Murano CVT failure

In September we headed off on a road trip from Victoria to the Gold Coast in our 2011 Nissan Murano.

We have owned the Murano for four years and have maintained it meticulously. We have never had a problem, and even had it serviced early prior to the trip, with no issues reported.

On the way the engine light came on, so we attended a Nissan service centre in NSW.

A diagnostic check reported that there was a problem with the torque converter. As the light had gone off we were told that the car should be fine to drive, but if the light came back on we were told to take it back to a service centre.

It came back on while we were at the Gold Coast and the car completely failed while we were in traffic with our two children on board, which was frightening.

We managed to get it to the Gold Coast Nissan service centre, where we were told it had to have the CVT replaced, at a cost of $11,000. As you can imagine, this was devastating to hear while on a holiday we had saved and worked towards for a year.

We were left stranded in Queensland, with no option but to fork out $1300 on one-way flights and another $300 on a hire car to get us to our country Victorian home, leaving the car behind and the Gold Coast service centre putting in a good will claim for us. We have just been told this claim has been rejected.

We are aware that Nissan has had major issues with CVTs in the USA, resulting in a 10-year warranty extension to cover the issue.

How on earth they could leave us high and dry is mind-boggling. They had no concern about how we were going to get home, or the fact that the car failed in a way that seems ridiculous for a car that has only just clicked over 100,000 km. We are now left with only one car to get our children to school and kinder, and ourselves to work, and are paying off a car we no longer have and is basically worthless.

Can you help?