Nissan refuses to replace GT-R owner's busted transmission

A member of the North American GT-R Owner's Club forums started a thread recently in which he tells about dropping off his Nissan GT-R at the dealership when he began hearing loud noises coming from the rear of the car. The dealership told him that his transmission was toast as a direct result of him turning off the car's VDC (Vehicle Dynamic Control) too much, which you have to do in order to use the Launch Control function. The cost to repair the tranny is $20,000 and Nissan won't cover it under warranty since the GT-R owner's manual states that damage to the transmission is not covered if it is proven to be the result of using Launch Control with the VDC turned off. In fact, the manual states that the only reason you should turn off VDC is for when you're rocking the vehicle because it's stuck in mud or snow. That's kind of like Nissan saying you should never use the Launch Control function despite the fact it's there.

 

thats gota hurt.

 

Wounder that's gonna hurt his wallet

 

but BMW say the on the M3 with SMG

but yeah, OUCH!

 

what does wounder mean? is it even a word?maybe its because imfrom essex but i dont get it.


on topic.thats not nice especially that soon after them being released.
typical dealers

 

wounder = OUCH, or thats bad dude

 

northern thing then! cheers bud. oh and my mates 205 gti-6 is up and running at last.. goes like stink but he still has to fit the rad lol

 

tell him to buy a new nissons one for 40 quid alloy too get it from GSF

glad it's all running dude

 

TBH I can see nissans point, they are offering a road miles warranty, if you continually abuse the car like that its not realistic for it to survive and it would cost them a fortune to keep paying out on claims like that, enough so that they couldnt afford to make the car probably.

 

So why offer the option of launch control if the car can't take it. That's nonsense, that's like saying it has a Sport engine mapping mode but that can damage the engine if used so don't use it or you will pay.....

 

Because they are selling the cars to grown ups.

"here's an option that might be useful to you as a trackday car, or at a dragstrip, but bear in mind if you use it that it invalidates the warranty"

Then the owner has the choice if he is prepared to use it or not.

Bit like they give you a steering wheel but if you swerve into a tree they wont fix the car then either.

 

http://onlinedictionary.datasegment.com/word/wounder

Also what he said.

 

perfectly reasonable if you ask me seeing as it clearly says in the manual it wont be covered.

my car came with a gearbox that enabled me to do 150mph, is it vauxhalls fault if i get caught doing 150mph LOL

 

ouch!

 

it is amazing that you would install a feature on a car that will fuck the car up if used too often,shouldnt the tranny be designed a bit stronger?

 

BMW did the same thing with their launch contol didnt they?

Also, would Mitsubushi replace an evo's clutch under warranty if you fry it after 3 launches?

 

you can understand the clutch thing,not a blown transmission though!

 

thats gonna hurt the wallet a bit, i wonder how many people have said sod that im not gonna launch mine any more. im sure to be fair nisan could plug it and go oh sir you've done x amount of launchs since you've owned the car.

 

I read this story word for word on Pistonheads yesterday, can't believe these idiots sign saying they won't do something then go and do it anyway!

Stupid yank deserves a fucking great bill!

 

If they made the transmision stronger, the car would be heavier and it wouldnt handle as well, wouldnt accelerate as well, wouldnt decelerate as well and would give worse CO2 emissions, and it would be more expensive.

So forcing that on all owners, just so you can warranty people who abuse it, is a bad idea IMHO

 

hahahahaha what a prat! big bill to pay there

 

very valid points there chip but with no drive those points are a bit irrelevant

 

And when you select launch, you are taking the risk you might end up with no drive. When you dont do so, you arent taking the risk and can claim on the warranty if you have no drive.

If drive is important to you, then dont use the launch or be prepared for a big bill.

 

Why give launch as an option and not be able to use it? Is it not like Ford saying the ATB diff will allow your RS to do X ammount of speed in the corner, but when the suspension collapses, we will not warrant it?

Benni.

 

.

 

Its a difficult one to judge this, because its not obvious how many times the launch control has been used, and exactly what wording is written about the use and warranty implictaions, of its use, in the owners handbook.

If he's been using it 10 times a day, every day since hes had it, he's gotta "reasonably" expect that somethings gotta give sooner or later?

If hes used it once and its caused damage, thats slightly different.

Any reasonable person wouldnt expect to abuse something and it to never ever break?

Surely nissan can interrogate the ecu and establish a pattern of use etc etc? Perhaps they have, hence the refusal to repair?

 

I would be amazed if that isnt exactly what has happened.

 

nothing unreasonable there. i cant think of any manufacturers that have cars fitted with LC that will warranty everything if used continuously, even ferrari etc.

 

I remember when i worked at Merc, the workshop techs new exactly how many times full throttle had been used, max speed reached and all sorts!! The computer never lies!! lol

 

Ouch

 

The best thing is, the computer CAN lie, if you deliberately make it do so.

With the correct remapping software someone could offer a service of rewriting the logs in the ecu probably and then you can use launch all the time, and PROVE you hadnt

 

Suppose your right! Job for Stu i reckon !

LOL

 

Just out of interest, is that illegal. I assume so?

Benni.

 

No, I dont beleive that is illegal

Although Im sure Nissan wouldnt like it if they found out, and could invalidate your warranty on that basis.

 

Any warranty only covers road use - so entirly reasonable to me.

Its exactly the same as BMW and LC on M3s... no many and bye bye warranty.

Alex

 

They would be hard pushed to find out I'm sure.

Benni.

 

I know that if booting my car from standstill is very hard on the car, clutch, gearbox etc and it kills tires so I don't do it, however i drive a ten year fiat coupe! Im not sure how i would feel if it happened on a brand new high performance car, looks like Datsun havn't built a porsche beater then hey?!

 

i dunno, can the 911 turbo be launched an infinite number of times and suffer no breakages? and if it does is it covered under porsche warranty

 

I agree abuse a car enough and the car could break,but we are talking a high performance car that has broken a gearbox in a very short life,sounds poor engineering to me,I'd agree with m3's warranty void with a clutch but I would guess they wouldn't refuse a gearbox repair on a very new car

 

Yes they would, and have done - just ask John Taylor .

A mate of mine was going to buy an E46 M3 SMG convertible off JT and had sorted all the finances and JT was about to deliver it, but decided he would give it a full bore launch using the LC before he did, just to see what this was like. The gearbox objected big time , so he took it back to BMW expecting it to be replaced under warranty (as it was well within this), they plugged in the computer, noted that it had been launched 20 or so times in it's life and politely declined the claim, leaving him with a £9k bill .