct. However, the fact we are being told to accept a major appliance failing after 12 months shows how far we’ve fallen in manufacturing reliability over the years, despite the meteoric technological advancements made elsewhere. As for the CVT - Infiniti have no legal obligation to me, and that’s their response. It doesn’t change the fact their design choices failed much too early, hence the multiple class action suits that forced them to alter their warranty in 2017-2018, and again in 2021 for other cars on the CVT platform. Nissan will be held accountable, and it will be expressed in units sold in comparison to other major brands, eventually.
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The video looked interesting but can’t spend 50 minutes looking at the whole thing. Reminded me though I need to change my lawn mower CVT belt before Spring.
Not that it will help you in this matter at all, but every car maker has had design flaws from A to Z. Some of the aftermath is not foreseen during design and production.
Some of it should be foreseen and one of the most glaring examples to me would be early Subaru automatic transmissions. They used a plastic governor drive gear. Logic would dictate that a plastic drive gear pushing along a steel governor driven gear under fluid pressure is not going to last. They lasted through the warranty period…and the customer was left with having to pay for a trans R & R and disassembly to replace that gear with another plastic gear. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Only took them 5 years to realize it was a problem.
It is completely understandable that OP doesn’t intend to buy another Nissan/Infiniti vehicle for the foreseeable future
I realize it’s more of an emotional decision, versus a rational one
But that’s how a lot of decisions are made, and we have to respect that
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Huh? Nissan/Infiniti manufactured and sold a large number of vehicles with known defective transmissions, and was sued for selling this defective product. Their response was to very briefly extend the warranty period and replace any defective transmissions which failed during this slightly extended timeframe with a rebuilt–not new–transmission of the same defective model.
As a result, the OP–and perhaps hundreds of thousands of other people with Nissan/Infiniti vehicles which they purchased in good faith thinking they were buying a quality product–are being forced to pay massive repair costs, or to junk their car long before its expected lifetime is over. You can be sure that none of these people will ever buy a Nissan/Infiniti vehicle again, and frankly they’d have to be a GD fool to even consider it.
That isn’t an “emotional decision”. That is a perfectly rational response to losing thousands (perhaps even tens of thousands) of dollars due to a manufacturer selling a shoddy product and then not standing behind their defective product beyond the minimum which a court would force them to do.
This behavior on the part of Nissan/Infiniti is really shortsighted, because people talk, and unhappy customers talk to their friends and family. Not only has Nissan/Infiniti lost everyone who got stuck with a failed CVT as a customer for life, but they have probably lost these peoples’ friends and family too. But oh, they will still have millions of dollars to spend, cluttering up TV, radio, and Youtube with ads for their supposedly-innovative new cars.
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Granted the cvt is an issue, had a lyft driver saying he would never buy another gmc because his model, the same as mine, every one he knew with the same model the trans went out at 180k. I did not go into maintenance etc. that is the way some people ride. I was thinking I’ll be good, car will be 20 years old by then! Did do trans fluid at 30k as it was tan, bought used with 27k, not sure how much towing etc. was done.
This is just my personal opinion but here goes. I do not feel that a lawsuit or the settlement of a class action suit means for one second there is a factory fault.
It simply means that the manufacturer looks at things from a financial perspective and decides to settle it for this reason (s). The judge and jury are no doubt non mechanically inclined. They will no doubt look at it as matter of Goliath trampling little David into the dirt and will likely think of themselves as possibly other little Davids.
It’s cheaper to settle than risk a 500 million judgment which would then go to years of appeals.
In this case the OP chose the reman route with no warranty and as I have mentioned, some reman parts and the people who reman them may be on thin ice when it comes to aptitude. Even a brand new factory unit would not have a 30k miles warranty on it but would likely still be operating; and due for a fluid change. In this case the OP apparently never changed the fluid on the original so there is some fault there.
A friend of mine (going on 50 years as a full time indy trans shop and very sharp has told me that almost every trans problem or outright failure he has ever seen was caused by…
- Not changing the fluid regularly.
- Leaks leading the fluid loss, overheating, slipping.
- The rarer cases of wrong fluid or an inadequate refill.
One has to objectively think which one applies; or which ones. Just my 2 cents which may be at odds.
OP here, and definitely not a mechanic. Not sure why you choose to ignore the volume of complaints and judgements against Nissan/Infiniti on this specific issue, but it’s a bit frustrating, especially when you post your own facts and not mine. I never “chose” the reman transmission. I took the vehicle back to the dealer I bought it from, they said it’s needs a new transmission, the work was ordered and completed. I only discovered it was a reman unit when told it also is failing last week. By the way, the total mileage I quoted was wrong - the vehicle is at 128K, which means the replaced unit started failing after 23K miles. As to your other points, this vehicle had regular scheduled service since I bought it, including all fluids. Nissan Consumer Affairs told me the part had a 12,000 mile warranty, no relief can be offered, so I am SOL. Hope this clears up your confusion. I totally agree Nissan has no obligation to do anything, as the fine print of parts and service outline the minimal commitment to quality. So yes, I won’t be offering up Nissan any more of my consumer dollars, as it is the very least I can do given the zero leverage I have. Make sense?
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I doubt you had a choice, at that age manufactures generally only offer remanufactured transmissions.