Johnson & Buxton – The Lemon Law Guys is a Ventura-based law firm that has represented hundreds of Nissan owners whose vehicles turned out to be lemons. Unfortunately for car buyers, many modern Nissan models have had serious problems requiring thousands of dollars in repair work and many hours in the shop. Our lawyers fight to obtain monetary compensation and we’ve even succeeded in making Nissan replace vehicles for customers under California’s lemon law.
Possible Lemon Law Claims Involving Nissan Vehicles
Various SUVs, trucks and cars across Nissan’s lineup have serious issues that sometimes cannot be fixed correctly. Under California’s lemon law, a vehicle can qualify as a lemon if the same problem arises four times without being fixed. If the problem is serious enough to cause death or injury, then two repair attempts are enough to possibly designate the car a lemon.
Here are some of the most common problems with late model Nissans. There are others that don’t appear on this list, so don’t hesitate to contact us if your car has a problem that doesn’t appear here.
- CVT issues: Nissan’s CVTs (continuously variable transmissions) have been plagued with issues for years. The CVTs hesitate, shudder or overheat, leading to failure. Some frequently affected models include the Nissan Murano, Nissan Pathfinder, Nissan Rogue, Nissan Versa, Nissan Sentra, Nissan Altima, and Nissan Maxima.
- Nissan Leaf battery problems: The Leaf, Nissan’s first electric vehicle, has a battery that sometimes fails to fully charge or fails to hold a charge.
- Autonomous emergency brake (AEB) system: These systems, which are supposed to automatically apply the brakes if a driver fails to brake before a collision, can be defective. Specifically, the AEB system engages randomly when it doesn’t need to. This occurs on 2017-Present Nissans, including Altima, Armada, Leaf, Maxima, Murano, Pathfinder, Rogue and Sentra.
- Forward collision warning (FCW) system: This system includes radar, sensors and cameras to detect obstacles ahead and engage the AEB system. The radar systems have been malfunctioning and possibly causing the AEB random braking issue described above.
- Brake fluid leaks: Nissan has issued at least three recalls over brake fluid leaks, including 400,000 cars as recently as 2019.
- Sunroof failures: The “exploding sunroof” affected some Nissan models with panoramic sunroofs, including the Armada, Maxima, Pathfinder and more.
If your Nissan experienced any of these failures (or others) and the manufacturer failed to remedy it after multiple attempts, talk to our attorneys about the possibility of a lemon law claim.
Nissan Lemon Law FAQs
How to tell if a Nissan is a lemon?
In California, a lemon is a car that meets specific requirements in the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act. A Nissan is considered a lemon if:
- It is still under Nissan’s manufacturer warranty
- It developed a significant warranty problem within 18 months or 18,000 miles of the owner buying it
- The problem may cause severe injury, and the manufacturer wasn’t able to repair it after two attempts
- The problem may not cause serious injuries, but the manufacturer couldn’t fix it permanently after four attempts
- The car has been out of service for at least 30 days due to the warranty problems
- The problems weren’t caused by your behavior
If your Nissan fits all of those requirements, then it’s a lemon.
How does the lemon law work with Nissan?
Nissan is required to follow the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act’s rules for its vehicles. That means that the manufacturer must attempt to fix warranty problems with your Nissan as stated in the contract. If you’ve maintained your car and taken it in for maintenance only to discover that it has a warranty issue, then Nissan must fix it, often at no cost to you. If the repairs don’t fix the problem, then Nissan is required to either replace your vehicle with a functioning one or refund you the car’s purchase price.
How do you report a lemon car to Nissan?
You can contact Nissan directly through the website to report warranty issues with your car. However, it’s in Nissan’s best interest to decline your lemon claim. If you’re trying to get your vehicle refunded or replaced, you should get in contact with a lemon law lawyer to help you report the lemon to Nissan and ensure you get the problem taken care of.
How can you tell if your Nissan has transmission problems?
Transmission problems are common in Nissans. A faulty transmission will typically display several signs that it’s not working correctly. You may notice:
- Your car won’t shift gears at all, or it hesitates, stutters, or slips between gears unexpectedly
- Your vehicle makes grinding noises, especially when shifting gears
- Your car is leaking smelly red fluid
- Your car smells strange, especially when running
These are all signs that your transmission is failing. Transmissions shouldn’t fail until a car is at least 100,000 miles old, so if your vehicle is practically new, you may have a lemon.
How to find out if your Nissan Leaf battery is defective?
The Nissan Leaf is a popular electric car. Unfortunately, some of the model’s batteries are prone to failure. If your Leaf regularly:
- Doesn’t hold a charge
- Loses charge faster than it should when driving
- Fails to charge entirely
Then your battery may be failing. Bad batteries can ruin the value of your car and even cause fires. The Leaf’s battery is supposed to last up to 100,000 miles or ten years. If your battery is going bad when your car is new, you may have a lemon claim.
Contact Our Nissan Lemon Law Lawyers
The attorneys of Johnson & Buxton – The Lemon Law Guys focus exclusively on helping consumers get compensation under California lemon law. We have extensive experience with Nissan vehicles. If your new or certified preowned Nissan has had repeated problems, give our Ventura office a call at 866-761-2317 or use this online form to reach us anytime.
