What’s up with Nissan Rogue heating problems
I have a 2015 Nissan Rogue. I also have no problems withmy dealer in Dubuque. The heater went out on my Rogue on one of the coldest days of the year. Itwould only blow cold air. The vehicle is still under warranty andwas repaired, and my dealer got me a rental while it was being repaired. Myq uestion is this: Howmany repairs on this known problem have to happen to constitute a recall on the defect? I did go online, and apparently this is a known problem with this year’s model. My Rogue, luckily, was still under warranty. What if this would have happened next year when the warranty had expired? It would have costme approximately $1,600 dollars for the repairs. This would have made me very angry, because the company is aware of the problem and did not recall the problem. I did contact Nissan customer service with this question, and basically I got the run-around. — Susan
You are correct that heater/AC issues are also complained about by other Rogue owners in the 2014-2017 range. In cold weather areas this can be a safety issue due to inadequate windshield defrosting. Whena certain number of complaints and/ or warranty reimbursements occur for a given problem a car company will likely engineer a correction and issue a technical service bulletin spelling out how to implement the solution. Theymay also take a variety of actions ranging from providing warranty repairs to a “squeaky wheel” out-of-warranty assistance/policy adjustment, to a voluntary customer satisfaction campaign, or perhaps finally aNHTSA mandated safety recall.
Nissan released several technical service bulletins for improper heating/ ventilation performance, including incorrect temperature output and/or air delivery location for vehicles in your range. The most recent—#NTB15045E, issued Aug. 4, 2017— indicates certain vehicles equipped with the manual HVAC system might benefit from replacement of the “front air control unit.”
I am by no means a legal expert but hope to offer a few thoughts vehicle owners might find useful. If the dealer is unable to provide the necessary correction for a problem— or, in this case, a seeming pattern failure that might arise after the warranty period— contact the manufacturer’s customer service folks and start off nice, telling of your family history and overall satisfaction with that brand. Gently make them aware that the web is indicating more than occasional consumer concern of the issue.
Be sure to obtain written documentation of your concerns and/ or repair attempts both in and out of warranty. Ask for assistance and obtain their response in writing. If you are shot down for an out-of-warranty policy adjustment, you might then join the club of folks complaining about the issue at www.carcomplaints.com, and in this case perhapswww.nissanproblems.com.
It also wouldn’t hurt to get your nose into various owners’ forums to seehow othersmay be dealing with the same concern (take this info with a grain of salt). I think the more widespread the issue becomes known, the more likely a car company will take helpful action.
If it’s a potential safety issue one can go to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website (usewww.safercar.gov and “vehicle owners”).