Fair Outcome Or Did Nissan GT-R Owners Get The Short End Of The Dipstick?

Yesterday Sept 18 at the 9 District Federal Court in LA Nissan finally settled the GTR TRANSMISSION claim issues regarding the LC1 and the denying of warranty like happened to my and to many other GTR owners. First of all, I would like to thank Mr Harris who was the one that have all this started, and Mitch Kalcheim the attorney that believed in our claims and put his time and money in the line to get this case going forward until this end point.

For all the GTR owners that believed in our claims and gave us support, we thank them,for those GTR owners that believed that we were looking for money and said that our claims were ridiculous, once they receive all the benefits that arised from this settlement they may change their minds about it.
This is the end result:

1-All GTR owners that have LC1 used before and were afraid that the tranny did not have any warranty because of turning VDC off and doing a LC1 will have their warranties re-setted for 5yr or 60k miles if they upgrade to LC2. All LC1 will be forgotten and the tranny will be fully covered by NISSAN. After LC2 being installed, all LC2 with VDC on will be fully covered by NISSAN. If you turn VDC off today , do your thing ( drag/road course/etc) and the tranny goes bad at that moment, the warranty will not hold, BUT if the problem arise some time later after turning VDC off back on and driving the car without any issues and then BAMMM.......the tranny will be covered 100%. If not NISSAN WILL HAVE TO PROOF that turning VDC OFF a week or a month prior the damage was the cause of failure. THEY WILL NEED TO PROOF IT , not like before that they just saw the BB data and said it was not covered.

2- ALL 2009 GTR owners will get a $75 coupon for any kind of service at any GTR approved Nissan dealership as part of a class compensation for the time taken to update LC2.

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jeffy210 - 9/20/2009 8:19:59 PM

+2 Boost

According to the above statement, if you're running LC2, your statement would be correct.

bmwdrvr - 9/21/2009 7:29:12 AM

+2 Boost

I consider trading in my 545i for one since my wife is going to buy a sedan soon. Im confused though, shouldnt this car be a bit more durable than clunking out in a month? Ive read/heard stories things like this happening recently but I thought nothing of them but rumours but if they are honestly true the GTR sounds like a bit of a headache I dont want if its going to eat up important with quality time at the shop.

dlin - 9/20/2009 8:21:05 PM

+3 Boost

YES.

PPower - 9/20/2009 10:35:17 PM

+2 Boost

I say fair to owners and manufacturer. Upgrade to the LC2 and be done with it.

tattedtwice - 9/20/2009 11:19:24 PM

+1 Boost

Im wondering if english is the poster's first or second language, after trying to read that.

SP2Hybrid - 9/21/2009 3:17:02 AM

+2 Boost

If we transposed your (rhetoric?) question into the automotive realm: Why would a car's power, handling and reliability matter as long as it gets you to your destination?
Get it?

Oh, and Ahnold himself sucks worse than most, just ask any California taxpayer.

nvme - 9/21/2009 4:53:37 AM

+2 Boost

English is my 3rd language and I can still beat that by a quarter mile...

rxh8me9000 - 9/20/2009 11:39:46 PM

+1 Boost

They will need to PROOF it. lol how about PROOF reading that post.

truckman - 9/21/2009 3:10:16 AM

+3 Boost

Sounds like they should beef the tranny up, after all it is a super car and should be engineered to take the power, The fact that they had to fight so long and hard makes me want to stay away from Nissan.

pcar4evr - 9/21/2009 8:27:07 AM

-4 Boost

remember, it's a cheap supercar - underline cheap

993Turbo - 9/21/2009 6:46:29 AM

+6 Boost

This whole thing is quite amusing.

rigid - 9/21/2009 8:15:54 AM

-2 Boost

I love that they give them a coupon for service, something tells me the price of everything in service just went up $75. It would be nice if Nissan would have just came out and said sorry we messed up here are new trannys for everybody. I assume the LA-F will not have this issue since they have actually tested it for the better part of a decade, hope they actually tried driving it with the traction controle off before selling it.

BMW4me4ever - 9/21/2009 10:51:26 AM

-1 Boost

You always get what you pay for. Shame on Nissan for building a car with this power & not backing up their customers warranty issues. Nissan should have researched the transmission limitations, before ever sending their car into the market.

BMW4me4ever - 9/21/2009 5:34:47 PM

+1 Boost

badgewhore what are you talking about? I love my 135 coupe and drive it hard ever chance I get. I installed the short shift kit and firmed the suspension up just so I can take it on the track. The good news is I didnt have to sign a waiver that says my warranty is null n void if I turn off the VDC. I am not expecting to keep my car for 100k miles. Heck I am not sure the last time I kept a car for more than 35k miles on it. That is part of the love to drive like you have a pair.

avanti64 - 9/21/2009 11:08:58 AM

+3 Boost

Let's keep this in perspective:
The Nissan is not a "cheap" supercar. Most others are OVERPRICED.

The warranty book specifically states transmission will NOT be covered if driven with VDC OFF except for rocking back and forth in mud or snow. What part of this statement don't these crybabies understand.

Upon delivery, the buyer had to sign a statement that he/she understood and agreed to the above statement. Of course, this did not matter to them. They apparently do not know what an agreement is.

VERY few transmissions have broken. And they were broken by idiots who had to show off and drive like a teenager. They overused the launch control function, broke their transmission and put the blame on Nissan.

Too bad Nissan caved in on this, but it was probably cheaper to appease the idiots than to continue to get bad press (like this blog) from them.

BMW4me4ever - 9/21/2009 11:47:32 AM

+1 Boost

The Nissan is not a "cheap" supercar. Most others are OVERPRICED...

Overpriced - in regards to what exactly. Is that due to the Nissan, pricing their car & trying to be a supercar. What makes a supercar? Superior technology, state of the art engineering and design, exotic leathers, etc. The Nissan has great performance, but a transmission that doesnt support it. Whether you use launch control or not, turning the VDC off shouldnt make the transmission fail unless it was not able to withstand the torque in the first place. Which is what it sounds like. So if I turn off the VDC, even though I am not using the launch control, to gain a more free spirit of the car & control of it, & the transmission fails, then it is not covered. Unless you are using it rock back in forth in mud or snow? Huh? How are you going to prove that when you turned it off to "rock back n forth to get out snow" vs driving it too hard to Nissan so they back the warranty when the transmission fails? Lots of gray area ....

Just cover the transmission or not. Not everyone that turns off the VDC is a teenager or an idiot.

BMW4me4ever - 9/21/2009 11:51:11 AM

0 Boost

I shouldnt be penalized for turning off the VDC, cause I want to drive more agressively. Maybe I know of some areas of road that I want to take faster and more agressive with the VDC off, cause I don't want interference from the engine management system or the brakes. Are you saying that, even though I don't use the Launch Control, that the warranty on the transmission is Null and Void? If so, then Nissan had a problem with the transmission before the car ever came out & this is their way of getting out of the problem. Some Supercar ...lol

Joe_Limon - 9/21/2009 12:33:44 PM

+1 Boost

Why does everyone act like this is a problem with every gtr? It only happens in 5% of them. The other 19/20 gtr's you can beat the shit out of without worrying.

LexSucks - 9/21/2009 1:43:19 PM

+5 Boost

It's only in America where you will find people defending a manufacturer who clearly built a vehicle that cannot handle its own power.

BMW4me4ever - 9/21/2009 2:13:26 PM

+3 Boost

so true. What is the purpose of buying this car, if you can't drive it to its potential? I feel like the little kid in the commercial where he starts playing with a truck, then the guy takes it away and hands him a cutout of a truck. The kid complains & the guy said you didnt read the fine print " limited time offer ". Nissan has built a great performing car, but you have to sign a waiver if you drive it too hard. Huh? You always get what you pay for .......

achiles - 9/22/2009 3:29:26 AM

+3 Boost

Any car that gets abused will eventually break, if you track your car you should be prepared with the costs of maintaining a track car.

Even porsche is not immune to braking down, my wife's 2005 997 turbo broke a shift linkage last year going from 2nd to 3rd, she stoped her car skillfully on the side of the road. I will agree that porsche customer service is superior than nissan's they replaced the problem within 12 hours at no cost, but the gtr is just as reliable.

My brother tracks his gtr quite often and he hasnt experience any problems. But Iam sure he's ready to pay for parts if it does break because he does go to the track a lot.

tango - 9/22/2009 11:30:06 AM

+1 Boost

I wonder how many of us were as forgiving when we heard that the Camaro SS was breaking transmissions recently? GM stepped up and sorted the matter out. Not only did they repair the ones affected, but they acted swiftly to rectify the problem at the factory level. Nissan should be ashamed of itself. Semantics, sematics, semantics. They would never have used the term "launch control" because that's a generic term and all manufacturers want terminology that is unique to their brand. It doesn't bother me one bit either way because I was never a fan of that car. My money would go into a Corvette Z06 anyway.

thstone - 9/22/2009 7:29:36 PM

+2 Boost

What did the lawyers get paid?

I bet they got a lot more than a little more warranty coverage and a $75 coupon.

LexSucks - 9/22/2009 9:03:58 PM

+1 Boost

They got GT-Rs

avanti64 - 9/23/2009 5:36:24 PM

+1 Boost

Porsche has made plenty of subpar cars. What about the 911? I bought a new 944 and it was in the dealer for repairs more than I care to remember. I dumped it for a VW Corrado SLC. Corrado was way more fun and wasn't in for repairs every other week.
Porsche=Overpriced Junk.

achiles - 9/23/2009 9:42:12 PM

+1 Boost

Timzilla-- it was a minor typo I meant a 2008, hate not having an edit button.