Nissan CVT Class Action Minerva Martinez v. Nissan Final Approval Granted
We’ve written EXTENSIVELY about Nissan class actions around their CVT Transmissions here, here and here. And now the latest class action, titled Minerva Martinez v. Nissan North America, was given final approval to a settlement by a federal judge.
Nissan owners complained of their CVT equipped Nissan’s jolting, shaking, juddering, and clunking during normal driving. Nissan owners claim that the transmission coolers can't manage the temperatures of the transmission fluid because they are too small. Nissan transmissions without lubrication heat up and cause a variety of issues for drivers. Even replacing the transmission is allegedly worthless because Nissan uses the same defective transmission as a replacement.
The class action covers the following vehicles:
2017-2018 Nissan Altima
2018-2019 Nissan Sentra
2018-2019 Nissan Versa
2018-2019 Nissan Versa Note
Putative class members will receive the following benefits:
Nissan Transmission Extended Warranty / Warranty Extension
Nissan will extend the terms of the warranty for the transmission assembly (including the valve body and torque converter) and automatic transmission control unit. The Nissan transmission warranty will be extended by 24 months or 24,000 miles, whichever occurs first.
Nissan Transmission Reimbursements
Nissan will reimburse customers for parts and labor paid for qualifying repairs involving the replacement of or repair to the transmission assembly or automatic transmission control unit, if the repair work was done prior to 84,000 miles or 84 months of service.
The entire settlement order can be accessed here.
The problem with a class action like this is that it doesn’t offer the full benefits of the California Lemon Law. Here, putative class members can receive a maximum of the warranty extension and / or reimbursement of costs of repair (even that is very, very hard to do when you’re dealing with the Class Action Administrator, who have proven themselves to be disengaged more often than not.
So, a California consumer can’t receive a repurchase / buy back offer for their faulty Nissan vehicle, even if the transmission has been repaired more than once or the transmission replaced twice. Their only entitled to the warranty extension and / or reimbursement, unless the consumer opted out of the class action, as discussed here.
Unfortunately, if you haven’t already opted out of the class action, it would be hard to escape it and try to have your vehicle repurchased under California Lemon Law.