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On Dec. 19, a Nissan transmission defect class action lawsuit was denied Class certification by the presiding New Jersey federal judge, who ruled that all the Class claims brought forth by the suit’s named plaintiffs cannot be supported by evidence and are untimely.
The transmission defect class action lawsuit alleges Nissan North America Inc. knowingly sold cars with defective transmissions, which—due to a faulty valve part in certain Maxima five speed automatic transmission models—caused shift delays and various other problems.
Nissan’s motion for summary judgment of various claims brought forth by the remaining named plaintiffs was granted by U.S. District Judge Joseph E. Irenas, while simultaneously denying the plaintiffs’ motion for a Nissan Class certification. The decertification ruling by Judge Irenas came just a few days after the judge dismissed claims raised by two additional Nissan transmission defect class action lawsuit plaintiffs.
Lead plaintiff Tameka Nelson filed this transmission defect class action lawsuit in 2011, alleging that in many 2004-2006 Nissan Maxima vehicles, “the absence of a transmission cooling system, combined with the metallic composition of certain transmission parts, caused overheating of the transmission system, which, over time, caused extensive wearing of the relevant parts, leading to the harsh shift problem.” Soon after, other plaintiffs joined Nelson’s class action lawsuit.
In September 2012, plaintiffs’ claims of unconscionability and breach of implied warranty of merchantability were dismissed by Judge Irenas. However, the judge refused to toss Nissan transmission defect class action lawsuit claims of breach of express warranty, unjust enrichment, and consumer fraud claims under several state’s laws.
In May of this year, Nissan filed five separate motions for summary judgment against the lead plaintiffs, who responded a month later that Nissan was attempting to dodge the allegations brought forth in the transmission defect class action lawsuit by claiming it did not know of the defect, as the transmission valve part came from a supplier.
On Dec. 16 and 18, Judge Irenas dismissed the claims of lead plaintiffs Karim Abdullah and Nancy Ebner, whittling down the number of plaintiffs from five to three. The judge found that no juror would reasonably find that Abdullah experienced Nissan transmission defects during the outlined Nissan warranty period. In regards to Ebner’s claim of breach of express warranty and Consumer Sales Practices Act, Judge Irenas ruled the claims were untimely, and additionally, the plaintiff could not demonstrate evidence that the automaker was aware of the Nissan transmission defect, and thus could not have misrepresented the product to Ebner or other plaintiffs.
For similar reasons as stated in the cases of Abdullah and Ebner, Judge Irena also dismissed the remaining three lead plaintiffs’ claims.
The plaintiffs are represented by Joseph G. Sauder, Matthew D. Schelkopf and Benjamin F. Johns of Chimicles & Tikellis LLP and by Michael A. Caddell, Cynthia B. Chapman and Cory S. Fein of Caddell & Chapman.
The Nissan Transmission Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Nelson, et al. v. Nissan North America Inc., et al., Case No. 1:11-cv-05712, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
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37 thoughts onNissan Transmission Defect Class Action Decertified
got a letter about nissan class action. no number. had a 2004 maxima. totaled in 2013. no vin. got an idea how.
I just bought a 2005 maxima and the day I drove it home it shifted hard and there was a delay then a hard shift when I accelerated. Called the dealership the next day, thankfully it’s still under warranty (3mos) and the guy from the dealership feels terrible but it’s not his fault. He is offering to fix the issue and even offered to extend the warranty. After reading all of the comments on several pages that everyone has or had transmission issues I just can’t believe that this is such a widespread issue and that they don’t see a lawsuit here when it has happend to so many people and their cars. How can this not be the fault of the company? It’s not the owners fault. This is ridiculous! I’m so heartbroken right now thought I was coming home with a new car and now I don’t know when I’m going to get it back…..if ever
That judge is a idiot, and does not serve the public nor it’s victims.. no evidence? how about the several thousands of people with broken transmissions? I doesn’t take but 3 minutes to find several forums where the number one reason not to buy a Nissan Maxima/Altima is the 5 speed auto transmission. Because I am a car guy I knew about the problem and when mine started to fail I knew of a company (called level ten) that figured out how to rebuild the valve body to save your transmission. It still cost 1000 dollars, but I’ve been able to keep it going 40,000 miles later and going. Nissan bought the valve body from Volvo and slapped it on their transmission without any kind of long term testing. They did it to save a ton of money, and the people who suffer and their customers.
They also used PLASTIC for their timing chain guide rods. And surprise!! Now there is another $3-5k issue placed on a person. The timing chain on my last engine went out and destroyed my engine. I replaced it with another engine and guess what?! It’s starting to go out again. I have less than a year to buy another car and junk this one, when it should have another 10 years left on it. Kelly Blue Book has caught on to these problems and now a car that should have kept it’s value to around $8-10k is worth $4-6. I will never buy another Nissan again, unless it is the GTR. It seems this is the only car they are interested in engineering well because their reputation is on the line with this car.
JUST AN FYI, THIS WAS REJECTED AND I HAVEN’T RECEIVED ANYTHING FOR AN APPROVED LAWSUIT FOR THE TRANSMISSION. I ONLY HAVE ONE FOR THE TIMING CHAIN. I cant believe Nissan is getting away with this. I had an 04 I had to let go of cuz I couldn’t afford the repair and the bank screwed up my deferred payments and I took a big hit on my credit along with minor repairs I tried to do on the maxima. This is ridiculous I havent owned that car for years and still get a knot in my stomach just thinking of it.
My trans cant change out first gear once it heatz up
Transmission problems on 2013 Rogue, only replaced the links, soon to be out of warranty
I had a Altima 2.5 SV cope I traded it in but I did have problems with the transmission but when I would take it in the told me it was fine can I still join the settlement and I’m currently having problems with my Altima and I feel like it’s the transmission but when I take it they grist it off what can I do
I have a 2013 sentra we bought brand new for my husband to take to work. Loved the look and gas mileage. Our first problem was loss of tranny just after the warranty exp. I called nissan and they were useless. So out of pocket we put in a used tranny with 8k miles on it from a reputable foreign specialist only for that transmission to last another 6 months.. the past year of the car has been parked waiting to figure out what to do.. any help would be appreciated
I have a 2013 Nissan Maxima with a bad CVT transmission had just passed the 70,000 warranty & Nissan refused to assist. I didnt have the car for a full year before this problem came up. But what Nissan did offer to me was a bill of $5,000 to replace the bad transmission that they knew was their fault. I will never buy another Nissan or any other vehicle associated with them. It really sucks that consumers have to pay when these companies are getting rich off of us by selling these lemons.Nissan might be paying this judge because too many people are having this same problem.
I have a 2009 Nissan Rogue – Loaded. Just short of 120,000 miles. Nissan replaced the CVT Transmission – Admitting their was a problem with the new technology of the CVT. This one was worse… 65,000 miles later the transmission was fried again. Now obviously this replaced CVT was worse than the original and I feel that Nissan needs to replace this one. Besides the pain and suffering this has been. If I could afford to buy a new vehicle I would in a heart beat but I cant. I had to borrow the $ for this repair. And I am only getting canned answers for my complaint.
Now I question: Why in the world would Nissan continue to use this technology when there are so many problems. Even the Nissan Dealer that recently replaced the CVT told me that there is a revolving door with the Nissan Transmission problems. I think I have the answer. 1st of all – We can only have this work done by a Nissan Dealer with the Ability to read the codes.
– the first time I had a problem the dealer told me that I had $1300 of repairs that needed to be done before they finally admitted it was the transmission. Now I had a Non-Nissan repair place tell me that I was totally ripped off because those repairs were not needed and he even wanted to go to court. I just wanted the nightmare to end. It was kind of strange that I went in there with obvious transmission problems when they said it was wheel bearings and sway bars. After I paid the $1300, then they said: HMMM Lets check the transmission – Surprise THEN They fixed the transmission / Covered by Nissan.
– This time, now at another Nissan Dealer with obvious transmission problems – They said I also needed to have $1300. of repairs done ALSO on a muffler, Exhaust manifold tube replaced and obviously the transmission….
Maybe Nissan keeps using the CVT’s to keep making $ in the service areas?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I paid a ton of $ when I bought this car because I was told it would easily get to 200,000 miles. Yes I have all the bells and whistles (which work fine) but what good are they if the car won’t move. I need advice on how to earn back what I have lost to trusting Nissan. I’ am open to suggestions.
This great country of ours looks to have turned its back on consumers. Where are the trade policies in all of this Mr. Trump stop these companies from taking advantage of good hard working Americans. Stop allowing Janpan to export this junk to our citizens and country as a whole. Make them pay just like we have to pay for everthing they get. defend Japan at this point hell no. Read here all the issues with Nissan products and it only makes sense that we stop taking car of the very people who are putting our economy to ruins and abusing our system and Americans every day.