I had filed a compliant about the power steering cut out about 6 months ago.

 

Just filed a complaint about my alternator!

Your Complaint Information is successfully submitted.
Your Confirmation number (ODI Number) is: 1008****

 

I just filed mine too. There are 7 with 2003 models and 2 with 2004 models. Has to be more than nine of us out there that had bad alternators. Jeff

 

yes , that's the reaosn why i request the admin to post this...

There are around 100 owners voted for the poll.
30% failure rate, so there should be around 33 - 40 of us.
How come there are only 9 at present?

I am personally can testify on this 'NTHSA-complain filing' thing do works. My previous cars has a defect on it and ppl in the forum complained. After around 35 - 50 complains, NTHSA innitiate investigations and proof that it is indeed a defect.
Dealers have to send out recalls, call in cars that are effected in phase, reimburse expenses including all towing and necessary lodgings.

This will also make nissan aware that there is a bunch of us who cares on their brand image, instead of hiding defects like mitsubishi.

For those whose alternatorhas been replaced, who knows you can get reimbursment in the end for towing/lodging etc.

It is just a simple click away.
Please vote~

 

NHTSA Called

These complaints to the NHTSA mean something. I just received a call from John Ridgley at the NHTSA who is investigating the problem. He asked how I knew the alternator failed and what the car did when it failed (did it stop immediately - no, it ran until the battery died then went into failsafe mode) and whether the manufacturer of the new alternator was different than the original (which I do not know). So, lets get those complaints in now while the investigation is in progress.

Bob

 

Thank you for sharing...now here is my rants:

Forum members who have not file the complain please kindly do so. You can make a difference!

Here is the 8 reasons why you should file the complain:
----
1.
You will help forum members whose murano has not suffered the alternator failure <prevention>

2.
You will help nissan not to be mitsubishi #2 which hides defects and in the end lost a majority of its customers. If you are a nissan anthusiast, surely this means something.

3.
You will get refunds from nissan of north america (NNA) on all cost incurred when you have had your alternator failed and when you were being stranded in the middle of nowhere (hotels, towing, rentals etc)

4.
Let say your alternator had failed and it was replaced. Fine~.
But in near future, what is the guarantee this new replacment alternator will not fail you again? None!
Consider this:
IF NTHSA forced nissan to issue a recall and the replacement alt of yours do fail *after* the basic warranty expired, you will have a stronger case to claim for a free-of-charge repair. The so called "known-defect" of the alternator will be in accordance to NTHSA investigation and it will be very difficult for NNA to turn-down the claim.

5.
You will help nissan to bump up its consumer report scores.
Having well known defect on alternator is bad enough for reliability reviews. Bad reliability make the resale price of murano go downhill couple years from now, especially when you want to trade your murano in. How many visitors to this forum have changed their mind not to buy a murano because of all this buzz of alternator defect stuff?

6.
You spent $30K+ for the murano and yet you are afraid to take it on the road for long roadtrip because the alternator may fail you.
Yet, you call your credit card company and try to negotiate for lower APR. Might as well, pay off those loans with the $15K and buy a hyundai with 10yrs/10K miles warranty with the change. It is your money, NNA should earn it~

7.
If your alternator fails (or fails again), and let say your daughter or wife is driving the murano on highway. It will be inherently dangerous as the engine looses power and the batery discharges. It can be hit by another car when all-of-sudden the murano come to a stop/halt on the fast lanes.

8.
This is for those of you who do mods i.e engine mod, audio visual system, navsystem, hid retrofit, etc that involve drawing power from the batery.
If your alternator fails, will a few shady dealers try to blame it on your mods? No warranty work! Because you install those DVD player in the murano. Causing current overload and the alternator failure. Yada yada...

Now people, have i open your eyes?
Please, file the complain:2:
As of 10/13/2004 there are only 24 complains with NTHSA...
Where are the other 31 who votes in this poll ?!!

 

It took me 4 Min. and 32 sec. to fill mine out, not much time at all. There should be no reason why anyone else with an alternator problem cannot do a simple less than 5min complaint!!!

 

Have your VIN# handy

It took me 4 Min. and 32 sec. to fill mine out, not much time at all. There should be no reason why anyone else with an alternator problem cannot do a simple less than 5min complaint!!!

With almost 5K miles, I have not had the alternator problem yet (but I know it is coming...isn't that the pits?). I have been to the site for another complaint though (the steering problem) so I know they need the VIN number. I did not have it on me the first time so I had to go back later and that delayed my complaint by a few days. So folks, my advice is to have that number with you when you go to the site. You will save time by not haveing to go back and better yet, will eliminate the possibility of forgetting to go back.

 

Cant complete NHTSA form

Maybe the reason there aren't that many complaints filed is that the form is impossible to complete for the Murano.
Your drop down choices for Vehicle Model on the form are only Frontier XE and Maxima GLE. There's no way to enter Murano as a choice.
Has anyone else encountered this problem?

 

KRIS, you are right....

I just gave it a try and there are no Nissan Murano
Funny, around a month ago, there WAS the option to choose " nissan murano" from their combo box.

I am going to call NTHSA IT to ask them about that.

Thank you for sharing

 

As of 11/6/2004, the nthsa form does not have nissan murano in the combo box ..

hence we can not file a complain for a murano? It looks like that for the 2003 and 2004 model year, we can only file a complain for nissan maxima and frontier...

Anyone with alternator failure on their MO care to call NTHSA and ask why? Their phone number is: 1-888-327-4236.
I dont have my alt failure yet, so if i call to inquire on this, it will sound weird to the operator.

Glad to know that DOT NTHSA start to take action.

 

Got a call back today from the NHTSA a few minutes ago, following up on a message I left them regarding your post. While on the phone, he checked the site and saw that only the Maxima and Frontier were listed under Nissan autos. He said he would write a letter to the appropriate department to let them know. Thanks for the post.

 

zofsuvs....thank you so much...

I will keep checking on the nthsa form..Who knows it will be fixed in a day or two...thank you Zofsuvs

I just wish an NNA employee is not reading this forum.
But , in the case that he is, here is what i want to say:

" I have no grudge or hard feeling with NNA. Belief me Nissan makes good car. My Dad has a nissan for off roading, I have a nissan and my gf is thinking of buying an infiniti. I persistently asking forum members to file complains with NTHSA on the alternator because I dont want NNA to be mitsubishi #2. If you want your brand to be respected, then do it like the European Brands. They have defects and recalls, but they are not shy in sending out letters to customers and proactively schedule free fixes. So far with Nissan, it seems that I know more TSBs than my dealer does. And this is because i am a member of this good forum. You know, no single vehicle is perfect, but burying problems will rot you one day."

 

All true. The dealer are the worst I have ever seen and after over 40+ vehicles (all new) I have seen a bunch but never any as bad as a group as the Nissan Nasty Nerds. GRIP

 

print the NHTSA form and then fill it out. then mail it in. snail mail works.

 

Re: zofsuvs....thank you so much...

" I have no grudge or hard feeling with NNA. Belief me Nissan makes good car. My Dad has a nissan for off roading, I have a nissan and my gf is thinking of buying an infiniti. I persistently asking forum members to file complains with NTHSA on the alternator because I dont want NNA to be mitsubishi #2. If you want your brand to be respected, then do it like the European Brands. They have defects and recalls, but they are not shy in sending out letters to customers and proactively schedule free fixes. So far with Nissan, it seems that I know more TSBs than my dealer does. And this is because i am a member of this good forum. You know, no single vehicle is perfect, but burying problems will rot you one day."

Well said. I agree whole heartedly. This would be a great car if they fixed the following:

Extremely Thin paint - Chips Ahoy!
Rocking Driver seat (Reported: TSB fixed)
Steering linkage clunk (Reported: TSB fixed)
Vertical Smear lines on front door windows (Reported: TSB - did not fix)
Every door creaks (Reported 3+ times: TSB - did not fix)
Sunroof retracting distance (Reported: Not fixed)
Squeal from brakes when driving in reverse (Not Reported Yet:I think there is a TSB)

I'm waiting for the alternator to go (How many proud car owners look for red lights on the dash daily?)
-----
Wait...wait....I have more, but I am just trying to prove a point: This is a good car, not a great car. Please fix some/all of these issues with a public announcement admitting that these are known problems that you want to proactively fix.

Perhaps I am being too optimistic, but then again I am of the mindset that you can fix things even when they are not broken. In my mind it is disgraceful to ignore things when YOU KNOW they are broken.

Another thing that I am discontent with is the fact that Nissan continuously sends surveys to my house, calls me to follow up with me on them indicating what number means GREAT service and what number means POOR service. Then when they get my honest opinion back requesting that the dealer/service department MGMT calls me back to discuss the exact issues I had with my experience I never receive a return phone call. Also I can call the dealer and leave a message with either of these parties, but will never receive a follow up.

At Ford I used to gladly give the service dept. MGMT a gift certificate/bottle of wine and a letter at Christmas time thanking them for providing me with the level of service that I expect. I did not have to bribe them with this, instead they met my level of expectations the first time and I returned the favor.

Santa is giving WEST HILLS NISSAN coal for Christmas.

But I digress... :2:

 

NHTSA has fixed the online form, murano can be complained...

Detail on the thread is here:
http://www.nissanmurano.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3230

On 11-19-2004 onwards, you can go ahead and file complains on murano's alternator with NHTSA.

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/

 

Re: NHTSA has fixed the online form, murano can be complained...

Detail on the thread is here:
http://www.nissanmurano.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3230

On 11-19-2004 onwards, you can go ahead and file complains on murano's alternator with NHTSA.

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/

NHTSA has two options under 2003 Murano 1- Mutipurpose passenger car and 2- Any

With the same options for 2004, now there are 4 locations where the complaints can end up in, and unless one searches all 4 places and adds them together, the numbers will look much less that what they are. I have one question:

WHY ARE THEY MAKING THIS SO DIFFICULT???? :3:

 

how did you get daytime driving lights????

 

how did you get daytime driving lights????

I have heard that dealer can program it in but I used the info in this thread and just installed a couple of relays:

http://www.nissanmurano.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2050

Good luck!

 

I just filed my complaint:

Complaint Information
Description : (1) Two days of driving on and off road in Death Valley National Park, during which this failure would have been beyond catastrophic. (2) The "charge system failure" idiot light illuminated on the way home, just 20-30 miles out of DV on Wednesday morning, and miraculously I was able to drive all the way to the nearest service in Mojave CA on the battery alone, the alternator having failed. After verifying the failure with a volt-meter and recharging in Mojave, I drove west towards the nearest Nissan dealership, and fell short by just 11 miles when I lost all power on west bound highway 58 on the outskirts of Bakersfield CA. AAA towed my family and I the rest of the way into the dealership. (3) Bakersfield Nissan replaced the alternator in about 3 hours and sent us on our way back home to northern california.
Incident Date : 12/29/2004 Fire : No
Num. Failures : 1 Property Damage : No
Num. Deaths : 0 Crash : No
Num. Injured : 0 Police Report : No
Referral Source : INTERNET OTHER SITE
top

Vehicle Information
VIN : JN8AZ08W63W226410 Purchase Date : 1/2/2004
Manufacturer : NISSAN NORTH AMERICA, INC.
Year, Make
and Model : 2003/NISSAN/MURANO Original Owner : Yes
# of Cylinders : 6 Trans. Type : AUTOMATIC
Engine Size : 3.5L VehicleDetails Usage : RECREATIONAL
Cruise Control : Yes Antilock Brakes : Yes
Current Mileage : 34378 Speed : 70
Failure Mileage : 34129 Powertrain : ALL WHEEL DRIVE
Body Style : SUV Fuel System : FUEL INJECTION
Fuel Type : GAS Vehicle Type : MULTIPURPOSE PASSENGER VEHICLE



Vehicle Component Information
Component 1: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:ALTERNATOR/GENERATOR/REGULATOR OEM: Yes

Vehicle Dealer Information
Dealer Dealer : 1
Name : Nissan of Bakersfield Dealer Type : SERVICE DEALER
Address : 3101 Cattle Drive

Bakersfield
CA 93313
Dealer Phone: 661-835-8600 Dealer Fax:
Email:
Dealer Dealer : 2
Name : Stevens Creek Nissan Dealer Type : SALES DEALER
Address : 3855 Stevens Creek Blvd.

Santa Clara
CA 95051
Dealer Phone: 866-272-6206 Dealer Fax:
Email:

 

Starting off the "Top Ten Worst Places to have your alternator fail" list...

 

Nice Picture stitch! Glad you got fixed so fast.

 

Glad you're all okay, MightyMo. I understand the first run to the service station (lucky you made it!), but I probably would have asked for a tow from there and not risked driving to the dealership.

 

MightyMO,

sorry to hear about the failure...

You are killing me with these pictures! What camera did you use? How did you stich them? It seems that if you used manual exposure mode the exposures of each frame would be more closely match.....

NEED TO GO WEST, I REALLY DO!!!!!!!