[Jim C]

Hey all:

I've been enjoying my new Murano since the end of April when it was delivered. I'm now past the break-in period. I've since towed my bass boat with it and the car runs like a champ. While I can tell the 2,000 pound rig is behind me, there's more confidence in the Murano's ability than the wife's minivan with tow package. The four wheel disc brakes also are a huge plus helping to haul down the rig from speed quickly and safely.

The only real glitch I've run into happened last night. For the first time, I felt the dreaded loss of power steering feel. Driving in the parking lot of the local Target, I pulled the wheel to one side quickly to catch a turn and then back again. It was on the return swerve that I felt the power steering fade for a very short time. I tried it again with a less severe swerve and it was there again. Bummer. I was hoping that this was a problem not as widespread as reported.

In any event, does anyone have info on whether Nissan plans to retrofit a more powerful power steering pump into existing vehicles? I read somewhere on this list that there were rumors that Nissan was going to fix this in the '05's. Since there isn't a major redesign of the vehicle planned in for '05, you would think they could fix this potentially hazardous fault!

Other than than, I'm still truly enjoying the car! Decent floor mats (rubber with channels to hold slush, dirt, grime, water, etc. are next on the wish list!

 

[hfelknor]

have had the problem appear several times.

I am an old fashioned parallel parker.
I've been doing it for over 50 years.

I'm very, very good at it.

But my technique required that you go from full lock right to full lock left........NOW..... and then back to straight ahead.
When I did that I would lose power steering....it would make me lose the ideal angle and although I never hit the car I was parking behind, nor run the Murano up on the curb.........I could have.

Now, Nissan has retrained me.
I have had to change the way I PP.
And I am not as confident in the slower, gentler way, therefore I don't do it very often.
Becasue it will lose it's PS every time I really crank it.

Those who say that their MO doesn't do it need to put their title on the hood and I will come to their town and show them that it likely does do it.
I showed it to my unbelieving dealer last sept.
He picked out 3 MOs at random, and I demo'd the problem on two of them and he had seen enough.
At that time, NNA said they were unaware of any problem.


of course if you don't ever really crank it, you will never know.

Hazardous? To a degree, I agree with you.
Here's hoping that it never causes a low speed crash.
(I don't think it will ever cause a High Speed problem)

Nissan's not fixing it is stupid.*
Not that they need to fix it for me and people like me.......
They need to fix it for marketing reasons.
The CR hickey is HUGE.


Homer

*Assuming of course that they can fix it for a reasonable amount of money per car.

 

[pcs15394]

Steering

I agree that it can be an issue and could be a serious issue if you are not aware of the limitations. I encountered it while attempting a quick three point turn when I discovered I was going the wrong way. Cadillac Escalade was bearing down on me by the time I got the Mo straight and moving. Escalade was far enough away when I started the turn that in any other car there would have been no issue. I have read that Nissan notified CR that the fix will be in for the 05 Murano. I would not mind a retrofit on prior model years if they fix the 05. It is not a huge issue for me now that I know the limitations but I sure would accept if they offered a fix.

 

[zebelkhan]

Danger... Be aware!

This morning doing about 35 or 40 Mph I had to rapidly cut to my left lane to avoid rear ending the car in front of me. On the return swerve of the wheels I lost boost for a split second. Since I was forcing the steering I was still able to turn the wheels back to were they belonged but in the process I think I hurt my wrist. I would have probably traveled to another lane, and perhaps even wrecked the car if I had been relying on the power boost to help with the steering.

This is clearly a safety problem that Nissan must address. I will be writing a letter to Nissan, and to Consumer affairs, and post any findings here.

 

[9495]

They claim that they're fixing it on the '05, and that also means that they are admitting that there was a problem. We might see a rather large recall to get this fixed on the earlier models. Or they might possibly go the cheaper (more unethical route) of just fixing it if the customer complains via a TSB.

Definitely good to bring their attention to the fact that it SHOULD be fixed, though.

 

[darrylburke]

Nissan WILL NOT be vixing the problem in the older 04, and 03 models.. they do NOT consider it a "safty" problem

 

[9495]

Nissan WILL NOT be vixing the problem in the older 04, and 03 models.. they do NOT consider it a "safty" problem

Right, that is what they are saying NOW. We shall see what happens, though. If enough people complain about this, perhaps they WILL decide to fix the earlier models (either via recall or TSB). That is my point.