Nissan Tiida

[rebelone607]

Can anybody help? My wife has a 2008 Tiida she bought new just before Christmas last year and to date she only has 8,000 Ks on the clock and is still under warranty. About six months ago it developed a very annoying rattle in the dash somewhere. She has had it back to the dealer three times now and the problem is still there, it is so annoying she is thinking of trading it in. Also in the past month it has devoled a "clunk" in the front end - had it back to the dealer again today and they tell her that the clunk is that the steering arm? is buggered and it will take three weeks to get one from Japan. Has anybody else had any of these problems with the Tiida and what was the fix? Also what course of action can she take with this problem, it seems that the Nissan dealer is going to just pussy foot around with her until it runs out of warranty and then wipe their hands of it. Any advice greatly appreciated.
Merv

[dank54]

I had one as a rental in tasmania on a recent holiday which also had a creaking dash.
It drove me absolutely nuts! I found it was the horizontal plastic trim insert rubbing on the dash itself.
I reckon it was made worse by all the dash protector spray the company cleaners had put on it.
It had one of the worst rev limiters I have ever heard in a rental car & also would only do 65km/h in first....what kind of a rental car is that?

[rebelone607]

Originally Posted by dank54

I had one as a rental in tasmania on a recent holiday which also had a creaking dash.
It drove me absolutely nuts! I found it was the horizontal plastic trim insert rubbing on the dash itself.
I reckon it was made worse by all the dash protector spray the company cleaners had put on it.
It had one of the worst rev limiters I have ever heard in a rental car & also would only do 65km/h in first....what kind of a rental car is that?

Will get the dealer to check that out. Spoke with them today about the problems with this vehicle and they have agreed to give her a brand new loan car and take this one for a couple of weeks so they can sort out the problems ummmm
Merv

[Richo-NT]

With respect to the steering arm issue, I wouldn't be too concerned, these things happen from time to time, could have been a variety of things that could have caused it from a general manufacturer fault to the front wheel hitting a gutter or pot hole hard and damaging the arm, in any case these things happen, there isn't a whole lot the dealership can do about it if they don't have a part! If they need to order a part in, they need to order a part in! Thats just the way it is, they aren't going to have a stock pile or parts sitting around for all the different cars they have because they simply wouldn't have a warehouse big enough, they carry parts that are commonly needed to be replaced, but for more specialist parts then it's not at all uncommon for them to need to order them in.

You could ofcourse go to a regular mechanic who could probably fix it straight away using a salvage part which are more readily available but in that case Nissan will not cover the warranty of the part, nor will they cover the cost of this fix because it's not a genuine Nissan part.

I really don't think the steering arm thing is an issue, its just one of those things, I can't see what the dealership is doing wrong there.

As for the dash rattle, dash rattles can be the most horribly annoying things ever! Unfortunately the only thing more annoying about them is how annoying it can be sometimes isolating what is exactly making the rattle! Fact is the dealership will never find the rattle, they just don't spend enough time with the car to source the problem, so your better off getting your wife to drive down a bumpy road while you poke around the dash poking and prodding different things untill you can find the source of the rattle, once you have done this, or atleast isolated the rattle to a more specific area of the dash, then the dealership will have a much better chance of being able to fix the problem. I feel your pain though! As I said dash rattles are FREEKIN ANNOYING!

[rebelone607]

Fully appreciate what you have said Richo-NT. It is just that this is the first "new" car either of us have ever owned, my wife was sick of used vehicles and inheriting someone elses problems, she is more disapointed than angry. In regards to the dash noise the dealer has pulled things appart twice now and have told her they have put pading or foam or something in there, the left hand front door is now hard to open because of this. It also seems that the dealers have known of this problem as when my wife first reported it to the dealer service manager he made an off the cuff remark "oh the dash rattle". Hopefully when they keep it for a week or so they will be able to sort things out.
Regards Merv

[Rayw1]

Merv,
Just to provide a balance for you, we have a 2006 model Tiida auto (wife's car). We bought it second hand, and I suspect it was a rental fleet car, but it has now done 75,000 and we have not had any problems....well that's not quite right.. my wife has never had a problem. I have had a recurring issue of it not starting. The starter turns over but if it is one of the times it ain't gunna start it just won't start. I've found that by turning the ignition all of the way off, counting to 10 and turning it on again it starts every time. I suspect there is something in the immobiliser that doesn't "gel" every now and again. Of course when I take it to the dealer they cannot find any error codes and cannot get it to fail. Bloody frustrating, but in my opinion it's symptomatic of today's manaufacturers and cost pressures etc. Testing is done by the end user. Every brand will have problems. You could dump the Tiida, do a packet and buy something else with a rear diff noise or brakes that fail when you hit a bump(Prius). I would just be persevering in getting the little problems ironed out and try to enjoy having a new car.

BTW we previously had a 1989 Pintara auto and it had 260,000kms on it in 2007 when I sold it without ever having a major engine overhaul or gear box rebuild or anything other than normal wear and tear. I'm hoping to get similar trouble free running out of the Tiida.

Ray.