[Eric L.]

Jaak... That pyro!

Actually Eric can do whatever he likes! At the time he wasn't a Moderator, so someone else had to do it and I figured a post or a PM to me would flag me to do it.

But now Eric can do it, I think it makes a lot of sense to change it. Or change it to Moderator... whatever.

Ok I've changed it.

 

[jaak]

Me too... I highlighted part of it in red.

Maybe that will help as well...

Right now, I'd rather have a failed alternator than a leaky CVT!

 

[zofsuvs]

I highlighted part of it in red.

Maybe that will help as well...

I'm starting to think our push to get more people to vote is not doing what we expected. As more people have voted, the percentage of people reporting an alternator failure has just continued to increase... currently at 48%.

Now I believe the consensus is that that number can't really be reflective of the greater population, especially since Nissan's report to the DOT suggested only 1 or 2% failures. Even if Nissan's numbers are plain wrong, it's still hard to believe half the alternators are failing.

(And, no, the number of "Yes" votes in the poll is not out of the total members in this forum. It's out of the combined total who voted "Yes" or "No" in the poll.)

This poll has been around for over a year, and we still have only a couple of hundred votes.

I've suggested before that we should create some sort of poll which allowed for multiple questions, to avoid the skewing inherent in a one-question poll.

And if that's not possible, how about trying a poll which simply asks "Are you a member of this forum?" or "Have you ever voted in a poll before?", etc., then count how many people vote at all. Then maybe we can tell how many active members there really are.

Or is there any way to know how many different members have actually posted within a period of time? Perhaps from that we could get a sense of what percentage of those actively posting have participated in the poll.

Still, it's not going to be very scientific. But no matter what spin you put on the numbers, the percentage of failures in this poll is certainly startling, especially when compared with the results of the Failed CVT poll.

 

[Eric L.]

I'm starting to think our push to get more people to vote is not doing what we expected. As more people have voted, the percentage of people reporting an alternator failure has just continued to increase... currently at 48%.

Now I believe the consensus is that that number can't really be reflective of the greater population, especially since Nissan's report to the DOT suggested only 1 or 2% failures. Even if Nissan's numbers are plain wrong, it's still hard to believe half the alternators are failing.

(And, no, the number of "Yes" votes in the poll is not out of the total members in this forum. It's out of the combined total who voted "Yes" or "No" in the poll.)

This poll has been around for over a year, and we still have only a couple of hundred votes.

I've suggested before that we should create some sort of poll which allowed for multiple questions, to avoid the skewing inherent in a one-question poll.

And if that's not possible, how about trying a poll which simply asks "Are you a member of this forum?" or "Have you ever voted in a poll before?", etc., then count how many people vote at all. Then maybe we can tell how many active members there really are.

Or is there any way to know how many different members have actually posted within a period of time? Perhaps from that we could get a sense of what percentage of those actively posting have participated in the poll.

Still, it's not going to be very scientific. But no matter what spin you put on the numbers, the percentage of failures in this poll is certainly startling, especially when compared with the results of the Failed CVT poll.

I am not sure a poll to find out who isn't answering polls is going to work. If more people simply knew about the alt. failure poll, they would vote on it. There are a lot of members here who register but don't post and have not had much activity on the message board. Thats why I think among the thousands of registered users, only a couple hundred (the active ones) have voted.

 

[zofsuvs]

That's what I'm wondering, how many active members there are. Are there only a couple of hundred over the course of a year?

And how do we get more people to know about the poll? Seems we're "stickied" out!

 

[zofsuvs]

Okay. I created a "Please Vote" thread (link). Let's see if that helps at all.

 

[Ohio Murano]

Only have 3300 miles but zofsuvs wanted everyone to vote so I did.

 

[zofsuvs]

That's cool, Ohio. Thanks. We're really just trying to get everyone to weigh in. You can always change your vote later if necessary. (Hopefully not!) Anyway, we've already had failures at 3000, 1938, 1795, 1274, 1000, and 500 miles. So at 3300, you certainly qualify for a vote!

Looks like the failure percentage is already heading down in the poll. Let's see where it ends up if we continue to get more votes.

 

[lilbit_cmm]

I'm still one of the lucky ones. 37k and no failure. Born on date: Feb'03.

Knock on wood... :25: Lil' Bit

 

[zofsuvs]

To follow up on how many active members there are, I did a search for who has posted on this forum since 5/25/2004 when Eric L. started the poll.

Currently, 1,053 members have posted since then.

 

[GMTURBO43]

I haven't been following the thread as it hasn't been a problem for me (but I know the warning signs). I did finally vote 'No'.

 

[zofsuvs]

I haven't been following the thread as it hasn't been a problem for me (but I know the warning signs).

And for those who haven't heard, the main warning sign is: Brake and Battery(Charge) lights on together. You're driving on borrowed time thereafter.

 

[wxman]

MO in the shop today to replace the failed alternator. I asked the service tech if the replacement alternator is made by the same manufacture and if so have they taken any action to correct the problem. He was not sure. Has there been a redesign of the alternators from the 04 model year? Does Nissan still uses the same manufacture for the alternators?

Thanx,
wxman

 

[Eric L.]

MO in the shop today to replace the failed alternator. I asked the service tech if the replacement alternator is made by the same manufacture and if so have they taken any action to correct the problem. He was not sure. Has there been a redesign of the alternators from the 04 model year? Does Nissan still uses the same manufacture for the alternators?

Thanx,
wxman

Yes they are all Hitachi alternators. But the part numbers have changed in 2005 I think. The updated parts have an "E" in the part number, and all warranty replacement parts also have an "R" on it, standing for "remanfactured."

 

[zofsuvs]

Eric, since we're off directly people to your poll, would you consider adding a line to your first post with a "Brake and Battery lights" warning?

I was just searching through old posts at Ed*****.com on alternator failures, and came across someone who lost his driver's side mirror by a hit and run driver after he crawled to the side of the road due to an alternator failure. Apparently he wasn't aware of the warning lights and the impending loss of power. That was over a year ago. I wonder if something a lot worse has already happened to someone and we just don't know about it.

 

[Eric L.]

Eric, since we're off directly people to your poll, would you consider adding a line to your first post with a "Brake and Battery lights" warning?

I was just searching through old posts at Ed*****.com on alternator failures, and came across someone who lost his driver's side mirror by a hit and run driver after he crawled to the side of the road due to an alternator failure. Apparently he wasn't aware of the warning lights and the impending loss of power. That was over a year ago. I wonder if something a lot worse has already happened to someone and we just don't know about it.

Ok I'll add the reference, along with your post.

 

[zofsuvs]

Thanks Eric. About all we can do now is get the word out.

 

[psrome]

I am in too!

I thought I was safe with my alternator making it to 60,000 miles. I guess not. On the hottest day of the year my alt. went out going up a hill and was forced to wait for a friend and a new battery. Luckily my eight year old daughter kept my sane in the heat. I am looking to sell the Murano and buy a Honda Pilot. I should've done that in 2003.

psrome

 

[zofsuvs]

Sorry to hear that, psrome. Don't forget to vote in the poll if you haven't done so, and to file a complaint with the NHTSA (see link below).

It's too bad when people get discouraged about their Muranos after these failures. I really think if Nissan would just do the recall, however costly it may be, it would improve their reputation and help sales in the long run.

 

[drealt]

Failure Plus

I have not only had my alternator fail twice within a year, but my car acts like its haunted. I get the driver door lock when I exit the car off and on. But some days I go out and find the passenger window down. Even stranger I will find the passenger and driver windows down 2-3 inches equally. I guess it would start driving itself if the alternator did not go bad.