Nissan Gives 10-Year CVT Warranty to All Vehicles?

[kerrton]

Anyone hear this? I've read it from 3 different sources today alone, that on Oct. 30th Nissan announced that all vehicles from 2003 to present will have a 10 year, 120,000 miles warranty on the CVT, retroactive to the original date of purchase.

I've tried to find the official press release, but haven't had any luck. Can anyone help me out? If this is true, this is BIG news, and Nissan would most definately win back the loyalty of a lot of customers - 2003 Murano owners come to mind first, since they were stuck as guinnea pigs for first generation CVT's that were complete crap......

[mcheddadi]

even with a 10 year warranty I bet they won't bother buying a nissan after their car . I bet just hearing CVT makes them have nightmares lool

[kerrton]

I have confirmation from the dealer (Sherwood Nissan near Edmonton Alberta are AWESOME), I quote:"I just finished talking to the service manager here and he has informed me that Nissan has extended the warranty on all CVT’s to a 10yr 200,000km warranty. As far as vehicles made in 2011- he is not sure what they are going to provide as a warranty, as they have not mentioned anything about this."

[anthonyle2002]

I sure hope this is right. I'm at 25k and I think there is something wrong with my CVT. I'll be on cruise control on the freeway and it feels as if my transmission is slipping. I know we don't have any gears but thats what it feels like. Anyone have this happening too or something similar?

[kerrton]

It's absolutely true, here's the official site with all the information you need. Congratulations, you've all got a 10 year warranty, way to go Nissan! And, any CVT replacements that were paid out of pocket will now be reimbursed 100%!

http://www.nissanassist.com/index.php?menu=1

[1125Altima3.5]

It's absolutely true, here's the official site with all the information you need. Congratulations, you've all got a 10 year warranty, way to go Nissan! And, any CVT replacements that were paid out of pocket will now be reimbursed 100%!

http://www.nissanassist.com/index.php?menu=1

I'd like to know what caused them this sudden change of heart. They go from claiming "everything is normal, nothing to see here" to doubling the warranty length.

Smart move though - Nissan is pretty much hitching its horse to the CVT and they will be screwed if customers start refusing to buy CVTs due to reliability concerns.

[kerrton]

I think you got it backwards, by extending the warranty to 10 years, they're saying "everything is normal/great, the CVT is extremely reliable and to prove it we'll give it the best warranty in the business, we're that confident that it is a reliable trouble free component and will be so over the long term."

This proves the CVT is reliable, not that it has problems. If it was problematic they wouldn't be able to afford to give this warranty to millions of vehicles.

[1125Altima3.5]

I think you got it backwards, by extending the warranty to 10 years, they're saying "everything is normal/great, the CVT is extremely reliable and to prove it we'll give it the best warranty in the business, we're that confident that it is a reliable trouble free component and will be so over the long term."

This proves the CVT is reliable, not that it has problems. If it was problematic they wouldn't be able to afford to give this warranty to millions of vehicles.

That's one way to look at it. Another way to look at it is that Nissan can't afford lost sales due to questions about CVT reliability, so they offer a warranty to make prospective buyers more comfortable (and then deny the warranty claims 5 years later when something goes wrong).

[kerrton]

No question about it, it's definately a desperate attempt at damage control by addressing perceptions about the reliability of the CVT, it's not about addressing real issues but rather perceptions.

For example, if a Ford transmission dies after a couple years, they rebuild it on warranty and people talk, chaulk it up to "bad luck" or something like that, and continue on their way. If a CVT fails under similar circumstances, people say "the CVT is a bad design, Nissan made a mistake, and I won't buy another CVT vehicle ever because the technology is crap". But the Ford guy with transmission trouble would never say "I'll never buy another conventional transmission, because the design is crap, and I have proof - my transmission died after two years so I'm going to spread the word that conventional transmission's are to be avoided".

So the CVT is not given a fair chance because it's a newer technology, but I think from the rough data I've looked at, Jatco CVT's have better reliability than Ford and Chrysler conventional transmission's, each dealer has at least one full time transmission guy who does nothing but work on convetional transmission's, which means that they have lots of troubles, it's just a fact of life.

So Nissan providing a 10-year warranty is really a great move, it benefits an owner like me with peace of mind, better re-sale value (if I sell before 10 years I'll be playing up that warranty for sure), and of course no big costs for transmission work.

As for Nissan denying warranty work, I'm not sure where you're coming from on that one, I had my 08 Rogue CVT replaced shortly after purchasing and it was treated as "no big deal" by my dealer, and it was a quick half day job and I've had nothing but perfection out of the vehicle since then. Nissan Canada was excellent, although I have heard that Nissan USA has a slightly less shiny reputation.

[1125Altima3.5]

No question about it, it's definately a desperate attempt at damage control by addressing perceptions about the reliability of the CVT, it's not about addressing real issues but rather perceptions.

That's a pretty bold statement unless you have access to the Nissan's warranty repair records. Do you know what the rate and mode of CVT failure/replacement is? Unless you do, you can't really say with any certainty what's motivating the new warranty.

I don't think Ford and Chrysler are the peers that Nissan is aiming to match. If they are, then I most definitely will not be buying another Nissan after this one!

[Micron]

No question about it, it's definately a desperate attempt at damage control by addressing perceptions about the reliability of the CVT, it's not about addressing real issues but rather perceptions.

For example, if a Ford transmission dies after a couple years, they rebuild it on warranty and people talk, chaulk it up to "bad luck" or something like that, and continue on their way. If a CVT fails under similar circumstances, people say "the CVT is a bad design, Nissan made a mistake, and I won't buy another CVT vehicle ever because the technology is crap". But the Ford guy with transmission trouble would never say "I'll never buy another conventional transmission, because the design is crap, and I have proof - my transmission died after two years so I'm going to spread the word that conventional transmission's are to be avoided".

So the CVT is not given a fair chance because it's a newer technology, but I think from the rough data I've looked at, Jatco CVT's have better reliability than Ford and Chrysler conventional transmission's, each dealer has at least one full time transmission guy who does nothing but work on convetional transmission's, which means that they have lots of troubles, it's just a fact of life.

http://en.wakopedia.org/wiki/Continuous ... ansmission

CVTs are hardly "new" technology... Their implementation in passenger vehicles is the only new idea.

Not sure how much the transmission extension is going to help me... Barely 2 years old, and I've recently capped 80K w/ ZERO problems...

[Rob.Vegan]

80k in 2 years

[1125Altima3.5]

CVTs are hardly "new" technology... Their implementation in passenger vehicles is the only new idea.

That's kind of like saying that universal health care isn't a new idea..it's just a new implementation in the United States - point is that large-run manufacturing is a completely different from putting a drawing to paper.

If nissan gets this right in passenger cars cross its whole line, it'll be the first car manufacturer to do so.

[Micron]

Yes, it's like your analogy... The first large-run manufacturing in passenger vehicles, correct. CVTs have been used in heavy construction equipment for decades, as pointed out by my father back when I first got my A/C and was talking up the CVT to him.

The biggest reliability issue with them is that the individual components are built of the right materials to the right tolerances to handle the expected load. If they can handle crazy amounts of torque and hp in giant rock trucks and the like, I'm sure Nissan can get it right in our tiny cars!

Yup, 80K and going strong... My fiancee matched for her residency here in MD, so we're going to be staying. That said, I've kinda become a traitor, hence my ceasing the pursuit of modding my A/C.

We're selling her Cobalt, she's taking my A/C. I'm getting a 4 door, been looking at everything from Maximas to Bimmer M3 sedans, but keep coming back to the EVO X, since I owned an EVO 8 back when they first came to the US. As her med school graduation present/wedding gift, she'll be getting a black cherry 370z roadster... And I've already nabbed up a black 370 coupe, to which will be my weekend/project car.

[heysteve]

that is really good news. here is a very interesting article on how the cvt pairs up against normal transmissions. makes me proud to be a cvt owner http://auto.howstuffworks.com/cvt5.htm

[1125Altima3.5]

that is really good news. here is a very interesting article on how the cvt pairs up against normal transmissions. makes me proud to be a cvt owner http://auto.howstuffworks.com/cvt5.htm

Sound Clip of dying CVT

How many of you would be willing to live with that sound coming out of your transmission? One of Nissan's senior technicians drove my car yesterday, heard the noise and wrote "no abnormal noises" on my repair invoice. I don't care how long the warranty is - I don't want to drive a car making that kind of noise.

[kerrton]

Nobody expects you to live with a noisy, dying transmission, this isn't an issue with Nissan but rather an issue with a bad technician who is too dumb to recognize an obvious problem. If you brought your car to my service department they wouldn't need to leave the parking lot to id the problem and they'd have a new CVT ordered for you 10 minutes later.

I know because I had this happen to me with my FWD Rogue, and he literally drove it for 10 seconds before saying "yep, this is a problem, we'll replace the CVT". 18 months later and thousans of km's and the transmission is running smooth and dead silent.

So what you need is a second assessment from a tech who doesn't have his head up his butt, and then your problem will get fixed. It isn't really related to the 10 year warranty issue.

[kerrton]

That is the worst sound I've heard by far. When I had my CVT replaced I only had a very minor grinding sound and only at slow parking lot speeds.

So in your sound clip, how fast are you going, and is it consistent throttle? I find it really hard to believe that a tech heard this sound and said it was normal, somebody is bs'ing here because even the dumbest tech can obvisously see there is a major problem, that CVT sounds like it's ready to fall apart and fail completely.

[1125Altima3.5]

Nobody expects you to live with a noisy, dying transmission, this isn't an issue with Nissan but rather an issue with a bad technician who is too dumb to recognize an obvious problem. If you brought your car to my service department they wouldn't need to leave the parking lot to id the problem and they'd have a new CVT ordered for you 10 minutes later.

That's the thing - it wasn't a normal tech...it was one of those DTS "super techs" whose only job is to troubleshoot serious problems. He heard the noise, then called out another field tech. The second tech heard the noise on the road, but when we listened to the noise on a lift he said "no abnormal sounds." The suspicious thing is that he brake-torqued the transmission 3 times right before putting the car on the lift: I think he was trying to heat up the transmission and make the noise go away temporarily. (I noticed and stupidly told him that the noise is softer after you've been driving for a while.)

This entire experience has left a horrible taste in my mouth about Nissan and its products. So I would advise everyone to think very carefully about buying a Nissan.

Next step if they don't do something about this is to start sending the sound clips to the major car sites. (Jalopnik, AutoBlog, TheTruthAboutCars, etc.) If I have to live with this POS then at least I can save other people from going through the same experience.