Post by
danjomulh »
https://forums.nicoclub.com/danjomulh-u271436.html
Thu Jan 26, 2017 8:42 pm
This happened to me a few weeks ago. Went out to my car after work one night. It was dark, late, and the roads were quickly turning to ice and I was not looking forward to the drive home. Previous nights like this have taken me in excess of 90 minutes to go 10 miles. We were told to stay off the roads, but I hadn't been able to get home yet despite closing up shop early in the name of safety. The FOB unlocked my doors, all the lights powered on, but I couldn't in the slightest get my car to start. Absolutely no attempt at starting as I hit the Start button. It wouldn't click to ACC or ON, and it also didn't seem to recognize my key (or spare key) in order to start my car... which was odd, being that I could use it to lock and unlock my doors. I inserted it in the FOB holder, and the Start button did nothing. Just a key indicator telling me to remove the key, and then the security light flashing on the dash. I cussed the car out as ice and snow fell, sitting alone in the parking lot at work, not able to feel my now freezing hands. I called roadside and was told it could be a few hours to get a tow. Couldn't even get the heater on to stay warm, and every business nearby was closed due to the ice. I started to freak a bit, wondering what it'd feel like to freeze to death.
Got a ride from a brave coworker who came back for me (who also drives a Nissan, go figure!), made it home ever so slowly, and I researched the hell out of the issue. All signs pointed to ESCL failure. A safety/security feature that was known my Nissan to fail to the point that they extended the warranty on that part for some extra years, but my 2009 didn't fit the failure timeframe. Nevermind that my car had only 45000 miles on it. I now owned a paperweight.
So I got a rental the next day, dealt with getting around, called my dealership and they said it'd be roughly $1100 to repair "IF" that was the issue. I was not pleased, but I took it in stride and told them I might call them back.
After doing a lot of self-diagnosis, reading forums, watching YouTube's, and confirming that the steering column lock was the issue, I went back to work the next day and took off the bottom dash housing, found the readily accessible part, and started banging the hell out of it with a wrench to get the locking pin to drop. Took me 10 minutes, but the car finally let me switch to ACC mode. I stopped breathing and just held my breath. Pushed the clutch in, hit Start one more time and the engine started, good and strong.
I drove it, and it worked just fine. I parked it, left the car running, locked the doors, and walked back into work to do some more research before attempting to turn it off. I had heard that pulling the fuse for the ESCL to keep it from engaging was a good fix, and so... I did.
It's started every time, ever since. But I don't have the same peace-of-mind that I used to. This is a car with less than 50K miles on it, fully maintained, but this one part is enough from keeping you from starting your car. I don't consider this a wear'n'tear issue, but a straight-up safety issue. I've read hundreds of complaints about this by now, and that Nissan is unwilling to replace this part at their cost for the life of the vehicle... that's just not good business practice. Someone will die from this one day when they are stranded in the middle of nowhere in extreme weather.
I've been going back and forth with Nissan Consumer Affairs about it. We've played phone tag for the past week, being that every time I call, it goes to VM. I'm told to leave a detailed message, that the rep is on the phone most of the day so they may not be able to take my call, but hey... I'm a working man and can't wait by the phone 8 hours a day for an incoming call. I told them via VM and email that all I need to know is if Nissan is willing to fix the part at their cost, or if they won't do it unless it's at my cost, and to let me know... and I'm told via VM that they have to tell me their decision verbally. And so I wait. I told them to try me on Monday as I plan on having my phone on me the entire day with the ringer set to high, though I'm sure I know the answer. I've got no hate for the customer service rep, but this angers me. I've owned multiple Nissans, purchased from the dealership, learned to drive on a Nissan, my father and grandfather both owned Nissans, but this is not cool.
So for the time being... my car starts. It drives great. It's fun to drive, but I have no peace of mind now. The resale value and security of my car is affected. I vow to never buy Nissan again once I'm done with this car. They can take their $4B in pure profits from last year and shove it.