Meeting w/Nissan Factory Rep on 10/8

[Premier]

This is my first major posting and can be placed in the "for what it's worth" category. I bought my Titan LE King Cab about 6 weeks ago. I have had a lot of the same problems many others have had including stereo fade, squeaky passenger seat, dash rattle, dash squeak, a vibration at highway speeds felt through the steering wheel, ect. What concerned me most were the numerous flaws on the interior and exterior of my truck. I have the radiant silver paint with titanium and graphite leather interior. What I have found and brought to my dealers attention I will detail out here. On the interior both interior rear King Cab door plastic inside covers had molding flaws, showing as shiny spots in the finish below the window. There is also a molding flaw in the top of the dash, showing up as a noticeable 1" wide stripe running from behind where the dash bezel meets the dash running to the windshield. There is a scratch on the top of the plastic cover on the center of the steering wheel and scuffs on the drivers side trim below the ignition key. I have read that Nissan has had trouble in the factory both by the workers not being fully trained and by workers wearing jewelry causing scratches and blemishes during assembly. Both are problems that were wide spread enough they brought Japanese management over to observe the factory and figure out what was causing the flaws. (As a side note, no more “bling bling” allowed to be worn by the workers.) All this information I received was detailed in an automotive retailers industry magazine. Let's move to the exterior. I have flaws in the paint including debris on top of the paint but under the clear coat causing a bump in the clear, bubbles in the paint before it was cleared, a shallow dent in the top of the drivers side fender next to the hood, a paint flaw, looks like about a 2" stripe or color difference running parallel to the ground, behind the drivers back door, and a few scratches in the paint. Many on the tailgate under the dealers decal, this truck was a dealer trade, note, dealer should not use a razor blade to remove the previous dealers decal! (Not Nissans fault on the later, but worth mentioning I think.) I have pointed out all of these to the service manager, and to his credit he did acknowledge all the flaws and even went as far to say that he would not accept them if they were on his truck. My error was accepting the truck in the first place, but I picked it up at night and couldn't really perform a through inspection in the dark. What upset me was when the service manager and I talked about how we should resolve the flaws. He ordered two door trim panels to replace the flawed ones, no resolution on the other parts, but on the exterior paint flaws he said that the only way to repair them was to repaint, and that there was really no way the paint could be matched 100% and I might just want to live with them. Live with them? Not after paying over $31K for my truck. I told him that in my opinion there were three options, replace the truck, repaint the truck and compensate me for having a repainted truck or compensate me even more and do nothing and I would "live with it". He said he was only authorized to do paint work up to $300.00 and would have to call in a Nissan factory rep to examine the damage. Well, that brings me to this posting, one I wanted to let all of you out there know what I am going trough, two, I wanted to see if any body else has had similar problems and three after the meeting I want to let every body know how The Nissan rep and Nissan treated this issue. Sorry for such a long posting but the more we stick together the more we can help each other. I have learned about other problems I have had that I am not the only one; maybe this will help others as well. I will update this after Friday and see what happens. BTW, I love this truck!!! All problems aside, awesome truck, much better then my Silverado.

[keiffers]

You may just end up with a new truck out of this whole problem. Although I think the service guy was wrong in regards to paint matching. I've dealt considerably with a body shop over the years and in so many aspects after they have done the work, there is no way to tell that a body part has been repainted. With the technology out today, they can get it pretty well matched. Sounds like his response was just BS to try and get you to drop the subject, which you obviously have not done. That is a good thing. Anyway, good luck with your meeting...I'm interested to see what happens

[rrumaner]

Do they not teach how to use paragraphs in school anymore? It is so difficult to read a posting where the entire thing is one long string of text without any breaks.

Come on people, it isn't that hard to do. You simply have to hit ENTER every once in a while. (see I did it right there before this sentence)

[pagerdaddy]

I thought they only typed that way in Texas.

Hey, Roy! Could you read the whole thing, and give us a
summary? I don't want to get a headache.

Steve

[BiXLL]

I have a Smoke Titan, and had scratches on the Pass. fender, and door at time of delivery. The door buffed out, but the dealer repainted the fender, and you can not tell any difference.

[drags1998]

Premier, PLEASE dont take this the WRONG WAY!!!! I do understand your frustration, BUT all of this stuff should have been pointed out, BEFORE YOU DROVE IT OFF THE LOT. Unless the paint damage is SEVERE, dont paint it!!!!And unless you are far more fussy than I am(I'm Very fussy,but reasonable) Dont let the dealer start replacing Int. parts. Squeeks,rattles,other damage??????GOOD LUCK!!!!!!

[joekrz]

On the flip side, I have one that I just bought 2 weeks ago and now have 2000 miles and don't have any of the problems you mentioned. Everything is running smooth, interior and exterior are in perfect condition. I would suggest you demand a replacement.

[nytitan1]

i have same problem with my paint job bubbles popping up from under paint first one i noticed and let it go but then started noticing more and more now going on 3 weeks to get rep to come down to take look at truck showed it to service guy and he couldnt beleive it himself still waiting for him to be in area

[TallTexan]

In Texas we write fast but inspect slow. Had my brakes TSB'd and they are great. Just finished putting 3000 miles on the brake job and no judder and no brake dust on the wheels. Maybe the fix worked.
I will close now.

[SarkaZm]

So are they doing anyting about your other probelms? Dash squeeks, flimsy pass. seat? I have both problems. The Dash I am going to get to myself, but the seat frame was replaced by the dealer but I don't see much of a difference. It would be interesting to know why the pass. seat is so much more flimsy than the drivers seat. Probably cost cutting! Good luck and let us know what happens.

[BossHogg]

Premier,

First things first; you learned your lesson. Painful as it is, never take the truck off the lot/accept it without going over it with a fine tooth comb. My dealer wanted me to inspect mine when it was dirty. I laughed at him and told him to have it detailed before I even looked at it.

Second thing, I have the dash rattle, but I am just too lazy to fix it by putting in a small piece of foam between the steering column and the dash bezel. I agree, it is a Nissan flaw that should have been addressed long before I got the truck, however, it is minor and not worth my headache. I also have a slight steering wheel vibration when going 75-90mph. It was really noticable, resulting in slight "bump steer" in ruts until I had the tires re-balanced. It was still slightly noticeable and I reached 6800 miles in the truck, now it is almost non-existant, with the exception of my lead foot on really rough roads. I also have the Daystar kit up front, no strut problems, but I am sure this stupid design is not helping me. I am going to take a look at the steering column/wheels again in the future, but really not worth my time or effort right now. I can say this, when I am on the interstate, well, I have never been passed by another full-size truck -- maybe trucks weren't meant to travel at the speed I like?

Premier, we all understand you paid 31K for your truck. Steve Misel, another very unsatisfied Titan owner even paid more -- Nissan paid him back for his truck after some legal wrangling. He had a very valid point, his airbag sensor would not work with his wife sitting in the passenger seat. In his case, yes, I would have raised hell to no end with Nissan and the stealership. He did, and he won. In your case, yes, your truck has some minor flaws. I just don't let the minor annoyances steal my fun out of a very well engineered truck. Let me spare you the suspense; if you were expecting a truck to be perfect, well, you should have paid a couple thousand more and gotten an underpowered/undersized Toyota. Toyota may even have better luck on their upcoming release than Nissan. I attribute this to far and away better dealerships and technicians, as opposed to the morons that you will find at the Nissan dealerships. I wouldn't depend on these no-talent-***-clowns to change oil in a go-kart, much less my truck. If it were me, well, I would keep after the dealership about the vibration, mine is almost perfect now after a balancing; plus, it somehow got remarkably better after 6K miles. The dealership should fix the paint flaws, but they are not obligated, the truck is not corrosion damaged -- yet. I treat mine as a truck. I scratch up the bed, never wash it, and I don't care about the luv stains on my seats. I wish you the best, but a perfect truck, well, you won't find. You have to make a few trade-offs and decide what is most important to you.

[phillipyang]

Originally Posted by drags1998

Premier, PLEASE dont take this the WRONG WAY!!!! I do understand your frustration, BUT all of this stuff should have been pointed out, BEFORE YOU DROVE IT OFF THE LOT. Unless the paint damage is SEVERE, dont paint it!!!!And unless you are far more fussy than I am(I'm Very fussy,but reasonable) Dont let the dealer start replacing Int. parts. Squeeks,rattles,other damage??????GOOD LUCK!!!!!!

If we could all find problems and issues before we drive it off the lot, we won't be here complaining about all the issues. Nobody here has the extensive knowledge of a mechanic, or a watchful eye of an inspector to really find every problem in the truck. That's why we have consumer protection laws to protect us from faulty products sold to us under the presumption of a good and working product.

[hawkeye680]

Originally Posted by rrumaner

Do they not teach how to use paragraphs in school anymore? It is so difficult to read a posting where the entire thing is one long string of text without any breaks.

Come on people, it isn't that hard to do. You simply have to hit ENTER every once in a while. (see I did it right there before this sentence)

Another helpful, meaningful response to A NEW MEMBER from one of our mods, rrumaner. This Bud's for you!

[soanso]

Originally Posted by BossHogg

Premier,

First things first; you learned your lesson. Painful as it is, never take the truck off the lot/accept it without going over it with a fine tooth comb. My dealer wanted me to inspect mine when it was dirty. I laughed at him and told him to have it detailed before I even looked at it.

Second thing, I have the dash rattle, but I am just too lazy to fix it by putting in a small piece of foam between the steering column and the dash bezel. I agree, it is a Nissan flaw that should have been addressed long before I got the truck, however, it is minor and not worth my headache. I also have a slight steering wheel vibration when going 75-90mph. It was really noticable, resulting in slight "bump steer" in ruts until I had the tires re-balanced. It was still slightly noticeable and I reached 6800 miles in the truck, now it is almost non-existant, with the exception of my lead foot on really rough roads. I also have the Daystar kit up front, no strut problems, but I am sure this stupid design is not helping me. I am going to take a look at the steering column/wheels again in the future, but really not worth my time or effort right now. I can say this, when I am on the interstate, well, I have never been passed by another full-size truck -- maybe trucks weren't meant to travel at the speed I like?

Premier, we all understand you paid 31K for your truck. Steve Misel, another very unsatisfied Titan owner even paid more -- Nissan paid him back for his truck after some legal wrangling. He had a very valid point, his airbag sensor would not work with his wife sitting in the passenger seat. In his case, yes, I would have raised hell to no end with Nissan and the stealership. He did, and he won. In your case, yes, your truck has some minor flaws. I just don't let the minor annoyances steal my fun out of a very well engineered truck. Let me spare you the suspense; if you were expecting a truck to be perfect, well, you should have paid a couple thousand more and gotten an underpowered/undersized Toyota. Toyota may even have better luck on their upcoming release than Nissan. I attribute this to far and away better dealerships and technicians, as opposed to the morons that you will find at the Nissan dealerships. I wouldn't depend on these no-talent-***-clowns to change oil in a go-kart, much less my truck. If it were me, well, I would keep after the dealership about the vibration, mine is almost perfect now after a balancing; plus, it somehow got remarkably better after 6K miles. The dealership should fix the paint flaws, but they are not obligated, the truck is not corrosion damaged -- yet. I treat mine as a truck. I scratch up the bed, never wash it, and I don't care about the luv stains on my seats. I wish you the best, but a perfect truck, well, you won't find. You have to make a few trade-offs and decide what is most important to you.

beautiful.

[Premier]

Thanks for all of the good feedback, and sorry about not having any paragraph breaks.

Here...I...will...type....really...slow...for...so me...of...you.

Sorry, just poking fun.

Anyway, when I went to buy the truck I was at the dealership for over 4 hours waiting for the F&I guy to get me through the paperwork. I got tired of waiting and told them to get my truck in, it was a dealer trade, and let me know and have me ready to go with the papers once it was in. When I got to the dealership, it was late afternoon; I did look the truck over but not as anally retentive over as I wish I would have. The nature of the silver paint lends itself to masking or enhancing flaws depending on the light.

They have fixed some of the repair issues, still waiting on others, all to be fixed on Friday, I hope. I will advise as to how those items are fixed once I get my truck back.

I am not complaining about the truck, I love my Titan, just about the quality issues, I feel the quality should and could be better. Not all is Nissan’s fault, the dealership scratched the tailgate removing the trade dealer’s decal and the truck originally had tubular bed rails installed. After the dealer traded for it they removed them, leaving scratched and damaged bed rail covers, which they are replacing and damage to the paint in the stake pockets, still to be addressed.

All I am saying is if I buy something new and it has issues I will have issues. Now, if they can take me onto their lot and show me that every Titan has scratches, paint flaws, ect. Then, well what can you do, you accept it, buy a different brand..???

I should not have accepted the truck, I know that, but it was late, I was tired and I wanted my truck. I will keep faith in Nissan and the dealership that to date are doing in my opinion what they can to help me.

I will update everybody once I know more about what the Nissan rep is willing to do. Thank you all for the feedback and comments, I appreciate the insight. I hope this too helps others with similar problems.