Nissan Addresses Complaints About Their CVT Technology

Gear Shift - 2009 Nissan Cube 5dr Wagon CVT S

Nissan’s Customer Satisfaction Program is working in overdrive to address concerns that their customers have voiced in regards to the Nissan Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) Technology. This month customers in North America that own Nissan’s with CVT equipped cars will be getting a letter from the Customer Satisfaction Program (CSP) to address the concern of the CVT technology’s high cost of repair as the vehicles ages.

According to the letter from Nissan North America’s CSP, “a small percentage of owners of early models equipped with CVTs have expressed concerns about the cost of repair of their transmissions after the warranty expires.” Now, the CVTs in Nissan vehicles have been a pretty good success and even I have raved about the CVT in the new 2009 Nissan Maxima—there aren’t many cars that can go over a mountain pass without giving there passengers a downshift kick, but the Nissan Maxima can. It may also surprise you to know that the CVT technology is available in the Versa, Cube, Sentra, Altima and as mentioned above the Maxima. So this concern from “a small percentage of owners” could actually be foreshadowing of a larger customer satisfaction issue for Nissan.

Angular Front Exterior View - 2009 Nissan Cube 5dr Wagon CVT S

This is where the CSP letter comes into play. The letter that is being sent to owners of Nissan vehicles with CVTs is to inform them that their warranty on the CVT units is being extended from the standard 5 years/60,000 miles to 10 years/120,000 miles. Yes, you read that right; Nissan is doubling the warranty coverage to make sure their customers are happy. What’s more, Nissan is doing this with no additional cost to current owners and making the warranty fully transferable to future owners of the CVT vehicles. The CSP isn’t stopping there, no they are also offering to reimburse customers who have paid for repairs to their CVT equipped cars that failed within the new time and mileage limits.

Bottom line—this is the reason why other journalists I know say that Nissan is the only one that “gets” the CVT technology. Nissan not only gets it, they are willing to stand behind it without any excuses. Makes me wonder: With that kind of customer support would you rather buy a Chevrolet Volt or a Nissan Leaf for your first electrified vehicle?